Getting Your Business Ready To Sell
While there are many reasons to sell a business, there are numerous ways to ensure you are presenting your business in its best light for a successful sale. Positioning a business for sale within the marketplace can determine when selling is the best business strategy for you. Converting your hard work into cold hard cash is easiest if you observe a few rules.
Always sell on your own terms. If you feel that you are getting too old to run your business or anticipate having a lot of family or marital problems that are going to interfere with your ability to run your business the way you want to, it might be the best time to sell. Don’t wait until you’re recovering from a surgery or fighting a bitter custody battle to sell your business. The additional stress is not something you need to deal with and you won’t be able to put your best foot forward, adding to situational stress and increasing the likelihood that you will sell too low or miss the opportunity to sell at a pivotal moment.
Sell for the right reasons. Buyers want to hear that they are buying a successful business because the owner is pursuing opportunities in a new sector or retiring, not that he or she got sick of fighting with regulatory agencies or is convinced that the industry will be defunct within the next ten years.
Know what you’re selling and make sure potential buyers do, too. Be very specific about what is and is not included, line by line, in the contract occurring between you as the seller, and the buyer. Before selling your business, you need to be clear what assets come with it and what inherent value they provide. Beyond physical assets, intangibles such as good will, trademarks and customer lists can add substantially to the value of your business. Likewise, a business could be worthless without them.
Make use of your resources. Chances are, you have at least one lawyer, an accountant, and a financial advisor on your roster. If not, now is the time to employ them. You need to make sure that your financials are in order and that you will not be legally bound to perform for anything other than the information specified in the contract. In addition, a firm who specializes in business like yours can be an excellent way to ensure that the right people see your business when you are ready to sell. And, experienced intermediaries are willing to provide a ballpark figure of what value your business should command and how best to highlight its best features.
