What Are The Pros and Cons of Buying An Existing Staffing Firm?
When you enter the Staffing and Recruiting profession, you have five options:
1. Invest in a franchise
- $40,000+
2. Purchase an existing Firm
- Depends on value of the firm
3. Work for someone else, learn the profession and then go out on your own
- Starting from scratch due to non-compete agreements
4. Open your business and learn as you go
- High failure rate
5. Invest in our Start Up Tutor
- Under $5,000 investment
Let’s discuss the pros and cons of buying an existing staffing firm:
PROS
- You can determine if the business is profitable by reviewing financial statements
- Established location, reputation, clients and candidates
- Trained Team
- Training
- Reputation is established
- Niche or area of specialization is determined
CONS
- You don’t know the reputation of the firm or the word of mouth on the market
- You will pay much more if you buy an existing business than if you start out on your own.
- There is no guarantee that one person will stay after the sale.
- Their margins may be low and if you buy this business, clients will expect the same pricing.
- Often clients are loyal to a person – not a firm. There is no guarantee the current clients will do business with you.
- Often there is not a structured training program – so you end up learning OTJ.
- There is little or no movement to sell staffing firms right now – so make sure you do a thorough due diligence process.
- You have instant overhead that must be met each month.
Depending on the niche you select, you don’t need to have an office and a high overhead when you begin. You can work from home until you are profitable. Much depends on which choice will help you achieve your short and long term goals. If you’re considering starting a staffing and/or recruiting firm, I highly suggest you join us on our next Webinar entitled “How to Start a Successful Staffing and/or Recruiting Firm In Today’s Economy” by simply entering in your name, email and phone number in the form to your upper right. You owe it to yourself to learn as much as you can about starting your business!