Online value
Turn Your Web Site Into an Exit Strategy

Your online portal can be the key to having a business to sell when you retire.

BY MICHAEL RUSSER

Real estate professionals can get so caught up in the day-to-day details of courting prospects and closing transactions that few of us stop to think about what’s going to happen at our ultimate “close”—our retirement. All those years of building your book of business and good will translate to exactly $0 at the end of your career—unless you develop your “exit strategy” now. Regardless of how far you are from retirement, there are certain steps you can take now to ensure that your exit will be as profitable as possible. And your Web site, if structured appropriately, is the key to maximizing your retirement nest egg.

Maximize Your Pot of Gold

There are several factors that will greatly enhance the value of your Web site, the portal to your real estate sales business, which in turn affects your ability to sell your business when you retire:

• Brand awareness. If you make your business about you, the primary value of your business leaves with you when you retire. On the other hand, if you create a highly recognizable brand around your services, you have an asset that is much easier to transfer. Using your Web site to build your brand makes it very valuable because of the Internet’s ability to reach so many people. It also is easier to document your market penetration and transfer the essential online assets at time of sale with your Web site than traditional offline marketing strategies. A good example is the Duckin.com marketing theme of Rick Miner, CRS®, and Joyce Miner, ABR®, of Coldwell Banker Bain in Seattle. The theme is synonymous with Seattle waterfront property, which makes it very attractive to a potential business buyer. The buyer can acquire instant market penetration instead of spending years trying to build it.
  
• Systems and processes. If all the information about running your business effectively is in your head, it will cost you dearly in the end. People who buy businesses want to know that it can run smoothly without the original owner. The best way to do this is to have well-defined systems and processes that address every detail of your operation so that someone else can step in and run it like a well-oiled machine. Almost every system you need to run your business can be done online (i.e., transaction management, contact databases, marketing, etc.). The ability to manage nearly every aspect of your business from any Internet connection increases the payoff to you in greater organization and time efficiency—and makes it simpler for a potential buyer to step in and take over.
  
• Great books. If your financial records are a mess, you can't easily show that your business is showing a substantial profit. The better records you keep, the more you can justify the price you set for your business. You can use powerful online accounting tools like QuickBooks Online to make your numbers sing and more attractive to potential buyers. I personally use QuickBooks Online to manage the financials of my two businesses.
  
  Transactions = Equity
  
  You may be wondering why you should bother with any of this now if you still have 10 to 20 years left in the business.
  
  First of all, all of these strategies will help your business now. Online branding is a tremendously powerful way to differentiate your services and create awareness. Web-based systems and processes help you to be more effective and efficient. And, great bookkeeping helps you stay on top of your financial goals.
  
  Another very important reason to put your exit strategy in place now rather than wait is that every transaction you close results in more than just the commission you earn. It becomes part of your book of business, which is a very real and valuable asset in the mind of anyone thinking of buying your business. For example, every person you add to your automated online drip marketing systems has a certain value associated with them in the eyes of a prospective buyer. Think of these as deposits in your retirement account.
  
  At some point in your career, you’ll retire. The great thing about this business is that you have a choice how that’ll happen. You can do nothing and just walk away, hoping you saved enough money to last through retirement. Or, you can implement a viable online exit strategy and walk away with cash in the bank. As always, the choice is yours.

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