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1797 $10 Small Eagle NGC MS 63 Finest Known & Finest Certified $750,000.00

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Small Home on 5 Acres $225,000.00

HEIDELBERG SM74 PRESS $220,000.00

HEIDELBERG SM102 – 5P3 AGE 1994 $208,495.00

Heidelberg SM72 $175,000.00

WESTLAKE AUDIO SM-1VF Home Speakers (Retail $260,000) $145,000.00

WESTLAKE AUDIO SM-1VF Ultra Monitors (Retail $260,000) $145,000.00

CITIZEN M20 CNC SWISS SM “NEW PRICE”"WE WILL SHIP THIS ITEM” $139,999.99

Cisco ESR-4OC3-CHSTM1 4pt OC3 chan. STM1 POS/SDH SM Line Card Recert $119,190.00

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SMALL JAPANESE SWORD MADE BY YUKIMORI 1536/SMALL BLADE /W SHEIF $89,999.00

Small Crested Nyctosaur KJ2 Flying Reptile $80,000.00

WalterElmer Shofield oil on canvas Small town overlook $75,000.00

EMX2500/5000 SM01 MATRIX INT’L/DOM MOT/DSC/ALCATEL $70,000.00

CPAP-SM150-MD308 $61,727.00

AMS Precision Vacuum Tank System – Small Plastic Extrusion, Pebax, Thin Wall $55,995.00

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Chevrolet : Corvette PRISTINE CALIFORNIA FULLY RESTORED 1967 CORVETTE COUPE SMALL BLOCK 4 SPEED $47,877.00

Russia Year 1961 “Gagarin” small sheet of 10 stamps. $45,000.00

Case 580SM Series 2 Tractor Loader Backhoe, Cab,W/AC, 4×4, Extendahoe, 3300 Hrs $42,750.00

Case 580SM Series 2 Tractor Loader Backhoe, Cab, Air, 4×4, Extendahoe, 3600 Hrs $42,250.00

Case 580SM Series 2 Tractor Loader Backhoe, Cab, Air, 4×4, Extendahoe, 3200 Hrs $41,500.00

Cisco ESR1OC48/PSRPSMS OC-48/STM-16 POS/SRP SM-SR REFURBISHED Recert $40,796.00

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Anritsu 68197B-02-11-16-18-19-SM5462 $39,605.00

DP43 2d Small Trial Re-joined POSTALLY Used PAIR $39,517.50

Tektronix TDS6124C Digital Storage Oscilloscope Opt 3M, SM, ST, USB. 12 GHz – 40 $35,155.00

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SWC-Small-scale Classical Secretary Bookcase, NY, c1815 $34,000.00

Cisco OSM-1OC48POSSI+ Enh. 1pt OC-48/STM-16 SONET/SDH OSM SM-IR w/4 GE Recert $31,947.00

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CPAP-SM5007 $30,639.00

Noritsu FIVE Noritsu 3001 SM digital minilab win this auction get ONE FREE!!!!!! $30,000.00

SMALL CONCRETE BATCH PLANT $30,000.00

A LANGE & SOHNE PLATINUM 1815 SMALL SECONDS ON BRACELET DRESS WATCH $29,900.00

Cisco ESR-4OC3ATM-SM 4 Port OC3STS3cSTM1c ATM Line Card single mode Recert $29,702.00

Small Outdoor Cast Bronze Dome Water Fountain $29,526.25

Cartier Ballon Bleu Small, Ref# WE9003Z3 Diamond Bezel – White Gold on Bracelet $28,800.00

CARTIER Trinity 18k Tri-Gold Diamond Small Bangle Bracelet $28,000.00

CARTIER SANTOS DEMOISELLE SMALL, REF #: WF9003Y8, DIA CASE – WHITE GOLD $27,900.00

NICE TWO STOREY HOME IN SMALL TOWN, MINNESOTA *READY TO MOVE IN* $27,900.00

Small Block Chevrolet Marine 383 stroker 425HP x2 $27,000.00

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MARSHALL JTM-45 VERY RARE KITCHEN PLEXI GREEN SMALL BOX MICHAEL DOYLE BOOK BLUES $25,499.99

Tektronix TDS6804B 8GHz Oscilloscope Options 2M/SM/RTE/ET3/JA3 $24,999.99

3 bedroom, 1 bath Elbow Lake, Minnesota -Safe small town with great schools. $24,995.00

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Before embarking on the search for an acquisition, ask yourself, “what does ‘good’ look like?” Failing to address this basic question is at the heart of many subsequent failures, from an inability to find the right target, through – even worse – to finding the wrong target and buying it. Opportunism has its place, but only when informed by a clear view as to whether the opportunity fits your strategy.

So, what are the types of acquisition and what companies suit each type?

Type 1: Local competition

These are the easiest to find because they’re on your doorstep. The local market is big enough to support one operator but not two, so you’re looking for your nearest competitor. Watch out for the factors discussed below though – after all, buying a local competitor should give you the same benefits as geographic expansion and gaining scale, and carries many of the same risks.

Type 2: Geographic expansion and gaining scale

Here, you’re looking for a business as similar as possible to yours but operating in another geographic region. It’s easy to be seduced by superficial similarities, but if you’re going to achieve the cost savings that come through merging duplicated functions then there has to be a very good match. Otherwise you can incur high costs in coping with the complexity that’s been added to your business. Areas to investigate closely are:

• Customers: whilst you might both specialise in small businesses, there can be a world of difference between the needs and economics of selling to sole-traders and companies with just ten employees. Are your customers really compatible and looking for the same experience in terms of sales and service support?
• Suppliers: the products you sell might be equivalent but come from different sources. If you’re unable to shift all your demand to one supplier, you won’t be able to negotiate better terms and you’ll retain the costs of supporting both. For technology-based businesses, this isn’t trivial; it’s rare to find an employee who can be expert in more than one supplier’s systems.

Type 3: Product or skill acquisition

Moving business from your area of expertise – your customers and your products – into new products to the same customers is much more likely to succeed than trying to sell new products to new customers. So make sure that your target company really is selling to the same type of customer. You could be buying a business about which you know very little with no scope for those much sought-after “up-side synergies” – the opportunity to sell additional products to your existing customers.

Deciding which category your proposed acquisition falls into will enable you to describe the characteristics that make for a good – and a bad – fit with your current business.

Finding your target

You can pay a lot of money to external advisers to hear what you already know about your industry, just presented back more attractively. Many of the resources you need to identify a longlist of targets are already at your disposal. Narrowing this down to a shortlist requires more effort because you’ll need to gather financial and competitive data, which is where an adviser can be well worthwhile. To start you off, here are some ways to create your initial longlist.

• Your own knowledge – write a list of all your competitors and a few sentences about each. You’ll be surprised how much you already know.
• Customers – whilst they might not want to break confidences about their specific contracts, your customers will often tell you about how they perceive competitors and suppliers with the kind of products you want to get into.
• Suppliers – like customers, they may not divulge any secrets, but they can tell you who’s doing what in your industry.
• Former employees – the most mobile employees in any industry are usually its salespeople, so draw on their knowledge of former employers and pick up industry gossip. As well as your current team, recruitment interviews are a good opportunity to acquire information, though of course it would be unethical to run interviews as a cover to gathering such knowledge.
• Trade shows – likely you and your competitors go to the same trade shows. Talking to old contacts and making new ones will refresh your industry knowledge. This year, instead of binning all those business cards you’ve collected, have a proper look through them and do some digging online to see whether there’s a target amongst them.

Creating the shortlist

Weigh up each company on your longlist against your criteria of what good and bad looks like. Take into account the soft factors too, for example the owner’s age and personal situation. Someone approaching retirement may be more open to an approach than an ambitious entrepreneur only two years into a five year plan to make a fortune. And of course, the hard factors can’t be ignored: turnover, profit and which direction they are heading. This will help you decide whether it’s an attractive business and whether you can afford it. If you’re not comfortable finding and interpreting this material, now’s a good time to involve your accountant.

Approaching the target

This has to be an owner-to-owner discussion; no messages left on the answering machine or with employees along the lines of, “could Sid call me back about me buying his company”! Armed with knowledge of their business and circumstances you can initiate a discussion about whether the owner would be prepared to sell. Very quickly the question will arise, “how much?”, the answer to which I’ll save for another article.

You’ll almost certainly need to make several approaches before you find a willing seller. And even those who say no the first time around may be prepared to say yes later; circumstances change and your credibility as a buyer will also grow, making it more likely that you’ll get positive responses from your shortlist. Consistent and purposeful networking with integrity pays off with acquisitions.

Chris Jagusz works with businesses to get the best out of their acquisitions and current operations. He has worked in business-to-business services firms varying in size from start-ups to global giants, in the UK, Germany and Switzerland. As chief executive of a medium-sized business he made several successful acquisitions and has advised financial investors on many more. Chris has master’s degrees from Manchester Business School and Leeds University in the UK. He can be contacted at cjagusz@mac.com.