02 Feb What is the Right Approach to Social Media?
In our last BBP webinar, we were joined once more by legendary business broker, Glen Cooper for the 4th part of his series “The 5 Hardest Things to Learn in Business Brokerage.” Cooper has been a fixture in the business broker world for decades and has been a business broker since 1979. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Colorado Business Brokers; the 2020-2021 President of the Colorado Association of Business Intermediaries; a founding member and Fellow of the IBBA; and a business broker coach. He is also the author of “Glen Cooper on Business Brokerage,” which is a 36-video course that is also available as an eBook and book.
While technically this webinar focuses on the fourth hardest thing to learn in business brokerage in the form of social media, Cooper’s webinar actually goes much deeper than an overview of social media strategies for business brokers.
Cooper points out that we are increasingly living in a society that is very distracted. Our attention span and time are under constant assault from news that demands our attention, ranging from climate change and pandemics to the rise of China political turmoil. Thrown into this mix are the demands placed on our attention and time by social media and the ubiquitous nature of our phones. Amidst these complications, business brokers need to cut through the sea of digital noise and find businesses to sell.
At the heart of the matter, Cooper feels that the most important challenge for business brokers and M&A advisors is to find good businesses to sell. After all, as he points out, it is typically the seller who is paying. A business broker who has good businesses to sell will have a much easier to time finding clients to buy them. This will make your job much easier. For this reason, it is important that you invest time in determining how best to find good businesses and how to make a good first impression with buyers and sellers alike. You must also determine the best ways to effectively reach sellers.
Cooper’s perspective is that the real “social media” is finding and then talking directly with seller prospects and clients. The next most important goal would be to talk to buyer prospects and then finally to the various professionals that show up for the transitions. In short, it is vital to have real and meaningful conversations with potential buyers and sellers. His view is that most of the time people invest in social media may ultimately be wasted. Instead, a more proactive approach should be taken.
In the end, any business broker or M&A advisor can amass a large social media following. However, this doesn’t not serve to distinguish a business broker from the countless other business brokers in the country. In our next article “How to Successfully Use and Navigate Social Media,” we will explore Cooper’s hands on advice for what you should be doing in the digital age, how you should be handling social media, and what you need to do to stand out from the crowd.
