By Max Avery
As a business owner, the idea of selling your business may have come up from time to time. The SBA reports that one in every three businesses has a plan to sell and that fewer and fewer businesses are being handed down through the family. Regardless of what stage you are in with your business, preparing for the possibility of a sale now will help you stay ahead.
Selling a business can be a complex process and distract you from the daily challenges you need to address as a business owner, when navigating the sales process, it’s important to keep your company running smoothly. One of the many benefits to bringing in a professional intermediary to assist with the business sales process is just this; allowing you to focus on what you do best so that your business can sell for the highest possible amount to a highly qualified buyer.
In the process, an intermediary can keep the sale of your business private and confidential to better protect the value through using nonspecific descriptions of the business and requiring strict nondisclosures to pre-screened prospects.
If you are seeing your business grow year-over-year, it may be a good time to consider selling on a high note rather than waiting for any unforeseen challenges that may arise to cause a dip in growth or revenue. By showing the proper amount of growth and keeping professional financial statements, your business valuation can come in much higher than otherwise anticipated.
Keeping momentum with prospective buyers is also paramount to the success of a deal, even if you aren’t totally satisfied with the offer, keeping the dialogue going and make all the difference to see a deal close. Often times in the negotiation process, many things can be discovered to keep both parties happy and satisfied with the final agreement.
Making yourself available to the new ownership can provide a great benefit for the buyers and also increase your profitability. It’s great practice to help make the hand off to the new ownership as smooth and clean as possible. It helps the new owners mitigate risk and ensure their success going forward.
Following these steps and working closely with your intermediary, you’ll be taking the right angle at the selling game and come out a winner.
