March 2, 2026

Tony Pompeo, managing director of Sunbelt Business Brokers of Boston

Tony Pompeo, managing director of Sunbelt Business Brokers of Boston
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Tony Pompeo is a business professional, entrepreneur, and 6-yr US Marine who has owned multiple businesses. He bought, managed and grew his longest-owned business, a distribution company, successfully steering it through the Great Recession and the Global Pandemic, ultimately selling the company to private equity.
Tony received his MBA from Babson College.
Because of his own experience running, growing and selling businesses, Tony enjoys guiding small business owners to reach their goals.

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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not

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be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

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W four CY Radio.

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Churchill said, those who failed to learn from history are

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condemned to repeat it. Kevin Helenan believes that certainly applies

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to business. Welcome to Winning Business Radio here at W

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four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com and

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now your host, Kevin Helena.

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Thanks for joining in again today. I'm Kevin Hallanan and

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welcome back to Winning Business TV and Radio on W

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four cy dot streaming live on talkfour tv dot com,

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and of course we're on Facebook live at Winning Business Radio,

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and we're available after the show and podcast form on

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every platform imaginable, YouTube, by Heart, Radio, Spotify, Apple, pretty

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much wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. The mission

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of Winning Business radio and TV, as regular viewers know

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and listeners sorry, is to offer insights and advice to

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help people avoid the mistakes of others. Right Those are

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to learn best practices, the how tos, the what tos,

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the what not tos, to be challenged and hopefully to

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be inspired by the successes of others. Those consultants, coaches, authors, advisors,

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founders and owners, entrepreneurs, people with expertise. But of course,

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every successful person I've ever had a chance to has

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had some form of failure in their lives and careers.

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So while we all have to get our knees skinned

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once in a while, I'm driven to keep those scrapes

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from needing major surgery. Let's endeavor to learn from history

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so we don't repeat it. I've spent the better part

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of my career equipping businesses to grow, and that's from

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solopreneurs to small and medium sized companies all the way

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up to the Fortune fifty. I've seen some of those

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companies win, and to varying degrees degrees, I've seen some fail.

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And I've had the opportunity to rub elbows with some

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of the highest performing people around and with some who

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probably should have found other professions, and in my own businesses,

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I've had lots of success, but some failures too. I

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like to think I've learned a lot from those experiences.

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So yeah, you're going to hear from me, but mostly

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you're going to hear from our guests, those experts, consultants, etc.

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Today my guest is Tony Pompio, Managing director of Sunbelt

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Business Brokers of Boston. Here's his bio. Tony Pompio is

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an experienced business professional and entrepreneur who's owned multiple business

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including businesses including distribution, trucking, sports, entertainment, and consumer education.

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In his most long standing business, Tony bought, managed, and

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grew a Boston based distribution company, successfully steering the company

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through the Great Recession and the global pandemic, ultimately selling

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the company to private equity. Tony received his MBA from

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Babson College and has given multiple lectures at BABS on

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the top of entrepreneurship through acquisition and buying and selling

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small businesses. He's an active board member of the New

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England Business Brokers Association. He also served in the United

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States Marine Corps and because of his own experience running, growing,

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and selling small businesses. He enjoys guiding other small business

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owners to reach their own goals. His experiences, education, work,

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ethic and communication skills enabled him to truly understand challenges

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and work diligently for his client's success. Tony, Welcome to

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Winning Business Radio.

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Thank you, Kevin. Great to be here.

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I'm glad we've made this happen. Tell us about your

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family first of all, Yeah.

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Sure so ols. My lovely wife Sarah, and I've two children.

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My daughter is twenty one years old, goes to a

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unh t raight now. She is a cello performance major,

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gifted with musician in the family. And my son, Dominic,

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he's an apprentice electrician, working hard, full time out there

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trying to get all of us eight thousand hours in

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so we can become a licensed electrician in a couple

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of years.

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Yeah. I was just talking to a good friend of

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mine about the difficulty in finding those guys. So good

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for him and good for her. Were musical family, and

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I love the cello. It's such a beautiful sounding instrument,

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so awesome. And do I understand Sarah's in the business

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with you, Sarah, Yes.

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She is the real estate broker of record so not

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only do we help business owners when they want to

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sell the business, we also help them to sell.

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The real estate should they choose to do so.

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Correct.

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Yes, all right, So you grew up in Braintree, mass

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Tell people who are not from Massachusetts about Braintree and

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a little bit of what it was like to grow

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up there.

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Yeah. Well, Braintree has gone from a town many years

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ago when I lived there and grew up there. It's

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a city now, so it's really growing up, but pretty

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much a bedroom community. A lot of people knew each other.

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I went through the brain free public school systems, you know,

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all the way from second grade and graduated from from

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Braintree High School. I still have a good group of

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friends from that town, but I ventured out and so

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my own my own seeds in in Walpole. Ye.

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Who are some of your early influencers?

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Oh geez. I would say that from a from a

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personal perspective. I really enjoyed learning from and being influenced

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from my coaches, primarily in sports and primarily soccer.

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Soccer.

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Yeah, so we were lucky enough at Braintreet High to

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have a professional from Europe come over in my junior

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year and assist with the head coach there and really,

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you know, just instilled different type of sports work ethic

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into us. And I got to see kind of learned

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from you know how he just kind of worked hard

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and worked his way up and stayed very focused. And

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that definitely is something I looked back was in inspiration

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to me.

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That's cool. Now, did you work as a kid.

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Yes, I had something called a.

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Paper route A what no, yeah.

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More, but they're fantastic. It was a fit after school

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job and I had I had that in and started

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in sixth grade and I kept that like through a

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little bit of high school. Actually it was pretty flexible

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and made some money and it was a great little

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job to have, and then.

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In the morning, bigger it was.

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It was after school. I delivered thirty four, thirty or

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forty papers after school and then Saturday mornings we would

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deliver it. And then into high school, I ventured away

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from that and got you know, other small odd jobs.

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Yeah, well, that's cool, that's cool. Did you have any

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family members who were in business?

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Yes, Well, my father was an independent operator of a

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trucking business, a solar operator. But he wanted to quote

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he wasn't always When I was growing up, that's what

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he aspired to do. He worked for another family member

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who owned up a trucking company, and he ended up

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getting his own and uh, and so I watched that

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happen before my eyes. And then there's other sides of

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my family that definitely have larger businesses that I was

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interested in as well.

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And did you spend time around them? Did you get

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kind of that bug early on?

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Yeah?

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I did, I think just I was. I would actually

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go to their businesses sometimes. I would wash and wax

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their trucks on the weekends to make extra money and

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just kind of be aboud that around that business and

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hear about the stresses of payroll, and it just kind

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of I was kind of around it more than I

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thought I was when you look back.

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So when, and by the way, thank you for your

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military service. When and why did you decide to join

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the Marine Corps?

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So I joined the Marine Corps after part of my college.

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You know, my my college career, I guess my path

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was not very straight.

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It was very good line.

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Yeah. So after about a year and a half of college,

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I uh ran out of some money and need to

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kind of refocus, and I had time and and also

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a desire still too to want to do something with

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my life in terms of you know, going into the military.

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Guess to say that, yeah, and and to serve my

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country and the Marines was a good path for me.

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I kind of aspired to have that that band of

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brothers around me. I might have been missing that a

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little bit at the time. I was only child, and

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I think having like a whole band of brothers around you,

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like another second family, was kind of important to me,

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that that mentality and that notion. And but I decided

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to go in the reserves, so I still had a

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huge aspiration to go to college. I just so they

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had a like a summer program for boot camp, and

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you went to two summers back to back SEATD one

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and you you went through boot camp and became a marine,

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went through all that training, and you went back to college,

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and then the following summer you ended up doing your

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your your training for your what you're going to do

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as a job in the Marines. And after that it

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was one weekend a month and two weeks a year,

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which kind of really fit in with with still wanting

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to go back to college, which I did.

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And they he'll pay for that they'll pay for some

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of it. Yes, yeah, yeah, So what was the best part?

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Maybe that was it, I don't know, But what was

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the best part for you of being in the Marines?

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And what are maybe a lesson or two that you've

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taken or kept with you all these years later.

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Yeah. Well, my wife tells me now that because I've

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kept such good friends that they're really my family. Everything

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that happens on the weekends or we of Marine Corps

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birthday parties and my closest seven or eight friends are

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are all in the Marines. And so we've really, you know,

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grown that family that I looked for, you know, when

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I was younger. It stayed with me this whole time,

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which is really fantastic. And from a I guess from

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from a learning perspective. You know, they talk a lot about,

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you know, teaching leadership and and and some people there's

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two thoughts on that, right. Some people believe you have

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to be born leader. Somebody say you can teach leaders.

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Similar to entrepreneurship, Are you an entrepreneur? Do you grow

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you know, did you grow up being an entrepreneur or

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can you be taught that? And in the military, I

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really was, I was really shown, especially in the Marine Corps,

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that leadership can be taught and instilled and not and

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not easily. It's not easily done, but it can be

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replicated and it can be instilled. So I had an

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opportunity to lead some teams in the Marines, and and

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that's something I can always look back at at in

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terms of just, you know, inspiration for myself to kind

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of keep going.

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To I mean, we'll get there. Which you've led teams since.

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So what was behind the decision to get a bachelors

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of psychology? And why you mass Boston?

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Yeah, So after I went into the Marines, I went

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back to school for maybe another two or three semesters,

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and that was actually at Wentworth studying architecture, which I

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decided I did not want to be an architect after

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you know, spending two or three years learning how to

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be one, and and so then I just I stopped

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going to college for all. I still wanted to, but

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I didn't know really who I wanted to be or

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what I wanted to do. So I was working full

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time in sales, in sales direct sales, B to B sales,

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and I decided at that point I'm just I was

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learning about business more, and I kind of knew I

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wanted to get into business for myself one way or another,

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and I needed, I really want. I didn't need, but

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00:12:02.840 --> 00:12:05.200
I wanted to get an MBA and I heard about

227
00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:09.000
this fantastic MBA program at Babson And so the only

228
00:12:09.080 --> 00:12:12.000
reason I went to even get my undergraduate degree was

229
00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:14.639
so I could go and get my MBA there. And

230
00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:18.639
so I chose us Boston, went there nights for four

231
00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:21.759
years while I was working full time and a couple

232
00:12:21.799 --> 00:12:27.679
of kids, and I chose psychology because it kind of

233
00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:29.600
blended with what I was doing, was I was dealing

234
00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:32.840
with people. I was in sales, and I wanted to

235
00:12:32.840 --> 00:12:35.440
go into business, and so that kind of really fit

236
00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:38.360
my background there, so I could focus on that.

237
00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:40.919
So I'm going to take you through a few of

238
00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:44.120
these positions, and just these answers can be fairly brief,

239
00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:48.279
but let's see Network Plus a couple of years assistant

240
00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:50.480
sales manager. Just tell us a little bit about that job.

241
00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:54.759
Yeah. Network Plus was kind of my big, real, first

242
00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:59.360
big corporate and a company job. They had about six

243
00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:01.440
or eight hundred people up and down the East Coast.

244
00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:07.200
It was headquartered in Quincy and I came in there

245
00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:10.120
and I didn't really know much about it outside sales,

246
00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:12.320
but they were just looking for hungry people to hit

247
00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:15.799
the phones. And they gave me a you know, a

248
00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:18.720
yellow page book and said go call as many business

249
00:13:18.759 --> 00:13:21.320
own as you can and start setting some appointments. And

250
00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:23.679
there was some training that went along with it, but

251
00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:28.679
what there was was those great hardcore sales closers and

252
00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:33.320
openers there that could really mentor you in growing your

253
00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:36.639
book of business and learning how to you know, write

254
00:13:36.679 --> 00:13:39.679
contracts and get deals done. And so I really cut

255
00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:44.960
my teeth there and that company was growing dramatically. After

256
00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:47.759
my second or third year there, I was promoted to

257
00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:51.360
run help run a new Hampshire branch as an assistant

258
00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:53.720
branch manager. So I got promoted out of the Quincy

259
00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:56.360
office and UH and went up there to help lead

260
00:13:56.360 --> 00:13:59.080
a team up there, which was that was great and

261
00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:03.960
unfortunate only dot com and they went they went bussed,

262
00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:06.279
But I got a great experience there.

263
00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:08.519
Then you went to Verizon, not a small company, not

264
00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:11.440
a great company to work for, right, Yeah.

265
00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:13.919
So it was funny because Network Plus we were kind

266
00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:16.799
of stealing business from Verizon and that's how we kind

267
00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:19.519
of That's how we got business. And then I went

268
00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:22.320
to Verizon and was kind of stealing it back. So

269
00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:26.279
I had the experience there and but but it was

270
00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:29.399
I guess it was during a recession and I was

271
00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:31.440
kind of grasping at you know, I needed a job

272
00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:36.399
and fantastic company for me. A lot of red tape,

273
00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:40.639
very large. I realized that this, you know, I gave

274
00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:43.840
it a try. It wasn't it wasn't the place, uh

275
00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:45.799
for me to live forever, but it was it was

276
00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:49.159
great to get a taste of it and fantastic company.

277
00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:51.200
So then you went a little smaller to a New

278
00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:53.440
England Office Supply who I remember, yeah.

279
00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:56.639
Yeah, Well come full circle back to Network plus one

280
00:14:56.679 --> 00:14:59.320
of my great mentors there who helped me get promoted

281
00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:02.840
up to that Nash office. He was the sales manager

282
00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:05.879
at New England Office Supply, a local office supply company,

283
00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:09.399
and he was just trying to get me over there

284
00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:11.519
for months and months and months, and he didn't have

285
00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:13.159
to try too hard. But I just wanted to stay

286
00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:15.039
at Horizon for at least a certain amount of time

287
00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:19.399
before I jumped ship. I went over to New England

288
00:15:19.480 --> 00:15:22.919
Office Supplies as a salesperson. B to b again trying

289
00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:26.919
to get to local businesses to buy their office products

290
00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:30.559
and office supplies from us instead of competitors. And a

291
00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:33.720
few years into that, ended up being promoted to a

292
00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:37.799
sales manager there on the management team and really learned

293
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.679
a lot about being on the management team, and that

294
00:15:40.759 --> 00:15:46.000
company was run fantastically. Really learning a lot about distribution

295
00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:48.480
companies in general. That's really what it is.

296
00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:50.720
All Right, we're going to come back and talk about

297
00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:53.519
imported foods that people will understand why in a moment,

298
00:15:53.559 --> 00:15:55.679
we're going to take our first commercial break right here, everybody.

299
00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:00.559
We'll be back with Tony Pompio in about a minute.

300
00:16:01.720 --> 00:16:05.639
You're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene on

301
00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:10.039
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302
00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:12.759
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324
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And now back to winning business radio with Kevin helenan

325
00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:38.240
presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal in

326
00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:41.799
mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again,

327
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:46.480
it's Kevin Helene.

328
00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:55.920
We're back with Tony Pompio, Managing broker of Sunbelt Business

329
00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:59.359
Brokers of Boston. Now it gets cool because you founded

330
00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:02.079
your first no purchased a company. It was already existing, right,

331
00:18:02.839 --> 00:18:04.079
but you grew it. So I want you to tell

332
00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:07.160
us that story. Imported foods in South Boston in eight.

333
00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:11.119
Sure. Yeah, so that kind of really takes me back

334
00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:16.079
to getting my MBA at Babson and kind of I'll

335
00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:21.079
start there because that's that's why that happened. While I

336
00:18:21.160 --> 00:18:24.559
was at Babson, I initially maybe started wanted to start

337
00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:26.920
a company and raise money and realized I didn't really

338
00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:29.519
have a passion for a product or a service and

339
00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:31.519
I didn't want to try and you know, go down

340
00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:34.319
that road. And so I started looking into investment banking,

341
00:18:34.359 --> 00:18:38.839
which is more about buying and selling huge companies. I

342
00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:41.279
really like that as much either, and I just really

343
00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:44.799
learned about a whole process about how buy small companies

344
00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:48.559
and they had a whole track on that, and fell

345
00:18:48.599 --> 00:18:51.400
in love with that and realized that I had a

346
00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:54.039
chance at doing that. So while I was in school,

347
00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:59.119
going nights to Babson and working full time, I had

348
00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:01.720
a four and six year old at the time, and

349
00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:06.039
realized that I really wanted to own my own distribution company.

350
00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:08.799
I was working at Newland Office Supply at the time.

351
00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:12.480
I had the experience I felt to step into something,

352
00:19:12.519 --> 00:19:15.119
if possible, if something, I could find something. So I

353
00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:19.119
went on a search to buy a small business, made

354
00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:23.400
offers on multiple different ones and ended up buying imported

355
00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:26.480
foods in two thousand and eight, which was a food

356
00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:31.400
distribution company that we sold rices and spices and pastas

357
00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:33.960
and oils and vinegars, all the dry good stuff and

358
00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:36.519
kind of in big packages that you'd see kind of

359
00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.119
behind in the kitchen that the chef would use to

360
00:19:39.559 --> 00:19:43.160
make all the all the foods basically ingredients. And that

361
00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:44.279
was an in two thousand and eight.

362
00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:47.960
It was an upscale or they are were upscale brands.

363
00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:53.160
Yes, upscale brands correct, Yes, yeah, stuff that I'm well

364
00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:56.400
expected called specialty foods, specialty goods.

365
00:19:56.759 --> 00:19:58.480
What was the hardest part of taking that over?

366
00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:06.519
Well, I think gaining knowledge knowledge transfer from the existing

367
00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:07.960
staff and owners.

368
00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:10.759
Did they meet around for well they did.

369
00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:13.599
Yeah, we had them on a consulting contract to stay

370
00:20:13.799 --> 00:20:18.319
in the business and transfer relationships that were multi generational.

371
00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:19.039
Wow.

372
00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:23.359
Yeah, So that is a challenge. And then making mistakes

373
00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:28.559
but fixing them quickly and building that trust with the

374
00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:31.960
with the customer base because it's going to happen. But

375
00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:33.720
I think that's how you really make a name for yourself.

376
00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:35.079
So that's what I aim to do at the time.

377
00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:40.839
And let's see take us the timeline that you exited

378
00:20:40.839 --> 00:20:43.640
in twenty four, so that was a good chunk of time.

379
00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:48.279
Yeah, yeah, just before twenty four, in late in late

380
00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:52.039
twenty three. So yeah, I ran that business for fifteen years.

381
00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:57.319
My goal actually was to sell it after ten years

382
00:20:58.200 --> 00:21:02.640
twenty eighteen ish. Yeah, and you know, I was a

383
00:21:02.680 --> 00:21:04.680
little late on that, so I ended up being somewhere

384
00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:09.960
around twenty nineteen, started taking it to market and.

385
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:13.200
Doing this yourself. I'm sorry you were doing this yourself.

386
00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:16.119
No, I had broke. I had a broke, Okay, I

387
00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:19.640
had a business aproprage firm, yeah, taken firm, and yeah

388
00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:22.319
in twenty nineteen, and then we were basically at the

389
00:21:22.359 --> 00:21:28.000
table in February of twenty twenty then and the world, the.

390
00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:29.640
World fell apart, it did, man.

391
00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:32.880
Yeah. Yeah, so that went away real fast, and I

392
00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:36.000
had to, you know, hang on to that for four

393
00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:38.920
or more years and grow it back to bigger and

394
00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:43.240
better that than it was until I could really successfully

395
00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:45.319
sell it for what I wanted to do with it. Yeah.

396
00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:47.240
So you got a better price by waiting, Not that you,

397
00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:50.359
I mean you were forced to wait, but yeah, yeah.

398
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:52.119
I was able to get it bigger and better than before,

399
00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:54.640
but had to work an extra four years to do it.

400
00:21:55.640 --> 00:21:58.960
What changes did you have to make to survive and

401
00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:00.799
then flourish past the pandemic.

402
00:22:01.960 --> 00:22:06.200
Well, lots of changes. Actually, it's helped me to start

403
00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:10.079
to other companies within that timeframe. But the changes really

404
00:22:10.119 --> 00:22:13.960
were the bulk of the sixty percent of our business

405
00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:16.279
was hotels, and most of them were closed for almost

406
00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:20.839
an entire year, so we really had to downsize staff

407
00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:27.240
dramatically and change our whole stocking strategy as well, because

408
00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:29.720
we stored a lot of products of four thousand items,

409
00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:32.359
so we had to figure ways to kind of bring

410
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:35.000
in just in time inventory to get stuff out the

411
00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:40.240
door as needed for certain customers, and just downside dramatically.

412
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:42.559
And then the bigger part that was hard for a while,

413
00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:44.839
and we got good at that, even though it's much

414
00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:49.519
smaller scale. The hardest and craziest thing really was magically

415
00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:52.759
growing it back. Just getting calls and everyone came back

416
00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:56.680
to work. I need orders, orders and orders, and well

417
00:22:56.720 --> 00:22:59.119
we didn't have all the inventory just waiting around, you

418
00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:01.480
know later, So that was a challenge.

419
00:23:01.559 --> 00:23:04.000
Yeah, but that's a testament to the trust you built previously.

420
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:08.920
True, that's true. Yeah, And we got all of them back.

421
00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:10.799
We got all the customers back.

422
00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:13.759
All right. So there are two intriguing businesses I want

423
00:23:13.799 --> 00:23:16.880
you to talk about because I'm a shooter too. We've

424
00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:19.759
talked about that Greater Boston Gun Safety School and Greater

425
00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:25.160
Boston Airsoft and indoor Sure, yeah, shooting range. That's pretty cool.

426
00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:26.559
So tell us about those businesses.

427
00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:32.720
So yeah, So during COVID, you know, prior, I was

428
00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:36.000
working normal, you know, business owner hours, forty fifty hours

429
00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:39.720
a week, running my company imported foods, and all of

430
00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:44.200
a sudden COVID hits and I have lots of time

431
00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:47.039
on my hands. Yeah, I'm done by ten or eleven

432
00:23:47.079 --> 00:23:50.119
in the morning most of the time. And my staff

433
00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:52.559
wasn't there anymore. Of the stuff that I held onto

434
00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:55.119
it was either working remotely or they were delivery drivers.

435
00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:57.880
So I had all this office space that was open

436
00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:02.000
and nobody there. And I couldn't like grow my company

437
00:24:02.039 --> 00:24:05.599
by selling different things to at imported foods. I couldn't

438
00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:09.039
like you know, pivot as they say back then. I

439
00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:11.400
couldn't sell them something else. They were closed. A lot

440
00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:15.640
of hotels were closed. So that with a military background

441
00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:21.759
and at my own gun gun license, I noticed while

442
00:24:21.799 --> 00:24:24.319
I was helping with some deliveries that there was a

443
00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:26.200
lot of riots going on in Boston and it was

444
00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:29.759
kind of crazy at that time, during during COVID, and

445
00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:32.200
I just thought to myself, if everyone's kind of want

446
00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:34.160
a gun in Boston right now, and there's not a

447
00:24:34.200 --> 00:24:38.200
lot of places that teach the gun safety certificate school

448
00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:41.559
in the city in the city. Yeah, So so I

449
00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:46.400
built a website, I hired some some instructors that that

450
00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:49.880
teach these types of classes, and started Greater Boston Gun

451
00:24:49.880 --> 00:24:54.680
Safety School. Within day one, there was literally lines out

452
00:24:54.680 --> 00:24:56.839
the door like I thought there would be, and uh

453
00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:03.960
turned into a very successful academy and yeah, employed multiple instructors,

454
00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:06.319
gave all sorts of different types of trainings, not just

455
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:09.799
a safety certificate school, but also pistol training. The thing

456
00:25:09.880 --> 00:25:13.119
is in Boston, you you can't really open another gun

457
00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:15.240
range or you can't get you can't really do pistol

458
00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:18.440
training except if you're at the existing ones. So we

459
00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:22.480
use something called airsoft guns, which are basically, if you

460
00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:25.400
know what paintball guns are, these are just the same

461
00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:28.400
things that they shoot little plastic babies. And there's a

462
00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:32.240
whole cult following of people who shoot, you know, these

463
00:25:32.440 --> 00:25:35.920
airsoft pistols, and so we did trainings with those and

464
00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:39.599
the instructors loved being able to teach with them. And

465
00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:42.920
then we had some people who loved playing the sport

466
00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:45.680
of airsoft come in to get their gun safety licenses

467
00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:49.000
and said, wow, we loved these guns too. And you

468
00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:51.720
have this whole warehouse opened in the back. Because we

469
00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:53.680
didn't have any food products in there at the time,

470
00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:58.920
we really minimized our ruminatory So, you know, I did

471
00:25:58.920 --> 00:26:01.680
some research there and I just had a whole band

472
00:26:01.720 --> 00:26:04.000
of good people that really wanted to grow an air

473
00:26:04.039 --> 00:26:07.200
soft business in the space that I had, and that's

474
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:08.400
what I could kind of pivot to.

475
00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:09.480
And I was.

476
00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:14.319
Enjoying myself, you know, growing another business. The gun safety

477
00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:16.880
school was kind of on rails, you know, just rolling,

478
00:26:17.079 --> 00:26:24.640
and so I started an indoor airsoft basically shooting. It

479
00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:27.240
was like a shootouse, basically built out an entire three

480
00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:29.799
thousand square foot house on the inside of our warehouse

481
00:26:30.119 --> 00:26:34.680
with doors and windows and everything you can imagine. And yeah,

482
00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:37.160
we had that. We had that running and you know,

483
00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:42.119
every weekend, just tons of consumers coming into to play

484
00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:43.720
that sport, which was great.

485
00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:46.359
So quick funny story about airsoft. My kids still laugh

486
00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:49.039
at us every time I go into my backyard where

487
00:26:49.240 --> 00:26:51.000
I still live in the house where we raised our kids,

488
00:26:51.480 --> 00:26:55.920
and I'm doing something with digging or hoeing, or I

489
00:26:55.960 --> 00:27:01.000
find these babies. Yeah you do, little yellow or little

490
00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:02.960
green babies, and I'll take a picture and I'll send

491
00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:04.240
it to my boys. We just laugh.

492
00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:07.680
That's great. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, we have some at our

493
00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:08.519
house to trust you.

494
00:27:08.920 --> 00:27:15.480
Yep. So when you exited from the two schools, or

495
00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:18.000
the Airsoft and the safety school, how did that exit

496
00:27:18.039 --> 00:27:18.519
take place?

497
00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:22.839
Yeah, so it was primarily so yeah, there was a

498
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:26.160
lot of things that were timing out. Yeah, it was

499
00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:28.519
twenty twenty three and I was going to market with

500
00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:32.640
important foods, and I had these other two businesses operating

501
00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:35.880
in the same space, and so I knew I had

502
00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:40.680
to sell all of them or just spand some of them.

503
00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:44.440
And so I was really fortunate enough within two months

504
00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:47.119
of each other to be able to sell the gun

505
00:27:47.160 --> 00:27:52.480
Safety School to a competitor strategic purchase locally, so that

506
00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:55.279
business is still up and running, which was great. And

507
00:27:55.559 --> 00:27:59.599
they took a lot of the inventories such as the

508
00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:02.960
the pistol and whatnot for training purposes for that as well.

509
00:28:03.079 --> 00:28:06.839
But unfortunately did have to close down the airsoft facility.

510
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:08.319
Well, you probably needed a space back.

511
00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:09.960
Right, absolutely, I needed it back.

512
00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:13.319
Yeah, all right, So tell us about the transition from

513
00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:16.039
and we'll start this and then we'll take our commercial.

514
00:28:16.119 --> 00:28:19.400
But the transition from that successful exit, I want you

515
00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.640
to tell us about that, and then Sun Built.

516
00:28:22.599 --> 00:28:29.680
Sure, so, so the transition from from selling soasically? Yeah, So,

517
00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:33.480
I mean, I I just like what I did when

518
00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:35.799
I bought the company. I was on a consulting contract

519
00:28:35.799 --> 00:28:38.839
for a while, working with the with the with the buyers,

520
00:28:39.079 --> 00:28:42.960
and it was I had a good management team in

521
00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:48.240
place and the business was you know, growing, and I helped,

522
00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:54.480
just like before, to transition those relationships. However, the business

523
00:28:54.599 --> 00:28:57.640
wasn't really about just my relationships, and I made sure

524
00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:00.640
of that. So it was it was very smooth. It

525
00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:03.079
didn't take a lot of time. There wasn't a huge

526
00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:09.519
trust rebuilding, and everything was documented and ready to go

527
00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:10.319
for the most part.

528
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:13.240
That's good. That's good. And then so what drew you

529
00:29:13.400 --> 00:29:18.000
to business brokerage? You had multiple experiences there, so that's

530
00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:19.559
probably part of it. But why Sunbuilt?

531
00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:26.440
Yeah, Well I knew coming out of imported foods that

532
00:29:26.759 --> 00:29:28.960
I wanted to get into some sort of deal making,

533
00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:33.640
some sort of merger and acquisition type business role, and

534
00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:35.480
I just didn't know exactly where I was.

535
00:29:35.400 --> 00:29:40.160
Going to land it shows. Did you go through a

536
00:29:40.200 --> 00:29:43.519
search process? Did you work with a broker to identify

537
00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:45.640
what might work for you? Tell us about that.

538
00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:50.799
Yeah. So I talked to some coaches, some lifetime coaches.

539
00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:53.279
I try to give me an idea of where it

540
00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:55.480
might be the best fit for me. And I didn't

541
00:29:55.480 --> 00:29:57.240
know if I was going to go and try and

542
00:29:57.279 --> 00:29:59.640
work at a small investment bank or an m and

543
00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:01.759
a form I didn't have. I'll tell you right now,

544
00:30:01.799 --> 00:30:04.400
I didn't have the network to get into those type

545
00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:07.759
of places because I did try, and I don't know

546
00:30:07.799 --> 00:30:09.480
if I was just gonna hang a shingle and be

547
00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:14.279
Tony Pompeo business broker, Tony Pompomna advisor. Yeah, And somehow

548
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:17.000
sublt this opportunity at some Belt came across from my

549
00:30:17.079 --> 00:30:22.160
computer and there was an opportunity for the Massachusetts Emberated

550
00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:25.119
Island territories for a sun Belt, which is a national franchise,

551
00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:30.200
and I just thought to myself, Wow, this is right

552
00:30:30.200 --> 00:30:32.119
in my backyard, and I think I might be able

553
00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:33.640
to do something with this. I'm going to learn more

554
00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:34.119
about it.

555
00:30:34.519 --> 00:30:36.240
All right, we're gonna take a break right here. We'll

556
00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:40.200
be back with Tony in about one more minute.

557
00:30:42.440 --> 00:30:46.359
You're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helenet on

558
00:30:46.680 --> 00:30:50.599
W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com.

559
00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:53.480
Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up

560
00:30:53.720 --> 00:30:55.880
right here on Winning Business Radio.

561
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562
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583
00:32:11.960 --> 00:32:14.799
And now back to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene

584
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:18.839
presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal in

585
00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:22.440
mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again

586
00:32:22.759 --> 00:32:23.799
is Kevin Helenett.

587
00:32:31.799 --> 00:32:35.160
Okay, we're back again with Tony Pompio, Managing broker of

588
00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:38.480
Sun Belt Business Brokers of Boston. You chose a franchise,

589
00:32:40.599 --> 00:32:43.920
what are the benefits? I mean, we're a franchise too,

590
00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:46.759
but tell the audiences what the benefit of a franchise

591
00:32:47.480 --> 00:32:49.400
is benefits are and why that was good for you.

592
00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:53.319
Yeah, it's a great question, because I'll be very straight,

593
00:32:53.720 --> 00:32:57.039
I'm not always the biggest fan of franchises. I kind

594
00:32:57.079 --> 00:33:01.839
of like to shop local and and that just kind

595
00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:03.359
of that's how I've been for most of my life.

596
00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:06.240
But so this is kind of a big decision for me.

597
00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:10.880
A big choice, and I really wanted to take a

598
00:33:10.920 --> 00:33:14.839
deep dive into some Belt and I did a lot

599
00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:17.599
of due diligence on it before moving forward, for sure,

600
00:33:18.279 --> 00:33:21.200
speaking with a lot of other franchise owners around the country,

601
00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:25.079
and my take on some Belt was there very hands off,

602
00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:31.160
and I was very kind of excited about that. And

603
00:33:31.160 --> 00:33:35.319
I also my take was, I'm at a certain point

604
00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:38.319
in my career where I would love to fast forward

605
00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:41.000
things a couple of years. And I think that the

606
00:33:41.400 --> 00:33:45.480
training that they provided, you know, the instant website, SEO,

607
00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:49.880
things of that nature, we're all ready packaged up and

608
00:33:49.960 --> 00:33:52.400
ready for me to kind of jump right into it

609
00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:55.359
and then have that platform behind me as well from

610
00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:58.839
a training standpoint to grow a company, because I still

611
00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:02.480
knew that I had another, you know, enough gas in

612
00:34:02.519 --> 00:34:05.279
the tank to go build another firm or too. And

613
00:34:05.359 --> 00:34:07.640
so that's what I was excited about, was some built.

614
00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:11.000
All right, So give us a thumbnail, thumbnail view of

615
00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:11.840
the work that you do.

616
00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:17.679
Sure so well, so some you know some I'll start

617
00:34:17.719 --> 00:34:20.039
with this somebol It's been around since the late seventies

618
00:34:20.480 --> 00:34:23.519
and in the nineties they really grew to be a

619
00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:29.719
pretty large national business brokerage. With a couple hundred offices

620
00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:34.400
around the country and focusing more on the more main

621
00:34:34.440 --> 00:34:38.920
street smaller companies, call it business companies that we use

622
00:34:38.960 --> 00:34:42.000
a business broker to sell their company. And these business

623
00:34:42.119 --> 00:34:46.679
many times have less than a million dollars in earnings.

624
00:34:47.159 --> 00:34:48.679
It's kind of where a lot of people draw the

625
00:34:48.679 --> 00:34:52.280
line in terms of mainstream type business sometimes significantly less

626
00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:56.199
than that, but definitely less than a million in earnings.

627
00:34:56.199 --> 00:35:00.400
Sales can be anywhere from probably five hundred thousand up

628
00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:04.320
to maybe ten million, somewhere in that range. And so

629
00:35:04.360 --> 00:35:07.159
those are the types of the size of businesses that

630
00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:13.920
we typically work with at Sunbelt. There are also ways

631
00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:15.760
that we can talk with companies that are a little

632
00:35:15.800 --> 00:35:17.880
bit larger if we have some connections with some private

633
00:35:17.880 --> 00:35:23.159
equity firms as well. And the businesses we work with,

634
00:35:23.480 --> 00:35:29.360
they really need to be profitable, have steady or growing revenues,

635
00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:31.239
or also a good story to tell around that if

636
00:35:31.280 --> 00:35:35.599
it's not. And the reason for the profitability is many

637
00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:38.880
times because many times these businesses are going to be financed,

638
00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:42.840
and if they're not profitable or sales are way down,

639
00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:44.079
then it's hard to do that.

640
00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:47.760
Tell us about I have a financing question as well.

641
00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:50.159
But first tell us about SBB Capital Partners.

642
00:35:50.760 --> 00:35:53.159
Sure, yeah, okay, good, I'm glad you brought that up.

643
00:35:53.920 --> 00:35:56.840
So SPB Capital is the M and A division of

644
00:35:57.000 --> 00:35:59.679
sun Belt, and so this is where we have lots

645
00:35:59.679 --> 00:36:03.800
of text over the years through some Belt we've pulled

646
00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:07.119
them into SBB Capital Partners to be able to market

647
00:36:07.119 --> 00:36:11.159
the larger companies. I would say with my firm, we're

648
00:36:11.199 --> 00:36:15.599
probably like eighty twenty eighty percent on main street smaller companies,

649
00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:18.639
and then we'll come across a decent manufacturing company that's

650
00:36:19.119 --> 00:36:21.039
got a million and a half a EBITA and we

651
00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:23.079
can put that in front of private equity to sell

652
00:36:23.159 --> 00:36:25.760
or go to strategics to sell. So it's really just

653
00:36:25.800 --> 00:36:29.280
a different brand and many times you kind of need

654
00:36:29.320 --> 00:36:31.920
that in this business because it's just different ways that

655
00:36:31.960 --> 00:36:34.320
you market a company. If they're smaller, you're marketing to

656
00:36:34.400 --> 00:36:37.719
people who want to kind of buy a job, maybe

657
00:36:37.719 --> 00:36:41.239
putting it out in the internet Confidentially, it's larger, you're

658
00:36:41.239 --> 00:36:44.920
marketing to private equity or competitors. So it's kind of

659
00:36:44.920 --> 00:36:47.440
a different branding to get the same thing done to

660
00:36:47.480 --> 00:36:48.360
a certain degree.

661
00:36:49.559 --> 00:36:54.559
And so take us from from the seller's perspective, what

662
00:36:54.719 --> 00:36:57.239
the process of selling a business is like with your

663
00:36:57.519 --> 00:36:59.199
with your advice, But then I want to ask you

664
00:36:59.239 --> 00:37:03.039
from your PERSPECTI right, So first from the seller's perspective,

665
00:37:03.800 --> 00:37:04.840
describe the process.

666
00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:10.599
Sure, So for a seller, they're going to meet with

667
00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:14.159
us and we're going to just learn a lot about

668
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:17.440
what they don't want to accomplish, you know, not only

669
00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:21.079
with their business, but after their business. It's very important

670
00:37:21.079 --> 00:37:24.880
what the motivation is for them to sell their company.

671
00:37:24.920 --> 00:37:29.239
And so they might not realize that's part of the process,

672
00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:31.079
but it becomes part of the process and they talk

673
00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:33.679
to us about these things, and then they're going to

674
00:37:33.679 --> 00:37:36.320
be sharing the story of their company with us, how

675
00:37:36.360 --> 00:37:39.039
they got there. We're going to talk to them all

676
00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:43.400
about operational dynamics and financials, those kind of the big

677
00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:49.320
things that we go through. Nine percent of the time, Kevin,

678
00:37:49.519 --> 00:37:51.880
business owners are not going to sell their business unless

679
00:37:51.880 --> 00:37:55.039
they know what the value of the company is. So

680
00:37:55.079 --> 00:37:57.159
that's one of the first things that ends up happening

681
00:37:57.239 --> 00:37:59.519
if they if they like our discussion and they want

682
00:37:59.519 --> 00:38:01.599
to move a little bit forward with us. In the process,

683
00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:04.840
we're going to put a market range of value on

684
00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:10.000
their company by their financials and at that point, we're

685
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:12.360
going to have another discussion about that because there has

686
00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:15.800
to be some reality baked into right. A lot of

687
00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:19.960
business owners, many business don't know what their business is worth,

688
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:22.239
and they should and that's not what they do all day.

689
00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:25.079
They're good at running their company and they're they're not

690
00:38:25.239 --> 00:38:29.360
looking at their financials in that capacity. But they might

691
00:38:29.400 --> 00:38:33.320
have a need to make excellents to retire, but it

692
00:38:33.320 --> 00:38:35.800
doesn't need in the reality of what the business is

693
00:38:35.840 --> 00:38:38.239
worth aren't always the same thing. So we have to

694
00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:39.639
have that conversation as well.

695
00:38:40.119 --> 00:38:42.639
So there seems to be a common belief that business

696
00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:44.320
owners are going to be like a homeowner. They're going

697
00:38:44.360 --> 00:38:49.039
to value their business mentally greater than it actually is.

698
00:38:49.039 --> 00:38:49.840
Does that happen a lot?

699
00:38:50.440 --> 00:38:54.559
Many times they do, yes, and and they think that

700
00:38:55.559 --> 00:38:57.599
someone's going to magically come in and write a check

701
00:38:57.639 --> 00:39:00.840
for it. But there's you know, there's two sides of

702
00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:03.159
that equation as we turn on investment side, from the

703
00:39:03.360 --> 00:39:05.440
from the buyer as well, that's what they're looking at.

704
00:39:05.639 --> 00:39:08.119
Yeah, all right, now talk about it. I think it's

705
00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:11.880
similar but slightly different. Your perspective when you're selling a business.

706
00:39:12.920 --> 00:39:17.159
So when when well, when I'm looking at a business,

707
00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:20.800
I see it from the buyer. I try to see

708
00:39:20.800 --> 00:39:23.519
it from the buyer's eyes. That's my perspective most of

709
00:39:23.559 --> 00:39:26.639
the time. What I what I think is kind of

710
00:39:26.719 --> 00:39:29.559
unique about my position is I've been on the buyer

711
00:39:29.719 --> 00:39:33.280
side before, so I can really empathize with that and

712
00:39:33.719 --> 00:39:36.519
see that clearly. And then I understand what the seller

713
00:39:36.599 --> 00:39:38.840
is going through as well, because they want to really

714
00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:43.480
maximize you know, that that price. But you know, from

715
00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:47.480
the the process for me is really determining if this

716
00:39:48.159 --> 00:39:52.199
if this business is sellable, and if the business owner

717
00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:55.599
truly wants to sell their company right now. So I'm

718
00:39:55.639 --> 00:39:57.920
really digging in deep on both of those things. And

719
00:39:58.320 --> 00:40:02.119
one is kind of psychological. Are they ready? Will they

720
00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:06.400
pull the trigger? And because it's very emotional, so they

721
00:40:06.440 --> 00:40:08.400
might even get required to come in and make a

722
00:40:08.400 --> 00:40:11.719
decent offer, and and all of a sudden they goes,

723
00:40:11.760 --> 00:40:13.239
oh my god, I want to stay. I don't want

724
00:40:13.239 --> 00:40:15.360
to do this anymore. So we really need to kind

725
00:40:15.360 --> 00:40:19.719
of sign yeah, we need to come to terms on

726
00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:22.400
that for sure, and then making sure that it's it

727
00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:25.079
is a sellable company and if not having that hard

728
00:40:25.119 --> 00:40:27.880
conversation with them, that it might not be ready to sell.

729
00:40:27.960 --> 00:40:32.079
Yet, what are some of the maybe misunderstood or under

730
00:40:32.400 --> 00:40:39.000
understood aspects that would go into valuing a business.

731
00:40:40.119 --> 00:40:45.039
Oh sure, so most business owners want to reduce their

732
00:40:45.079 --> 00:40:48.840
taxable income, and by means of by ways of doing this,

733
00:40:48.920 --> 00:40:53.599
they might they might run their company car through the business.

734
00:40:53.800 --> 00:40:57.239
They might take their family to Disney and say it's

735
00:40:57.239 --> 00:41:00.400
a travel expense, so be it. I'm not I'm not

736
00:41:00.480 --> 00:41:04.119
the irs. But these are things that if you do

737
00:41:04.280 --> 00:41:05.920
too many of this, it makes it a little bit

738
00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:10.440
harder from a financial standpoint to really extract the true

739
00:41:10.519 --> 00:41:14.800
value out of the company and again make sure it

740
00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:18.239
can be financiable. That's definitely one key thing that people

741
00:41:18.559 --> 00:41:21.679
don't think about very often, especially the business owners themselves,

742
00:41:21.840 --> 00:41:24.000
until they go through a process with someone like me

743
00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:26.679
who can talk them through that. And then maybe times

744
00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:30.239
we take a little time to fix that. We try

745
00:41:30.280 --> 00:41:32.000
to do the best we can to pull it out now.

746
00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:34.639
But some of the things aren't really able to do

747
00:41:34.719 --> 00:41:35.000
that with.

748
00:41:36.119 --> 00:41:41.880
So you're going to make adjustments, or you'll show the buyer, yes,

749
00:41:42.880 --> 00:41:45.679
those nine items or whatever it is, to show there's

750
00:41:45.880 --> 00:41:49.239
that much more value. I don't know, that's six thousand

751
00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:50.639
dollars for a car for the year.

752
00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:54.960
Well, that's profit, correct, we will adjust that and add

753
00:41:54.960 --> 00:41:57.400
that back to the bottom line and all those things.

754
00:41:57.519 --> 00:41:59.679
A buyer doesn't necessarily need to run that through the

755
00:41:59.719 --> 00:42:01.440
business a statement if they want to, but they don't

756
00:42:01.480 --> 00:42:04.239
need to, so that's actually profit they can use whoever

757
00:42:04.239 --> 00:42:07.039
they want it to use that. The other thing we

758
00:42:07.119 --> 00:42:12.000
run into occasionally is cash, and if cash isn't reported,

759
00:42:13.119 --> 00:42:15.159
then it can't be part of the vount you can

760
00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:19.960
do right the business either the business owner save their

761
00:42:20.039 --> 00:42:22.639
thirty percent when they didn't report it, but they're not

762
00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:24.480
going to get the three x multiple out on the

763
00:42:24.480 --> 00:42:26.320
other side. So we run out to some of these

764
00:42:26.320 --> 00:42:26.760
things too.

765
00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:29.679
So what are the ranges of multiples? And it probably

766
00:42:29.719 --> 00:42:32.079
depends on the type of business, et cetera. But what

767
00:42:32.119 --> 00:42:32.800
do you see?

768
00:42:33.119 --> 00:42:35.679
Yeah, so that's a great question. And one thing that

769
00:42:36.920 --> 00:42:41.079
the people many many business owners wouldn't know is unlike Zillow,

770
00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:42.840
you can go on and find out where your neighbor's

771
00:42:42.840 --> 00:42:43.519
house is worth.

772
00:42:43.719 --> 00:42:46.360
Right, that's a good analogy for.

773
00:42:46.719 --> 00:42:51.239
A business that We actually have private industry databases for

774
00:42:51.519 --> 00:42:53.760
private business sales that have been recorded. So every time

775
00:42:53.800 --> 00:42:56.960
I sell company, I record those to these databases. Privately,

776
00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:00.719
it's all confidential, but you see, you know X revenue

777
00:43:00.760 --> 00:43:01.880
and why profit and you.

778
00:43:01.840 --> 00:43:05.440
Can essentially comps from the comps okay.

779
00:43:05.119 --> 00:43:07.840
Comps for small businesses. So we have access to that

780
00:43:08.159 --> 00:43:13.000
in multiple different databases and so those help us to

781
00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:15.199
to get the you know, the value in the right

782
00:43:15.239 --> 00:43:19.400
direction as well. And then from from a multiple standpoint,

783
00:43:20.119 --> 00:43:24.960
the majority of businesses are our value off of real

784
00:43:25.039 --> 00:43:30.119
cash flow earnings really and and you're looking at anywhere

785
00:43:30.159 --> 00:43:34.280
from smaller companies two to three usually in that range,

786
00:43:34.880 --> 00:43:38.119
and that's of of of earnings and it's not out

787
00:43:38.159 --> 00:43:39.159
of sales.

788
00:43:38.840 --> 00:43:42.239
For the okay for the audiences. Yeah, we say multiple,

789
00:43:42.280 --> 00:43:45.599
that's eight. It's one times, two times three times earnings.

790
00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:46.480
Yeah.

791
00:43:46.519 --> 00:43:49.079
Right, And you also mentioned a term which I knew

792
00:43:49.079 --> 00:43:51.000
we'd get to EB to break that down.

793
00:43:51.800 --> 00:43:55.880
Sure, well, ebad is it's the similar earnings, except you're

794
00:43:55.880 --> 00:43:59.639
actually installing a manager to run the company, so it's

795
00:43:59.639 --> 00:44:02.360
just going to be it's just a different number. It's

796
00:44:02.400 --> 00:44:07.199
earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which is a

797
00:44:08.159 --> 00:44:11.599
very worthy but it's a line item on your P

798
00:44:11.679 --> 00:44:16.679
and L. And usually companies that are larger are sold

799
00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:20.400
based on a multiple of Ibata, and the smaller companies

800
00:44:20.480 --> 00:44:23.800
are sold on in multiple of what's called discretionary earnings,

801
00:44:23.960 --> 00:44:27.920
which is earnings plus all those adbacks we just talked about,

802
00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:31.559
and the buyer is going to step in and be

803
00:44:31.679 --> 00:44:34.599
the owner of the day to day person in that

804
00:44:34.719 --> 00:44:37.480
smaller company. Whereas when you're selling a company based on

805
00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:40.559
EBIT of multiple, you're assuming that someone's going to the

806
00:44:40.599 --> 00:44:43.599
CEO might stay, or you might be installing a manager,

807
00:44:43.639 --> 00:44:45.880
So it's more of an investment, right platform.

808
00:44:45.960 --> 00:44:47.559
Yeah, if the owner goes away, it's got to have

809
00:44:47.639 --> 00:44:49.440
less value. The owner's going to stick around for a while,

810
00:44:49.480 --> 00:44:53.360
it's going to have more value, right absolutely, Yeah, whatever

811
00:44:53.400 --> 00:44:55.559
the structure of that is, whether it's a consulting agreement

812
00:44:55.599 --> 00:44:59.440
or a higher price, or imagine that both of those arrangements, right.

813
00:45:00.239 --> 00:45:03.760
And the larger companies are that are sold on you know,

814
00:45:03.760 --> 00:45:06.760
an EBIT to multiple. Typically the multiples are higher, and

815
00:45:06.840 --> 00:45:09.559
the bigger the company, the bigger the multiple. So you

816
00:45:09.639 --> 00:45:14.159
can have a manufacturing company with you know, three million

817
00:45:14.159 --> 00:45:17.039
dollars a bit, they might sell at four, five or

818
00:45:17.079 --> 00:45:20.880
six times, and then you have a much smaller company

819
00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:24.480
could be a manufacturing company with the owners making four

820
00:45:24.519 --> 00:45:27.760
hundred thousand dollars probably you know, somewhere between, you know,

821
00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:30.559
maybe three and four if they're lucky, somewhere in that range.

822
00:45:30.559 --> 00:45:33.559
So it's just a stifferent on the size and scope.

823
00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:37.440
So now to drill down a little bit, who makes

824
00:45:38.039 --> 00:45:40.360
a good you talked about a good buyer, a good owner,

825
00:45:40.480 --> 00:45:42.440
good seller. Who makes a good buyer?

826
00:45:43.400 --> 00:45:46.440
Yeah, So we spend i'd say almost the majority of

827
00:45:46.440 --> 00:45:49.519
our time dealing with the buyers. So once we find

828
00:45:49.519 --> 00:45:53.039
a you know, a real qualified seller, we get them

829
00:45:53.159 --> 00:45:55.039
all set up and ready to sell their business. We

830
00:45:55.119 --> 00:46:00.280
build a nice marketing deck, we confidentially market it to

831
00:46:00.320 --> 00:46:03.119
these buyers, some of them who we know, who we know,

832
00:46:03.280 --> 00:46:07.079
and some of them who we don't. They're acquiring on

833
00:46:07.159 --> 00:46:09.840
that business, and now we need to vet them and

834
00:46:10.440 --> 00:46:13.199
figure out which ones are considered you know, a great buyer,

835
00:46:13.280 --> 00:46:15.679
a good buyer, and there's you know, there's lots of

836
00:46:15.679 --> 00:46:19.960
different checkpoints for that. But you know, initially they're introd,

837
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:25.320
they're showing interest, which is great. We're finding out are

838
00:46:25.360 --> 00:46:28.280
they casting a y net to buy a company or

839
00:46:28.599 --> 00:46:31.320
or have they already narrowed that down and they know

840
00:46:31.440 --> 00:46:32.920
kind of what they want to do. They want to

841
00:46:32.920 --> 00:46:36.079
buy you know a manufacturing company or are they they

842
00:46:36.159 --> 00:46:41.440
looking at it companies, manufacturing companies, laundromats. So that happens,

843
00:46:41.440 --> 00:46:43.880
and that's okay, but that's probably not the best buyer.

844
00:46:43.960 --> 00:46:45.559
We need to really kind of vet that down to

845
00:46:45.599 --> 00:46:48.559
someone who's very interested in this specific company that's for

846
00:46:48.639 --> 00:46:52.639
sale that we're representing. And then we're also looking at

847
00:46:52.840 --> 00:46:57.199
their background of financials, So if we need X amount

848
00:46:57.239 --> 00:46:59.239
of money for them to put down on a companies

849
00:46:59.280 --> 00:47:01.960
and then to find it's the rest, we're making sure

850
00:47:02.119 --> 00:47:06.639
that they have bank statements to verify that. Along with

851
00:47:06.719 --> 00:47:11.039
that is usually some sort of transferable skill sets, you know,

852
00:47:11.079 --> 00:47:14.440
so we're looking at their resume and it doesn't mean

853
00:47:14.480 --> 00:47:17.800
that if you never ran a manufacturing company before, that's okay.

854
00:47:17.840 --> 00:47:19.679
If they want to buy one, maybe they have some

855
00:47:19.719 --> 00:47:22.440
good management experience, then they can kind of transfer those

856
00:47:22.440 --> 00:47:25.559
skills over to But you usually have to paint some

857
00:47:25.639 --> 00:47:28.119
sort of a picture to be able to step into

858
00:47:28.440 --> 00:47:31.599
certain companies, especially with the lenders. But before you even

859
00:47:31.599 --> 00:47:33.360
get to lenders, we want to make sure that we

860
00:47:33.440 --> 00:47:34.079
think it's to go.

861
00:47:34.760 --> 00:47:37.320
So cash buyers is probably less I don't know if

862
00:47:37.320 --> 00:47:41.519
scrutiny is the right word, but less requirements financially, they

863
00:47:41.559 --> 00:47:43.119
have to have you know, enough to run the business

864
00:47:43.159 --> 00:47:47.119
for a while, but you have access to financing, do

865
00:47:47.159 --> 00:47:49.880
you recommend you don't have to name names, but you

866
00:47:50.280 --> 00:47:53.880
have a stable of banks or firms you could lend,

867
00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:56.559
you could well, I can't even talk refer them to.

868
00:47:56.880 --> 00:47:58.360
Or do you have access to financing?

869
00:47:58.880 --> 00:48:02.199
Yeah, no, that is some great question, and you know,

870
00:48:02.800 --> 00:48:07.320
I don't know. Most most deals are are financed just

871
00:48:07.480 --> 00:48:11.119
people are People are using other people's money, and we

872
00:48:11.880 --> 00:48:14.559
hope that's it and we do we we what we

873
00:48:14.679 --> 00:48:19.320
what's important is dealing with lenders that are deal makers

874
00:48:19.559 --> 00:48:23.079
and not deal breakers. So we definitely have strong relationships

875
00:48:23.440 --> 00:48:25.400
with some of the best bankers out there that we

876
00:48:25.480 --> 00:48:28.159
know can get deals done. And every bank has different

877
00:48:28.559 --> 00:48:32.639
you know, risk tolerances as well. Yeah, so we know

878
00:48:32.719 --> 00:48:34.719
kind of where to steer them to for for each

879
00:48:34.760 --> 00:48:36.440
type of a deal or each type of a buyer,

880
00:48:37.079 --> 00:48:40.159
which helps get it to close, because that's just you

881
00:48:40.280 --> 00:48:42.119
get to the one yard line. A lot of times,

882
00:48:42.199 --> 00:48:44.320
it's really hard to get into the end zone when

883
00:48:44.320 --> 00:48:46.119
you're selling your company or buying a company.

884
00:48:46.159 --> 00:48:49.920
That stuff the real catch, and that's when you get paid,

885
00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:51.280
is when paper gets transferred.

886
00:48:51.920 --> 00:48:54.159
That is very true. And I also like to say,

887
00:48:54.199 --> 00:48:56.760
if you know from a football analogy, when you get

888
00:48:56.760 --> 00:48:59.880
to the one yard line of football, you get four tries. Well,

889
00:49:00.079 --> 00:49:03.400
you know I get unlimited tries. I have to be

890
00:49:03.480 --> 00:49:06.000
creative and I got to find ways to get the

891
00:49:06.719 --> 00:49:08.800
deal closed. And that's what I enjoy a lot about

892
00:49:08.800 --> 00:49:09.400
doing this too.

893
00:49:10.159 --> 00:49:12.519
Well, believe it or not, a lot of time. But

894
00:49:12.519 --> 00:49:15.199
I've got a couple of good questions. Last two questions

895
00:49:15.280 --> 00:49:18.559
who in the viewing and listening audiences should reach out

896
00:49:18.599 --> 00:49:20.679
to you and why? In the second will be how

897
00:49:20.679 --> 00:49:21.440
to get in touch with you?

898
00:49:22.480 --> 00:49:28.960
Sure, well, I'd say business owners with great businesses that

899
00:49:28.960 --> 00:49:31.920
that are looking to retire or do something different. I'm

900
00:49:31.960 --> 00:49:36.199
glad to have a confidential conversation with you. I also

901
00:49:36.400 --> 00:49:41.559
many times I like talking with lawyers and CPAs and

902
00:49:41.639 --> 00:49:44.360
financial advisors because I think we kind of live in

903
00:49:44.400 --> 00:49:47.039
the in the same world to a certain degree and

904
00:49:47.400 --> 00:49:51.159
can work well together. And I think that that will

905
00:49:51.159 --> 00:49:51.599
probably do it.

906
00:49:51.639 --> 00:49:54.840
With that, all right, excellent, And the best way to

907
00:49:54.840 --> 00:49:57.360
reach you is, yeah.

908
00:49:57.320 --> 00:49:59.760
My my email address, so you can go on our website.

909
00:50:00.119 --> 00:50:05.320
Emails T Pompio at Sunbeltnetwork dot com. And I'm on

910
00:50:05.400 --> 00:50:06.400
that email all the time.

911
00:50:06.800 --> 00:50:08.519
Perfect and the website.

912
00:50:08.119 --> 00:50:11.360
Is Sunbelt Boston dot com.

913
00:50:11.400 --> 00:50:15.400
All right, that's nice and easy. Sun Belt Boston dot com. Tony,

914
00:50:15.440 --> 00:50:17.159
thank you so much. I know you're busy. I really

915
00:50:17.199 --> 00:50:19.559
appreciate you covering it sometime to be with us today.

916
00:50:19.760 --> 00:50:21.320
Kevin, this has been great. Thank you so much. I

917
00:50:21.320 --> 00:50:22.079
really appreciate it.

918
00:50:22.159 --> 00:50:24.760
You're welcome. I'll see you soon, and thank you everybody

919
00:50:24.760 --> 00:50:27.639
for watching and listening. This is a show about business,

920
00:50:28.079 --> 00:50:31.559
sometimes business challenges. If you've got concerns about the sales

921
00:50:31.599 --> 00:50:34.039
effectiveness of your company, whether your sales team is you

922
00:50:34.239 --> 00:50:36.480
or small, or it's large, feel free to reach out

923
00:50:36.480 --> 00:50:40.000
to me on linked excuse me on Facebook or LinkedIn,

924
00:50:40.039 --> 00:50:42.440
And that's at Winning Business Radio. You can drop me

925
00:50:42.440 --> 00:50:44.199
a note to one of my many email addresses. I

926
00:50:44.239 --> 00:50:47.519
always say Kevin at Winning Business Radio dot com. Our

927
00:50:47.519 --> 00:50:50.599
company is Winning Incorporated. We're part of Sandler Training. We

928
00:50:50.719 --> 00:50:55.320
developed salespeople and sales teams into high achievers and sales

929
00:50:55.480 --> 00:50:58.320
leaders into true coaches and mentors. Hey, listen, we're not

930
00:50:58.400 --> 00:51:01.000
right for every company, but maybe we should have a conversation.

931
00:51:01.440 --> 00:51:03.800
Thanks for producer and engineer. One for another job, Well,

932
00:51:03.800 --> 00:51:06.320
Don appreciate you on be sure to join us next

933
00:51:06.320 --> 00:51:09.639
week Monday, March ninth, when my guests will be Riley Deplacido,

934
00:51:09.760 --> 00:51:13.360
founder and CEO of Triumph HR. Until then, this is

935
00:51:13.440 --> 00:51:14.079
Kevin Helenan.

936
00:51:16.159 --> 00:51:18.960
You've been listening to Winning Business Radio with your host,

937
00:51:19.079 --> 00:51:22.119
Kevin Helene If you missed any part of this episode,

938
00:51:22.239 --> 00:51:26.400
the podcast is available on Talk for Podcasting and iHeartRadio.

939
00:51:26.840 --> 00:51:30.559
For more information and questions, go to Winning Business Radio

940
00:51:30.679 --> 00:51:33.719
dot com or check us out on social media. Tune

941
00:51:33.760 --> 00:51:35.800
in again next week and every Monday at four pm

942
00:51:35.840 --> 00:51:39.400
Eastern Time to listen live to Winning Business Radio on

943
00:51:39.639 --> 00:51:43.880
W four CY Radio W four cy dot com. Until then,

944
00:51:44.239 --> 00:51:47.840
let's succeed where others have failed and win in business

945
00:51:48.119 --> 00:51:51.960
with Kevin Helenan and Winning Business Radio