Confidentially advertising your business for sale

Marketing your business and managing offers is specialized work. 

Marketing your business-for-sale is critical activity – Important to the successful sale of your life’s work. Although there are dozens of steps that need to be taken to successfully list and sell a small business, getting lots of genuine interest by potential purchasers is really important. 

Get expert help. You wouldn’t have your dentist do your taxes or list and sell your home.
Make certain you work with an experienced business broker to prepare your business for marketing so you can get it sold for the best possible return. 

There are six key steps in marketing your business to garner interest from the largest and best possible pool of buyers: activating a buyer search plan, collecting buyer inquiries, securing buyer/seller meetings, securing offers, facilitating negotiations and getting an offer to purchase.

Every one of these steps are important and should be handled by a professional.

Activating your buyer search plan is the first step. A good professional business broker knows not only how to attract great buyers, but also how to screen buyers that will meet the criteria you may have for your employees and your legacy. Just assembling information isn’t enough. You should work with a broker who has experience in putting deals together and knowledge of your industry and your market.

Fielding buyer inquiries is how a good broker, who knows your industry and your marketplace, will be able to put together a list of qualified leads for you to determine the best possible fit for the sale of your business. And this will take you directly to one of the most important steps in the process from a time value standpoint: making sure you are not wasting your time with buyers who are a bad fit. Securing seller/buyer meetings with the right candidates is critical to you making the best use of your time with the best possible prospects. 

Securing offers is the next step in the process – again, where your broker will really earn his compensation; making sure that offers are structured the way you need them to be, so that you can get the best possible return on the sale of your business. 

Facilitating negotiations may be the most critical step of all. Only an experienced business broker, who knows your business, your industry, and your market, can really help you navigate the complexities of negotiating the sale of your business. There can be hundreds of nuances to the agreement of sale that only a broker who has facilitated many deals can be aware of, to make certain you wind up with the perfect win-win.

Finally, providing guidance for the perfect offer to purchase will be the result of negotiations, and is critical in getting all the right offer information together in exactly the best possible way.

These steps all matter in getting you the best possible outcome – with the easiest possible process. These steps, the actual marketing of the business, can only be effectively executed by an experienced broker.

You may still want the advice of your personal attorney or accountant. Any good business broker will welcome a relationship with them. So, while they lack the experience and qualifications to sell your business, because they are frequently trusted personal or business advisors, you should encourage them to work closely with your business broker, particularly regarding any questions they may have.

Another reminder about capital gains taxes!

The anticipated capital gains tax increase from 20% to 39.6% will have huge potential impact on what you can make from the sale of your business. Right now, buyer activity is high - it’s a seller’s market! And because of COVID-19, there’s pent-up capital for the right business opportunity in which to invest and many businesses are SELLING at a PREMIUM. 

Selling your business is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. Taking advantage of the expertise of an experienced business broker is one of the best investments you’ll ever make. Contact an experienced business broker before you list your business.

Aaron Thom, California Business Advisors, Inc.