That most Business Owners do not understand Online in terms of their business strategy not only misses the opportunity it presents but how it even relates to what they do and how saleable it will make the business when the time comes.
I quite often hear Business Owners, when asked about their Online Strategy, say:
- “I know I should be doing something about the whole thing but I don’t have the time”
- “I have a website, isn’t that enough?”
- “What do you mean ‘how well’s it doing for me?’, what can it do exactly?”
- etc…
What I know is that potential Buyers are asking about the Online Strategy of the existing bricks and mortar business almost every time, as part of their consideration when looking to buy. And, they will discount the price the Seller wants because it is has not been developed or activated.
If Online is not part of the current revenue mix of the business then it will not be factored into the price. As my learned colleague Robert Hurst says, “what Buyers buyer is profit, why they buy it is potential.”
If a Buyer sees the potential, that will be a reason to purchase. But, they will not pay more for the opportunity to do so, other than what is actually presented at a particular point of time. If the Business Owner has not brought an Online Strategy to bear fruit, then the privilege of doing so will go to the next owner.
So what to do about it? If creating and implementing an Online Strategy was easy to do then every Business Owner would do it in a heartbeat! In actual fact, from where I sit right now, it is not that hard but you need to be asking the right questions and developing the solutions to make it work.
My 2014 adventure will be all about understanding the questions and the solutions in detail…
