How To Sell Your WordPress Agency Without Losing Your Mind?
Selling a website might take a lot of work to stumble upon. Finding a suitable buyer and understanding the sales procedure is already challenging enough. The issue is whether people should sell at all, and several services are available to help you decide. Read on since we have answered many of your queries in this post.
What Are You Getting Out of Selling Your WordPress Agency?
There might be many reasons for selling an agency, whether you are actively operating it currently or have begun to make it more passive revenue. We will highlight the two most prominent examples:
- It Is A Diversion
You should sell if you have already started focusing on anything else. While quick profits are possible with little work, your business will eventually fail as clients come and go.
- You Need Funding
Another compelling argument favouring selling your business is the requirement for immediate cash to support other endeavors. Remember that, much like the lottery, you may choose between a lower reward immediately (still a lump amount) and an enormous payoff over time.
Making the Most of Your Resources
In addition to building up a steady stream of monthly recurring income, getting your business processes in order will increase the value of your agency for potential buyers. The kind of data you need at the ready is as follows:
The Agency Requests:
- When did you initially open your shop?
- What motivates your desire to sell? What is your next step from here? What history does the firm have in general? Do you engage with customers in person? If yes, when did the company start doing it, and why has it changed? How do you attract customers? (Have you used paid promotions or marketing to bring in customers?)
- How many of each kind of lead does your company typically get on its own? People find you in whatever way (word-of-mouth, online, etc.).
- What would a typical project include in your experience? (cost, which provides estimates/design/development; additional points if you’re carrying a few successful bids at the ready)
- Who does what, and how is everyone organized (in-house, outside help)?
- Expenses and income over the previous three years, please. What are the monthly payment, costs, and profits?
- Do you have any open quotations that could be closing shortly?
- Is there anything you need to finish on the current project when the new owner comes in?
- What should the new owners do to capitalize on growth opportunities?
- Get your passwords and login information in order.
For Your Client:
- Prepare an anonymised version of your list in a spreadsheet and Airtable (here’s a sample you can use as a starting point; open it, choose File > Make a Copy, & save it to your Google Drive).
- Remember that you want to avoid offering your customer list to someone. Therefore, you should have their names and domains but include them later. I’ve marked them in red in the sample document.
- If I were looking to acquire a hosting service, I’d want to know the following facts about their customer sites:
- Company
- Principal Point of Contact
- Billing Point of Contact
- Where the customer is situated (city and state or simply state) while visiting a website.
- Commercial production (cars, computers, software)
- Package Renewal Date (if you are managing several packages for them, please provide each one by name and provide a separate list of package data).
- Price (if such services are indeed expensive, as they may be if you outsourced them to a white-label partner).
- Client Since (their length of time as a customer),
- A Route to the DNS? (can you access the Domain Name System; yes/no)
- Where the Domain Name System (DNS) resides and who has access to it.
The Place To Sell
Once everything is in order, it’s time to start advertising your firm for sale. Some venues for selling are listed below.
- A Moderator
You should hire a company broker if you want someone to take your hand and help you through the whole process, from negotiating the deal to handling the legal paperwork and advising you on the fair market value. Remember that although they will provide more excellent assistance, they will also want a commission.
- Marketplace
The marketplaces of Flippa, FlipWP, BuyBizSell, and Acquire are all excellent options. These online markets will serve as an alternative to traditional brokering and direct selling. Thanks to these groups, you may advertise your business to a broader audience and have access to additional resources.
- Groups
In addition to finding individuals who can better understand your situation and provide advice, networking also increases your chances of meeting a potential acquirer. Post your intention to sell in a group like The Admin Bar and watch who bites.
- Local Outreach
Contact other local organizations that provide services analogous to your own or with strategic partners whose offerings may fill in service gaps. For instance, contacting other organizations within a one-hour drive of your location may be beneficial.
Similarly, if you specialize in site development or hosting, you may contact agencies specializing in digital advertising.
Identifying Quality Prospects
You care about how the purchase will influence your consumers unless money is your primary motive. Now that you know this, here are some things to think about while you look for an investor for an agency:
- Experience
Choose someone who has worked at an agency or is presently running one. Because every organization is unique, they must be taught your methods. The last thing you will want to do after selling the company is to introduce the new owner to the ropes (though you should feel free to quiz them on industry vocabulary with your questions).
Learn more about your customers and don’t only care about the money. You have the most intimate knowledge of your clientele. How well do they get on with the purchaser? Can we expect a collision of civilizations? Do they want to hike rates instantly for everyone?
- Reputation
If you Google a prospective customer’s name, you can find additional information about them. Find out what genuine buyers think by reading their reviews. A lack of favourable feedback should raise red flags.
How to sell your WordPress agency?
You should not have any trouble turning a profit if you are selling a website that has shown to generate income in the past. However, several elements influence how much you may charge for website development, like how long it has been operating and the source of your visitors.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- How can I increase my firm’s value?
You must make it easy for someone to get a high-level knowledge of your firm, and if they are interested, you can always fill in the details afterwards. Therefore, your organization may utilize the given templates as a starting point. Focusing on increasing your regular income and decreasing your monthly expenses is essential.
- How should I structure my business if I choose to sell it?
Having a structure and not trying to manage your agency by the back of your trousers is paramount. Keep your workforce modest in case the acquiring business already employs similar workers. Never mix business and personal funds; if they are already integrated, sort them apart before selling.
Don’t mix your personal projects/resources/accounts with your business/client accounts (or if they are mixed, you’ll want to separate them before you sell).
Have a question that isn’t answered here? Get in touch.
