Selling a location

[Apple Leisure]

I'm wondering how you guys approach this.  Do you notify your contact at the location and let them know your intentions?  Do you present the location to your potential buyer first?  The former seems more business like to me, but there's the possibility of ramifications like the location now knows you are looking to get out, and might not feel the same loyalty as before.  I suppose it probably depends.  I searched the Forum and didn't see a lot about this topic, so I hope some of you can provide some insight. 

[Randymire]

  I sell a lot of locations and while it does seem more professional to let the location know first , I don’t do this because believe it or not some people panic because they don’t know if they’ll get good service or if the prices will increase.

   I have an agreement with the buyer that I’ll introduce him  and tell the contact that he will be their route driver and that he’ll be their contact person from now on but they can still contact me if needed ( if they do contact me , which rarely happens of course I call the buyer because I want everything to go smoothly). After a month or so I’ll visit the location and after talking to the contact and seeing that everything is going good, I’ll let them know that I sold the location but that if they ever have any concerns or needs that they can contact me and I have had this happen and I called the vendor and let them know that the location isn’t happy , because I want the vendor and the location to be happy because I’d like to sell more locations to that vendor I’m the future. 

[NYCandyMaN]

3 hours ago, Randymire said:

  I sell a lot of locations and while it does seem more professional to let the location know first , I don’t do this because believe it or not some people panic because they don’t know if they’ll get good service or if the prices will increase.

   I have an agreement with the buyer that I’ll introduce him  and tell the contact that he will be their route driver and that he’ll be their contact person from now on but they can still contact me if needed ( if they do contact me , which rarely happens of course I call the buyer because I want everything to go smoothly). After a month or so I’ll visit the location and after talking to the contact and seeing that everything is going good, I’ll let them know that I sold the location but that if they ever have any concerns or needs that they can contact me and I have had this happen and I called the vendor and let them know that the location isn’t happy , because I want the vendor and the location to be happy because I’d like to sell more locations to that vendor I’m the future. 

that's a good and bad point, most of the times the owners know you, and only you, if you come there with another person, they already know you're trying to sell it, what I usually do is wear the same shirt and hat like NCCS, and ill to the same for the buyer, while it is costly the transition is much easier on the location owner bc they know they are still being serviced by the same company, so its not another bozo doing the route, after about 2 services to the location, they don't have to wear the logo stuff anymore, its not a quick in and out, but it is safer on the location owner, and lets the the route owner that its not just some random route they are buying. on the other hand if you are cool with the locations, let them know straight up what your intentions are, the problem with that is, tomorrow the location can close or go out of business and might not feel like making the first contact to the new buyer bc they are cool with you and not them, and wont make that call, which means the new buyer is now out of a location, money, and machine! and that's not good for the buyer. sometimes i do not mind coming out with the buyer and servicing the machines with them, give them a few tips on what to and not to do while servicing a location, I've seen vendors do stupid things like pull the machine out and then sell the machine, which is super stupid, bc selling machine with location is the best way to go. don't forget guys im in NYC, and its not as easy here as you guys out of the city, the stuff i deal with here is worse than you can imagine, no one gives 2 sheits about anyone, location can and will close anytime, your machine goes straight to the dumpster of someone's man cave! a route can only be closed off if the vendor gets sloppy or lazy. lazy is ok sometimes, but don't be sloppy!

[Southeast Treats]

So my question is, do your locations consult you before selling their business?  Anyone in business knows companies change hands, as long as you and the buyer are professional in your conduct most locations will not have a problem.   There may be a case where you have a contract, i.e. government locations, where the contract requires approval for transfer, but you would know about that when you won the contract initially.

[putrevus]

How much do you sell the location for ? How do you determine the amount?

[Southeast Treats]

1 hour ago, putrevus said:

How much do you sell the location for ? How do you determine the amount?

50% of annual sales is a good starting point.  Adjust from there for other factors like newer or very old equipment, etc.