When Did You Last Google Your Cafe?
When selling your business, it’s understandable and quite normal for your mindset to shift. When this happens, your attention to detail can also change; managing your online and social presence can be one of the things that gets pushed to one side.
Even though you are considering selling or maybe already on the market, it’s really important that you stay on top of this and here is why.
Whenever we get a call from somebody about how they should go about selling their cafe, one of the first things that we do is check out their online presence.
What we have noticed is that most buyers also seem to do exactly the same thing when they know a cafe is for sale. I find it quite easy to tell how somebody feels about their business just by looking at the type and frequency of posts on social media, the business information available online and recent reviews.
Think about it logically: if you come across a Facebook or Instagram account that has little or no recent posts, how do you think the owner is feeling about their business?
If you look through recent reviews and notice negative comments about service and products (especially unanswered comments), what kind of signal is this sending out about how engaged the owner is?
Many people trust the information delivered by Google about your business, and unless you check it and update it, it could be sending out the wrong message to buyers.
There are typically two main types of buyers that will be looking at buying your cafe, and here is how they will see these problems differently.
The Buyer With No Previous Industry Experience.
When a buyer without any hospitality experience comes across a business with negative unanswered reviews or a lack of social media activity, they tend to be concerned that the business is not a good option.
In the mind of this buyer, they may be concerned about dealing with reviews about the product and service when they may not have as much experience as some of the staff that are currently employed.
This type of buyer is looking for a strong, ready-made business that they are going to get a good return from and will allow them to move into the hospitality industry in the smoothest way possible.
There is a strong upside to these buyers paying top dollar for a good business, demonstrating that they are taking over a well-established and low-risk business will lead to you getting a much better offer and a quicker sale.
By maintaining a strong online presence during the sale process, you are going to make your business look like a more attractive and lower risk opportunity to these buyers.
The Experienced Operator.
This buyer is somebody who recognises that turning an underperforming business around is going to be harder than starting from scratch.
Fighting against a negative reputation can be a lot of work, so continuing to manage your online reviews and keeping your online presence in check will help to reduce the risk in the eyes of these buyers.
The experienced operator will be able to see the potential (for them) of your business in a clearer way than the person who is coming into the industry from elsewhere. With that in mind, they will potentially pay a good price for your business if everything stacks up.
If these buyers find one or two things that seem like a red flag, then they typically negotiate much harder than other buyers.
Because experienced operators know the work involved in running a cafe, they are usually less emotionally engaged than a first-timer who has always dreamt of owning a cafe. With this in mind, it is crucial that you don’t give them any wiggle room to try and drop the price or walk away.
The Upside to staying on top of your online presence during the sale.
- You increase the appeal of the cafe to both types of buyers.
- The perceived risk to buyers is reduced.
- You will most likely bring in extra sales by posting regularly on your social media platforms.
- You are putting out the image that you are fully engaged and not in a hurry to sell, even if that’s not the case!
- You are adding to the goodwill of the business and giving yourself more positives to discuss with potential buyers.
- The process of posting more frequently on social media may even help potential buyers to become aware of your cafe for the first time.
- If the Increased activity on social media increases business, this will help the cafe present better when you have buyers looking at it.
Action Steps
- Google your business and check the first 10 results; is everything that you find up to date?
- Check your Google Business listing; is this information correct?
- Try to post on your social media platforms at least once a week. (We want people to almost find it hard to believe that you are for sale).
- Check your online reviews and respond professionally to all of them. Don’t get emotionally drawn into any negative reviews; take a deep breath or sleep on it and post a response explaining your side and apologise if you got it wrong.
As hard as it is, when selling your business you need to keep running it as if you’re not selling.
If you can ramp up your marketing and online activity, you are going to make the business look more appealing from the outside and, as mentioned above, make a bit of extra cash on the way out.
I hope this encourages you to review your current online presence and to take some action that may be needed. As always, if you have any questions about preparing your cafe for sale or the sale process, feel free to get in touch.
