Business Spotlight: First National Business Corp.

William Martin has owned many businesses over the years, but he says none of them have been as rewarding as serving as president of First National Business Corp., the Springfield-based business brokerage firm he founded in 1999 and co-owns with Jim Greer.

"My only regret is that I didn't discover business brokerage earlier in my life," said Martin. "Helping business buyers and sellers participate in the great American dream of personal ownership of business enterprises and being part of these incredibly important events in our customers' lives is a career that is forever satisfying and rewarding."

Martin's business experiences include several advertising and marketing consulting agencies, a produce trucking company, a janitorial service, a multistate gifts, clothing and variety products distributorship, an oil specialty products distributorship, a direct mail processing service and a laminated plastic identification card distributorship.

Martin has been involved in the sale of more than 1,100 businesses since he became a business broker in 1982. That's the year he founded Martin and Associates Inc., a one-man company that provided business listings and marketing services for Business Concepts Inc. in Kansas City.

The company, which later was renamed American Business Masters Inc., supervised the sale of hundreds of small businesses for BCI and eventually expanded into a three-office agency, which included one office in Springfield. In 1998, Martin sold the name ABMI but kept the corporation, which he renamed United States Business Brokers Inc.

A year later, ABMI owners decided to limit their focus to Kansas City and Topeka, Kan., and sold the ABMI office in Springfield back to Martin. Martin promptly renamed it First National Business Corp. In 2001, Jim Greer, who has a real estate license and has worked as a business broker since 1998, became Martin's partner.

Today U.S. Business Brokers Inc. and First National Business Corp. share 5,000 square feet of office space at 1335 E. Republic Road in Springfield. The two companies work together to provide a wide range of services to business buyers and sellers. U.S. Business Brokers licenses others organizations to use First National Business Corp. systems.

"We sell business just like Realtors sell houses," said Martin.

Most of First National Business Corp.'s employees have a real estate license. However, Martin points out that the company's employees are trained to handle every aspect of a business acquisition transaction, including assessing a business' value, helping buyers locate the financing they need and handling the many details associated with a transfer of ownership.

"We assist buyers with financing details such as finding a lender, filling out a loan application and ensuring the loan process goes through in a timely and orderly manner," he said. "We provide these service as an accommodation to the business buyer and seller, and we do not accept any finder's fees or commission from the lenders who provide the loans."

In addition, First National Business Corp. provides free evaluations for business owners, including providing the owner with a professional opinion of how to price the business. The company also provides marketing services; analyzes financial records; assists buyers with search activities; does evaluations for entrepreneurs who are considering buying or selling a business and helps them determine the fair market value; coordinates the acquisition process; and works with attorneys, accountants, creditors, lenders and other advisors; locates businesses that are for sale; and handles targeted searches.

Buyers and sellers aren't charged a fee for these services, said Martin, but the company is paid a commission by the seller when the business is sold. The company also provides a no-cost, no-obligation consultation to entrepreneurs who are considering buying or selling a business.

When Martin took over the Springfield office in 1999, it had two agents. Now, First National Business Corp. employs five agents and two administrative assistants.

The company's success didn't go unnoticed, and before long, Martin began receiving inquiries from people who were interested in setting up their own business brokerage firms. Although he had considered expanding to other cities, Martin didn't want the responsibility of managing a multioffice business. So he decided to partner with other entrepreneurs and provide them with the expertise they needed to set up and run their own business brokerages.

Drawing on his 22 years of experience, he developed a six-day training class, followed by a six-month training schedule, which teaches owners and agents the ins and outs of running a successful business brokerage. Martin personally conducts all of the training, which takes place onsite at the affiliated business. Each affiliated business also is given the option of naming its business U.S. Business Corp, USBIZCORP, First National Business Corp., FIRSTBIZCORP or another name of their choosing.

U.S. Business Brokers Inc. in Springfield, which employs nine workers, provides administrative support to each affiliated company and acts as a clearinghouse for information on businesses that are available for sale. This information, as well as information of interest to those who are buying or selling a business, can be found on the company's Web site at www.usbizcorp.com.

Affiliated offices have been established in Springfield, St. Louis, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Springfield, Ill., Huron, Ohio, Milwaukee, Wis., and Denver. In addition, Martin said, offices are under development in 14 other U.S. cities.