Before discussing the "How" let's briefly discuss the "Why".
People often associate liquidating a business or estate with bankruptcy, death or some other catastrophy. While those can be reasons for liquidating, they are far from the only ones. Many businesses are doing very well and need to remodel or relocate to support their growth and need to liquidate the used assets they will be replacing. Businesses or individuals may need to generate cash flow for an expansion, project, product or some other need by liquidating some of their excess assets. Individuals often liquidate some or all of their estates prior to moving out of country or moving into a smaller home. The reasons for liquidating are not always bad and are often very good.
How does it work?
The overall liquidation concept is remarkably simple; convert hard assets into cash by selling them. As with many things in business it seems very straight forward, but in practice is far more complicated than it appears. What has value? Most people are surprised to find that the things they believe are worthless are actually more valuable than anything else they have. Who are the people that would be interested in buying what you have for sale? How to you find them and then market the sale to them? How do you move very large quantities of items quickly? How do you handle the logistics of the sale? The list of questions goes on and on. Fortunately, with our tools and experience we can create and execute an effective liquidation strategy for you. Our handling of each liquidation, from sales techniques to advertising campaigns, will be unique to each situation to generate the most cash possible for our clients.
What are some examples of different strategies?
More interested in money than time. Some are in not in a hurry to liquidate their assets and are concerned primarily with making as much money as possible. These liquidations take the longest, but can produce the most cash for the client. We may opt for an "On Site" sale, with an extensive advertising campaign prior to the sale, to bring in as many people as possible. These are sales set for a specific amount of time where we sell what we can at specific prices directly from our clients location. We work with many different buyers from across the country and would work to sell bulk lots to these clients if possible. When the sale is over, we may bring some or all of the items back to one of our warehouse locations and continue to sell the items at specific prices from there. The length of time items remain at our warehouse varies, but is generally never over six months. Generally the more patient you are, the more you can get for your items. We can wrap up the liquidation by running an advertising campaing prior to an online auction on any of the remaining items.
Time is of the essence. Occasionally liquidations have to happen quickly. Clients may need money to fund current projects or have too many locations to make a prolonged process feasible. In the case of bankruptcies, there may be a court ordered date by which the liquidation must be completed by. In these situations our advertising is generally shorter but more intense. We may reach out to people or companies who may be interested large portions of the inventory, if not all of it, for one price. We can follow up our advertising campaign with an "Everything Must Go" sale or online auction. We may even make an offer to buy the entire lot and bring it all back to one of our warehouse facilities for liquidation. You may make a little less money, but you will have your money all at once and very quickly.
I just want it gone. "The stuff has been sitting around for years and I just want it gone!" We hear that pretty often. Sometimes a business is growing and needs to remodel to support their growth, getting rid of the old assets becomes very urgent. The fastest way to complete a liquidation is when one buyer purchases everything, loads it up and takes it away. In situations like these we may first extend our offer, then put out a call for other offers. The highest offer generally takes the inventory and the entire process can be complete extremely quickly. The client has their money very quickly with no hassle. The drawback to this type of liquidation is that the client generally receives the least amount of money.
Some combination of the three. Most liquidations require a combination of some or all of these methods, or the creation of new ones. Exactly how we approach your liquidation will depend entirely on your individual needs. We have no cookie cutter approach. We tailor each liquidation to our clients specific circumstances. You can rest assured that we have the tools, experience and creativity to provide you with the best possible solutions. In the end, the more money we make for you, the more money we make as well.
What tools do you use in the liquidation process?
One of the things we are best at is customizing solutions to each of our customers needs. That being said, there are some common tools we use during the liquidation process.
Advertising: How we advertise depends on what is effective in the area we are trying to cover. We regularly use radio, print ads, internet advertising, direct mailing & telemarketing. We try to understand the area we are advertising in before beginning a campaing to ensure we get the biggest return on our marketing dollars.
On Site Sale: A great tool in the early stages of many liquidations. We set prices on items and then open the liquidation up to the public. When advertised effectively, on site sales are almost always very effective.
Individual Buyers: Like any other business, the longer you do it the more people you know. We have a fairly extensive list of people and companies we can contact to make offers on large lots of inventory or entire liquidations. Time is money and if you can get one buyer to take it all for a fair price quickly you can make out well.
Online Auction: We have an online aucition company at www.rlonlineaucitons.com. Auctions are always preceeded by an advertising campaign to maximize the sale. This is a great tool for liquidating a large amount of inventory very quickly.
Consigmnent: We have several warehouse facilities we can transfer your inventory to and sell it from. A great tool if you want to set prices on certian items and hold out for those prices.
We Buy It: We may make you an offer for the entire lot of inventory.