S AV V Y B U S I N E S S S A L E S
ROD RUSSELL
celebrates 25 years BY VICKIE MAGIC
Rod Russell, founder of Savvy Business Sales was fortunate enough to get into his own business when he was just 21 years old. This business gave him eight years’ experience, and a huge advantage when he started as a broker for Chris Greenfield at Greenfields Business Brokers in March 1995. Business sales are renown for being one of the toughest ‘commission only’ sales roles to succeed in and one that few brokers make a career out of. Fortunately, no one told Rod Russell this and not long after he began Chris promoted him to sales manager in charge of a team of six brokers. Thinking back to that time Rod remembers that during the late 90’s and early 2000’s the landscape changed immensely, business owners had to become more accountable with the introduction of GST and BAS statements. Thank goodness for the end to the days of Mum and Dad shoeboxes full of receipts. It was around this time the Coast started seeing some serious business opportunities, gaining more and more buyers relocating from interstate and overseas. The way businesses were sold has also transformed over the past 25 years, in the early days (pre internet) classified ads were used, evolving to full page gloss colour ads, which worked really well and was unique, at the time, to the Sunshine Coast. In September 2006, Rod branched out on his own and started Savvy Business Sales in a small office in Mooloolaba. Initially it was just him and the administration manager, however, in no time the team grew to five and they quickly established themselves as the ‘Big 10 ISSUE 95
Business Specialists’, gaining a reputation for having completed numerous multi-milliondollar transactions. Over the next few years the business continued to grow solidly and in 2011 the ‘Queensland Business Sales’ brand was added to the portfolio, this provided wider exposure to big business in Brisbane, Gold Coast and key Regional Queensland centres. That same year Rod became a Registered Business Valuer with the Australian Institute of Business Brokers through the Macquarie University in Sydney. Business continued to escalate, they won a couple of ‘Business Excellence’ awards and even hit the jackpot winning the prestigious ‘Small Business of the Year’ award, this automatically elevated them into the exclusive ‘Hall of Fame’. Rod says, “This was without doubt a career highlight, it validated to me that our systems, procedures and results were definitely on point”. In 2013 long term, corporate sales specialist, Jeremy Bycroft became involved in the sale of Registered Training Organisations (RTO’s). This has proven fruitful as he quickly became one of Australia’s leading RTO brokers and has sold RTO’s all over the country including a recent $12 million interstate sale. Last year the team relocated from Mooloolaba to a freshly fitted out office in the Aqua Vista resort complex in Cotton Tree. Rod says, “We
will be here for a while, the location doesn’t get much better than this!”
We asked Rod, “What does it take to be successful in this industry for 25 years, and still going strong?” He answered saying, “Successful brokers have to be passionate about business, articulate with facts and possess supreme people skills… as this is an emotion charged industry. We are always prepared for the unexpected as business sales can be brutal, hence, long term brokers are scarce. Success comes when you surround yourself with professional colleagues, the industry’s best advisors and sincere buyers/sellers. It’s all about the people we deal with, that’s what keeps me going. Get that sorted and the buzz from business sales is irresistible!” Matters Magazine congratulates Rod and the team for their 25 years and wishes them every success for the future. a E: rod@savvybusiness.com.au www.savvybusiness.com.au