The Industry Organization to Focus On
Are you thinking of selling or buying a business?
If you are looking for a business broker to help you, how do you evaluate the brokerage firm and its business brokers?
The Industry Organization
Fortunately, there is one industry organization that sets the standard for business intermediaries and that is the IBBA, the International Business Brokers Association®. As you look for a business brokerage firm, look for the IBBA association logo as your first step in evaluating business broker firms. If they are not members, continue your search.
So, if the IBBA logo is on the business brokerage firm’s website, is that all I need to know?
No, it’s not the only thing, but it’s a good start. Your second step is to get a sense of the firm and the business brokers.
Next step, assessing the business brokerage firm:
- How long has the firm been in the business?
- For how many businesses has the firm brokered sales?
- What are your firm’s ongoing educational requirements through the IBBA?
- Do any of your business brokers have the CBI (Certified Business Intermediary®) designation? This designation is for individuals who have met the IBBA’s highest standards for education, ethics and professionalism.
The IBBA’s ongoing education is the best in the business, offering hundreds of courses for business intermediaries. The course work is an important way to best serve buyers and sellers as business brokers gain the mastery of key capabilities including recasting financial statements, how to effectively market a business, and understanding contracts and deal terms as examples. At BayState Business Brokers, our brokers are required to take a minimum of seven IBBA courses when they join our firm, and they must have their Massachusetts real estate license even though this is not a licensing requirement in Massachusetts to sell businesses. All our brokers regularly take advantage of webinars and other educational opportunities with industry leaders for ongoing professional development and advancement.
Active members of the IBBA will speak to the ongoing benefits of building a vast professional network to best serve buyers and sellers. An example is from the 2022 annual IBBA conference in Colorado. At the time, Sarah Grossman was working on brokering a sale where the ability to secure financing was difficult. At the conference, Sarah met a lender out of Colorado who had experience financing e-commerce businesses, this connection helped the deal moved forward, and the client was thrilled.
BayState Business Brokers is proud to be a member of the IBBA and is grateful to have access to the educational and member resources to help best serve its clients. Sarah Grossman, Principal of Bay State Business Brokers, has earned the Certified Business Intermediary designation from the IBBA and was recently elected to serve on its Board of Governors.
If you are in search of a business brokerage firm to help you buy or sell a business, look for an IBBA member to get the experience and professionalism needed for such an important transaction.
