IBBA Honors FE International with Four Awards

On May 6, 2017, the International Business Broker Association (IBBA) held its second Annual Member Excellence Awards Gala during the IBBA’s annual conference in Dallas, Texas. The IBBA was established in 1983 to provide business brokers with education, conferences, professional designations and networking opportunities. Its membership offers business brokers the opportunity to achieve a Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) certification and form business relationships. CEO Ismael Wrixen has been an active member of the IBBA since 2014.
Every Spring, business brokers from around the world gather to connect and learn from industry experts at the IBBA Conference. The awards gala is one night of the conference agenda, where industry leaders are recognized for their excellence. This year, Ismael, along with 28 other business brokers, were acknowledged. Of the seven categories, Ismael swept the board with four awards. These awards include, IBBA Chairman’s Circle, IBBA Deal Maker, IBBA Deal Maker of the Year and IBBA Top Global Producer.

Awards

FE’s success has been validated for the second consecutive year. Last year, Ismael received the Deal Maker Award and Chairman’s Circle Award – both awarded this year. Here are the category descriptions:

IBBA Chairman’s Circle Award:

Awarded to the business broker who closed one or more business deals amounting to $3 million and above in total purchase price during the 2016 calendar year.

IBBA Deal Maker Award:

Awarded to the business broker who sold at least 10 qualified businesses during the 2016 calendar year.

IBBA Top Global Producer Award:

Awarded to the business broker who has the highest total purchase price from all of their deals combined in the 2016 calendar year.

IBBA Deal Maker of the Year Award:

Awarded to the business broker who sold the greatest number of qualified businesses in the 2016 calendar year.

“It’s important to recognize those individuals who are worldwide leaders in the business broker industry and who display the high standards of skill and excellence that the IBBA promotes,” said Lou Vescio, IBBA Board Chair. “The IBBA Marketing Committee, which reviewed the applicant’s entries, had a difficult time selecting winners because of the high caliber of many of our IBBA members.”

If you are interested in reading the full press release from the IBBA, you can check it out here.

IBBA Conference Agenda

The IBBA Conference also includes seminars, keynotes, workshops, masterminds, courses and more. Ismael conducted a workshop on The Next Level track called, “Utilizing Technology to Sell Businesses.” The Next Level track is a category for more experienced business brokers. Other tracks included the Fast Track to Success for new business brokers and Franchise Sales Dynamics, for topics regarding unique aspects of selling new or existing franchised businesses.

Ismael is passionate about this topic and spoke about the tendency for offline business brokers to neglect the benefits of communicating through new technology. They often turn to traditional methods of one on one interaction or over the phone. The success of FE International is due in large part to how we leverage the use of the Internet and certain SaaS tools. During the workshop, Ismael gave insight on how to utilize digital marketing, email automation, CRMs, data rooms and more, in efforts to improve the efficiency of selling a business.

Success at FE International

The success of FE International and the recognition by these awards can be attributed to the widely talented FE team. What sets us apart from all the other business brokers is our intelligent, hard-working and passionate team members.  The profound talent from top-tier schools and backgrounds with considerable experience strengthens FE’s credibility and fosters our innovative spirit. We focus our attention on being as reliable and helpful as possible to our clients. From this, we are able to bring you the most accurate valuation, constructive advice for your exit strategy and dependable insight into the industry.

Each individual team member contributes significantly to continuously improve and modify our processes, propelling company growth. By investing in our team and their skills, we can iterate the importance of our mission: to provide our clients with safe, secure and successful deal making.

As you know, our industry can be dynamic and hard to keep up with at times and as industry leaders, we want to make sure our audience and network are constantly learning and staying informed. If you’re educated on processes and standards, it will better prepare you for a sale or acquisition and increases the likelihood of a successful deal. In order to achieve this, we will be producing more e-books for both buyers and sellers. In the upcoming months, you will gain access to several volumes of our Buyer Guide and Guide to Valuation. Each volume will be covering SaaS, all e-commerce, Amazon FBA, dropship, affiliate marketing, and lead generation business models.

These resources are great preparation materials to refer to when you are selling a business or investing in one. Exiting your business or taking on a new venture is in an important decision in both your personal and professional life. We advise all clients to do research ahead of exiting or entering an acquisition deal to ensure maximum business value.

Final Thoughts

We are especially honored to have such a great team that has made it possible for us to win these awards and continuously push our goals and targets further. The FE team would also like to thank all of our clients and partners for their support and trust in us. We would have not been able to reach our milestones without you. If you have any questions about our business and services, do not hesitate to contact us. We would love to hear from you and about your business.