Am I waiting too long to sell?

Probably; most business owners do wait too long.  Their operations and sales stagnant or atrophy.  They’re tired.  When things are going well, you’re growing or you’re on top of the world, you have a story to tell a buyer that’s contagious.  It’s a story that motivates a buyer to carry-on your success and build on the momentum you’ve created to cement your businesses legacy into the next generation.  A thriving business demands a premium.  When you sell a thriving business, you’re personally invigorated and energized coming off a victory and ready for a new dawn to break and a new adventure to meet.  In a process that can take some time and is complicated and stressful, you should be focused on your existing business, keeping it an asset that a buyer must have.  Don’t get distracted from that.  Partner with industry professionals to assist you in negotiating the operational, financial, legal, and even personal issues that arise in selling your business.

What is my business worth?

The value of your business is ultimately what a buyer will pay for it, and what they might reasonably pay is first informed by a valuation.  A valuation is an opinion of the monetary compensation it would take for a buyer to assume ownership of your business.  As a seller in a small and mid-sized business it is common to find the best value of an organization by examining its profitability and cashflows while considering existing productive assets and other future potentials in the context of third-party financing, giving us the greatest opportunity to qualify the most buyers.  While other methods of valuation are valid, they are less common in this situation, but they can be important to understand.  A buyer will often have a different view of value than a seller.  The buyer may analyze your business via a variety of methodologies.  They may use market methods such as comparable multiple, or precedent transaction, or income informed methods like discounted cashflow, and leveraged buy-out (akin to financing previously mentioned), or they may take a focused asset view.  Understanding the differences, benefits and drawbacks allow a seller and their representative to best initially present a business, receive and validate offers for it, and negotiate to closing on behalf of the business and selling business owner.  To explore learning more, take a deep dive in the literature posted as a resource.  Engage and acquire a partner in selling your business to best navigate this issue, and all the rest, while you focus on running your business keeping it a must-have going-concern available for acquisition. 

What can go wrong when I decide its time?

A lot.  Getting to closing a purchase agreement on your business may have many pitfalls that can come from all angles – employees, customers, competitors, suppliers, landlords, lenders, lawyers, bonding agents, you name it. 

The #1 most important ingredient in successfully selling your business is to do so confidentially.  If you work with us, you have our guarantee that confidentially is our top priority from moment we meet, and stays so whether we work together or not.

What’s the process to exit?

Selling a business is a rare event, if not a once in a lifetime one.  Reach out to us to have a conversation about how it works – we never request any upfront fees and will always make time for a complimentary chat.  We’ll start by understanding what value your business might have in the marketplace.  Next, we’ll talk you through the process of a business sale, answer your questions, and help you form an expectation for what’s to come and how it might fit into your exit plans.