<HTML>In a message dated 7/20/01 10:30:11 PM Central Daylight Time, doepke@fwi.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">How are clients/customers sold?  Is this done on a one-by-one client basis? I have expressed some concern that there is much trust and a level of confidence that he has built with his customers.  He has quietly explained to me that when I am ready he will introduce me to his customers in order to make a smoother transition.  I feel that this is very important for the future relationship with the customers. Any feedback will be very much appreciated. Brian </BLOCKQUOTE> Brian It is interesting that you bring this subject up at this time, because I am getting ready to sell my business also, to one of my former employees. He just got back from the convention where he talked with several different people, and came up with an idea I had not thought about. At first I had wanted him to buy my client list, and take over the phone, for a flat price. I was willing to finance the whole amount over 4 or 5 years. What he came back with is a different way, which I will explain. First of all, a tuning business is made up of two parts. One is the client list. The other is the telephone number in the Yellow Pages. The client list is important because it gives you ready customer who need to have their pianos tuned. If you contact these customers when their pianos need to be tuned, most likely they will use you. So how much is this list worth? The way we are contemplating doing this is for my employee to give me a small percentage of the tuning fee for each of my client he tunes, for the next three years. This could be a set percentage for all three years, or a sliding scale, a little less each year. In other words, it won't cost him anything, and I don't make anything, until he tunes a piano. If he decides to sit on his duff all day, he doesn't make any money, and neither do I. But if he hustles, he can make money, and so do I.  If he had paid me up front, he would be under a lot of pressure to tune pianos and he might not be able to do as good a job, and he will loose customers. The other part of the business is the telephone number. In my case, I have worked very hard for 24 years to build up a good reputation. Word of mouth is very important. New customers are going to look in the YP to find me. This, I feel, is an important source of income, and I think I should be compensated for "giving" him these customers. If your mentor is willing to also sell you the telephone number, you need to determine how much that is worth. In my case, on the average, I get about 3 or 4 new customers a week. Therefore, I put the price of $10,000 on the telephone number. If he kept htat number for 3 years, that price is equal to 1 new customer a week. It will be interesting to see how others bought or sold their tuning business. Willem </HTML>