Waking up BEFORE the crack of dawn. Returning phone calls. Extra attention to detail. Creating polished, organized Offering Memorandums. These are just part of Bob Dolan’s “secret sauce” that has made him a successful business broker for more than 45 years. In this spotlight interview by ComCapFL’s Nicole Dambro, you’ll learn more about Bob Dolan’s successes and challenges, and how working with ComCapFL has changed the game for him – making 2023 his most successful year yet.
CCFL Moderator:
Hi, my name is Nicole Dambro, and I work with Commercial Capital Ltd., Florida – aka ComCapFL. And today, I’m here with Mr. Bob Dolan, a business broker in the South Florida area. Hi Bob, thank you so much for joining me today!
Bob Dolan:
Glad to be here, thank you for having me!
CCFL:
First of all, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – for everybody who’s not acquainted with you yet.
BD:
I grew up in Anaheim, California, when there was nothing out there but orange groves. And then, Disneyland came and everything changed. I’ve traveled around the country, lived in different parts of the country, up in the Northeast, Texas, Atlanta, Tampa, a number of places, and it gives you perspective as to how things are done differently in different parts of the country. I started in franchising – a company called Sir Speedy Printing, which was a Newport Beach, California company. I started at that point in selling businesses, selling the franchises and it went on that I once we got them open, I’d teach them how to sell. I’d take them by the hand and take them out and show them what you’ve got to do… And that just evolved to managing groups. At one point, (he became my mentor actually of 45 years, he owned the rights to be the Florida State Franchisor) and we opened 80 of them and it was wonderful! But through the process, I realized that I needed more things to sell than just one [franchise] because if something were to happen to that one, I’m cooked – as when it happened during the financial meltdown. And so, I guess it was in the early 2000s that I got my broker’s license. (You have to have a real estate license to sell businesses in the state of Florida. And I got that and I got my broker’s license.) Realizing that I do a lot of larger transactions, figured that out pretty early that that’s where you can make more money is in selling bigger transactions. I get up at 3:15 every morning – and I’m an early morning person. I get a lot done in the early morning. I’m just, I work really hard at what I do! And I love it. I really enjoy helping people, and the relationships with people as it goes on. People say, what kind of businesses do you specialize in? I say, I really don’t specialize, there’s some businesses I don’t really chase after a lot – and that would be gas stations and beauty salons and those kind of businesses that I found that would be problematic. And medical, medical home health care – where you have to comply with its government agency called ACCA, which is just a royal […], very difficult people to do business with. Other than that, I think just making money is basically where we’re at.
CCFL:
Yes, and that’s astonishing that you wake up at 3:15 in the morning because you have a reputation that – for those who know you – we know that you work very hard and you’re exceptional at what you do. So with that being said, what would you say sets you apart besides waking up at 315 in the morning, sets you apart from other business brokers? You know, what’s your secret sauce?
BD:
I answer the phone, I return phone calls, you know, amazingly. You know, I don’t do a lot of co-brokerage, but I do some… and it just amazes me how people don’t return to phone calls or take some days to get back to you. So that – and I do what I say I’m going to do. My mentor taught me that early on, to just do what you say you’re going to do, more than what’s expected of you, and you’ll be fine. Everything else will take care of itself, and it has. So other than that, and I’m pretty good with computers and databases and keeping track of everything and following up and it’s I think really important.
CCFL:
Is there anything differently that you do in terms of the way that you list your businesses?
BD:
I take pride in preparing the ad and putting some thought into it, not just slapping something up and getting it going. And [putting some thought] into the packaging of the business: rather than typically what you find with some brokers is that they just put a bunch of files together and email them to you. Whereas I take, for the larger transactions, I hire out a professional to make it. It’s called a “SIM” or an “Offering Memorandum” and that really sets me apart because everybody else is just – not everybody – but a lot [of people] just slap it together and get it out there.
CCFL:
What are the trends that you’ve been seeing in the market lately here in 2023?
BD:
Yeah, well, the biggest, the most exciting thing is that a lot of the baby boomers are finally coming to market. I had hoped they would have started a long time ago, but I think what happened after during the COVID period, is that everybody was making a lot of money. There was some aggravation because there’s always a certain amount of aggravation in owning a business, but it was tolerable, but they were making good money. And after COVID, they said, “I’m out of here! I’m not going to put up with this any longer.” So, a lot of really high-quality businesses are coming to market that before were just sitting there and just taking in the cash – but now it’s not the money anymore. It’s just, “I want out.”
CCFL:
Yeah, definitely. There’s been a reorganization of priorities ever since COVID. It’s really taught us about what we want for our lives. And that’s great that they’re able to, you know, put their businesses up for sale and cash out.
BD:
Yeah, but I’ll tell you what else that happened, particularly in the past year or so, is when I came and started working very closely [with ComCapFL]. I’d worked with your company with one particular fellow, been a long time, about 10-15 years or so, but recently had a – “large” is relative – but you know, like a seven, eight-million-dollar transaction, that as we got into it, there were challenges. And most bankers when the first they begin to see bumps in the road, what they do is, they just don’t want to mess with it! They just say, you know, “I’m sorry we can’t can’t do it. Can’t, decline, won’t work.” Whereas working with your [firm], I can tell you that this transaction would not have happened if it wasn’t for your [firm] helping me. They kept pushing and pushing and trying to look for another way to make it happen, and that’s what made the difference and made the sale, and it was a nice commission. I’m thankful for it.
CCFL:
Nice! Yes, that is something that ComCapFL prides ourselves in is that yes, Dave and Jim, they just really have the experience to know what they’re doing, and they really care.
BD:
And the buyers appreciate that. Everybody appreciates it. It’s just that most of the time, I can’t tell you [how many times] the deal that we got funded was rejected, I don’t know, within a week or so at the bank. They just gave some baloney of an excuse like, you know, why they couldn’t do it… but [ComCapFL] said, “No, no, no, we can make this happen.” And they did, and I’m thankful.
CCFL:
Yes, and we are so thankful that you came to us to assist you in this deal to find a solution. One of the things that I know was also an issue was this was a sizable SBA loan, and the SBA has maximums, and it was just outside of the maximum, right?
BD:
Yep. And so… Yeah, how to dance around to make it to comply with the rules but to get it done.
CCFL:
Right.
BD
Right. That takes work.
And that’s where just your larger banks, they just say, you know, “Sorry, can’t do it.” And all the time they’re changing people around to where you’re into the deal pretty deep and that [employee leaves the bank] and another person comes in, so you’ve got to start all over again – and that’s not the case with Dave. So I appreciate it.
CCFL:
Well, thank you. We loved working with you as well. How many banks do you think that they went to and how many lenders before finally getting this deal to stick?
BD:
I don’t know. A lot. A LOT. A number of them. And I don’t think it was so much the number of banks, although there were some. It was just trying to figure out to comply with the rules and with what we had to work with to get it done. So, it was just coming up with ideas on different ways to handle it that made the difference. It wasn’t so much to go to different banks, it was just having experience to know that there’s different ways to skin the cat, and we did.
CCFL:
And you know, one thing that we pride ourselves in also, is that it doesn’t stop just at the qualification step of the deal. We like to carry that “service” all the way through, that ‘teammate mentality’ all the way through, so that we can close the deal. So, we’re hoping that in the future, with other clients that you may bring to us, that we can provide them with that same “white glove service”.
BD:
Another transaction that just closed a week or so ago was a gal, I have no idea, she was a younger gal – but she was a little short on cash… And so they searched around for a bank that liked doing business with women. And that was a million-dollar transaction that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Dave’s tenacious, “keep going after it” [attitude].
CCFL:
We loved working with that client because that client was so fast to send us all the documents that we needed and was always ready for next steps. We loved working with her, and we wish her all the success.
Going back to before, you said that you’ve known – I’m guessing you’ve known Jim Rohr, for about 15 years, you said?
BD:
About 15 or so, I’d say.
CCFL:
So in those 15 years, how many times did you work with Jim?
BD:
We drifted apart, just as circumstances.
CCFL:
Sure.
BD:
I probably talked with him over, you know, a half a dozen or so transactions, I would guess.
CCFL:
How long would you say the gap was between the last time you talked to him and bringing him this first deal?
BD:
Back into the fold? It was a couple years. And I think he called ME, as a matter of fact, and one of my customers had, we tracked down and it’s funny how, you know, relationships go and connecting and so forth. I don’t remember what actually, how we reconnected again, but I’m sure glad we did.
CCFL:
But this was your first time meeting Dave through Jim?
BD:
Yes. We started with this sport fishing guy who did charters. And the piece of land that he had was on the Intercoastal, which is a major north-south waterway in South Florida. And he had a commercial license, docking for commercial fishing… which is very unusual. And it was a very valuable piece of land. And that was just, there’s all kinds of things we had to deal with to get clear title on the land.
CCFL:
Oh yeah.
BD:
Yeah, and that’s where they helped out a lot.
CCFL:
Do you plan on working with ComCapFL again in the future?
BD:
Every chance. They’re the first call.
CCFL:
Lastly, what piece of advice would you give to other business brokers who want to have the kind of success that you’ve had so far this year?
BD:
[in thought]
CCFL:
Wake up at 3:15 AM…!
BD:
Work hard, you. Know. There’s no magic.
There’s no magic. It’s just, I was listening to [Elon] Musk the other day, and he was just talking to people about, you know, what it takes to be successful and so forth. He says, (you know, he used a little profanity,) I mean, you work hard. That’s what you’ve got to do, is you’ve got to work hard. You’ve got to work at it, and you’ve got to figure out how to get better at what you do and not just take for granted what’s coming down the pike. And – I don’t know how to say professionally, but – don’t piss people off. It’s probably one of the [main things,] and at all cost, do whatever you got to do to make the customer happy.
I’m, selling a roofing company right now in Vero. They make about $1,000,000 a year, so it’s a it’s a nice-sized roofing company. And, in doing the due diligence phase of it, there were some [requests for] refunds and they said, “What’s that?” And I said, “Well, if they’re doing something and the customer’s not happy, they just return the money.” That’s all. There’s no questions, just return the money. And they have all five-star reviews on Google – and nobody else, not any of the other roofers, focus on the reviews. And probably, and I find it to be true myself, is that’s probably the most important thing that you get. You know, all advertising uses Google reviews – if you don’t have them, then it’ll be challenging.
CCFL:
And what would you say to them about financing? You know, it’s not really up to the business broker to facilitate financing, but sometimes, it’s important for the business broker to give the client options if they’re hitting a wall. So, what would YOU say to those clients? Or to business brokers to aid those clients?
BD:
As to what is probably the biggest problem in getting financing – is the quality of their accounting records. And if they’re really sloppy or they run a lot of personal expenses through the business… that that could be questionable. Is it really a non-business expense and a business expense? It’s that which makes the buyer uncomfortable with the with the credibility of the person, the people, that they’re doing business with. And so, at times, I’ll just tell [a seller] that, you know, when they have that sloppiness thing, that the smart thing to do would be to take a year and clean it up, to where you maximize your profits (because it’s all about the profits, it’s all about the cash flow).
So to give you an example, just to show how silly it is, to go what they’re going through: Say it’s $100 that what we’re talking about, and so say you’re in a 20% bracket tax bracket. You say $20, but that $100 could be worth 300, 300% as compared to 20% on what you get in taxes. It could be as a multiple in the earnings, it could be 2 to 3 times 2 to 300%… Just doesn’t make any sense. You know, take a little extra time. It’s money out of your pocket. It’s cash. And so my [advice] with the money is to just clean up your accounting records.
CCFL:
Now one thing we didn’t discuss yet is – we’ve talked about starting the financing process when you have a client that is ready to buy – but you also reach out to ComCapFL when you take on a company that is ready to sell… to look at their financials and other things like that, right?
BD:
Sure. Yeah, to get them pre-qualified. Yeah.
And that’s important. It’s not… “pre-qualifications” really, because they’re really not getting pre-qualified. But [ComCapFL] takes a look at it and sees like, “Oh, we could do this.” And that’s an important thing. It takes a little bit more time. It’s important, depending upon the transaction, as it will help sell the business if they are pre-qualified. Because then, a buyer knows, and they don’t spend a lot of time on it – and then find out they can’t get it financed. That’s the that’s the advantage of it.
CCFL:
Yes. And I know that we offer complimentary pre-qualifications, so it doesn’t cost you anything to take a look—
BD:
Oh yeah. Yeah. Within a day or two, most of the time.
CCFL:
Yes! Within a day or two. Thank you for adding that in, because that is different than most lenders [you’ve worked with], correct?
BD:
Oh yeah. If they’ll even do it at all. Ahhh… they grunt and groan about it… but Yeah, absolutely.
CCFL:
Yes, we absolutely. Try to help our business brokers out, because you all are wonderful to work with! Especially you, Mr. Dolan. You are on top of your stuff!
BD:
Thank you. You know, I think probably the most important thing is what my mentor taught me – is to just do what you say you’re going to do. That’s what I’m probably most known for, is if I say I’m going to do it for you, I do it, I get it done, I make it happen, whatever it takes.
CCFL:
And what can we, as ComCapFL, do to enhance your experience as a business broker, moving forward. And be honest!
BD:
No I will! I’m, I’m a straight talker. I tell people I start dealing with, that I’m a… if you don’t like straight talk, I’m not the guy, you know? I’m not going to try to look like the nice guy and then you get discouraged or you know… you’re not controlling your expectations.
And so, you know… there really isn’t anything, I can think of, that, honestly, that I would suggest. Dave always gets back to me within a, I’d say fast-to-reasonable period of time, and he returns phone calls, which is HUGE and he just keeps me informed as to what’s going on. So then I know how to do what I need to do, to keep everything moving in the right direction. And that probably more than anything is super, super important is keep me informed as to what’s going on is really important.
CCFL:
Well, Thank you! I really appreciate your time.
BD:
Thank you.
To Contact Bob Dolan of Dolan Sales, Inc.:
Phone: (954) 579-4687
Email: bobd@dolansales.co
Website: https://dolansales.com
(Original Video available on ComCapFL TV Channel on YouTube: https://youtu.be/K3B42cNmQ_M)
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