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Selling Your Business – Tips for Success

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The decision to sell your business is usually one of the most important decisions you will ever make. Here is a helpful checklist for selling your business.

1. Deciding to Sell Your Business 

Before entering the process of selling your company, the first thing on a business sale checklist is to decide whether or not to sell your company. Many factors go into this decision. In some cases, there is a compelling reason to sell, such as health issues, or you just don’t like the work anymore. Or perhaps you want to spend more time with family and friends. In other cases, the decision is much more complex. Some things to consider are:

  • Are you financially prepared to sell your company?
  • Are you emotionally ready to sell?
  • Do you have a buyer in mind, such as your children or employees?
  • What will you do after your sell your business?
  • Do you have an idea of the value of your business?

After you carefully consider all of the relevant factors and you feel that it is time to explore the possibility of selling your company, you can move on to other items in the business for sale checklist.

2. Talk With a Business Broker

You can do some research in selecting the right business brokers like Business Brokers Plus. We have good reviews and extensive experience selling all types of businesses. Contact us today to learn about our process.

3. Get Your Financial Documents in Order

We will be able to give you a ballpark figure of how much your business will sell for once we have the chance to review your financial documents. You’ll need to provide the last three years of tax returns and/or profit and loss statements, as well as a current year-to-date profit and loss statement.

4. List Your Businesses Strengths and Weaknesses

Put together a list of why your business is unique, including:

  • How do you compare to your competitors?
  • What types of customers do you have?
  • Skills and responsibilities of your employees.
  • The challenges that you have.
  • How can a new owner improve on what you have done?
  • Does any customer make up a large percentage of your revenue?
  • Contracts and written commitments of your business.

5. Keep Your Sale Confidential 

We will protect the confidentiality of your business’s sale by marketing it in ways that don’t reveal the identity of your business until after a potential buyer has signed a confidentiality agreement and provided information on their qualifications.

6. Find the Right Lawyer

Be sure that the lawyer you choose has experience with selling businesses. Your lawyer will work with them to negotiate the purchase and sale agreement. This will be based on the terms of the offer letter that were negotiated but will have more details, including the transaction’s legal aspects. Both the buyer’s and seller’s attorneys will have their own checklists for the business sale transaction, and any differences of opinions will need to be worked out. We help to keep the deal moving forward when the attorney’s hit any roadblocks.

9. Finalize the Sale

It’s important you retain legal representation as you want to make sure you have all the details ironed out legally.

10. Prepare The Buyer for Success

During the business sale process, you’ll want to maintain a positive relationship with the buyer so that you could easily share information about what they’ll need to continue doing and remain successful in the business. Both before the sale and during the transition, you’ll want to provide them with information about your products or services as well as suppliers, employees, and customers. Be sure to share information about any areas that are important in continuing with the ongoing success of the business now that you are no longer the owner.
Matt Lyna