Selling a business
Are you thinking of selling your business inJacksonville, Fl?? Not sure where to start? If you are ready to sell your business, this article will help you start and hopefully allow you to successfully sell your business.
Step 1: What will you do once you sell your Jacksonville business?
This may seem a strange question but it is so important. Why is it important?
The steps to sell a business, as we will explain in the next step, are many and come with complications. For some reason, humans love to know what they are doing or just as importantly, what they will do if they are moving away from what they have been doing. For example, business sellers will say they want to play golf when they retire from running their business. The truth is they can do that now. What they really mean to say is that they want to do things they enjoy when after they sell their business so my suggestion is to work that out. If you are looking to sell a business in Jacksonville Fl, contact Aberdeen Advisors.
It is real simple. If they are moving to something that is less appealing than what they are doing, they stay with what they know as opposed to making a change to something different.
Step 2: There are many steps to sell a business
There is no question. It’s a complicated process to sell a business.
If you have an interest, click this link for a one page summary of the Many Steps to Sell a Business.
Step 3: Have a Plan
The next step is to now to create a plan for selling. This includes determining how much you’d like to list or show as the purchase price of the business. In order to help you do this, get a full valuation to see if your business can reasonably get the price you think it is worth or what the market will pay.
To do this you’ll need to gather all your business’ data, including tax statements, business plans, strategies and training, and everything else that can be considered in the assets of the business.
You’ll need to recast your financial statements, since your tax documents are usually prepared with an eye to showing the lowest profits possible. That is, it’s great to reduce the amount of tax you pay but the worst possible strategy when you’re trying to convince a buyer that your business is worth buying.
Finally, you’ll prepare an Executive Summary of your business and a Confidential Business Review. Only then are you prepared to seek out potential buyers.
Step 4: Do a Search
If you don’t have a plan for finding qualified buyers, now’s the time to put one together. If you know some buyers who you think will have an interest and you feel comfortable they will keep in confidence what you share go ahead and give them a call. If you are not sure they will keep things in confidence, have them sign a Confidentiality Agreement.
Once a buyer shows an interest, you’ll need to qualify the buyer to be sure they can afford your business. You’ll also agree to send him your company’s Confidential Business Review after the buyer signs an NDA or Confidentiality Agreement. Make sure yours is iron-clad – or all your business’ secrets could disappear.
You’ll need to determine if the buyer has the interest and more importantly, the motivation, which can be difficult, since they often are unsure of what they could be getting into.
If you do get a buyer who’s definitely willing to move forward, though, it’s time to make a deal.
Step 5: Make a Deal
You’ll conduct an initial meeting with your buyer and give them a tour of your business. Once again, you’re going to need to gauge the buyer’s interest as each piece of information is made available to them.
If you’re confident, you’ll motivate the buyer to act by giving a firm purchase offer. You’ll then negotiate a price and, if successful, you’ll write up a Letter Of Intent or Asset Purchase Agreement to seal the deal.
Step 6: Close the Deal
If everything is working out to this point, it’s now time for the buyer to bring in their professional help such as accountant and attorney to conduct their due diligence. Your buyer most likely will also need to apply for finance and obtain instructions from the lender.
You’ll also open Escrow, start the Bulk Sale process, and – if all the paperwork is filed properly, every i is dotted and every t is crossed, you’ll finally sign the final documents and close the sale of your business.
It’s a Complicated Process
You’ve probably already identified a few points where you need clarification or where you’re certain you’ll need assistance. That’s what we’re for. We’ve conducted hundreds of successful sales and purchases, and we know how to make the whole process run smoothly.
What’s more, as you can see, conducting all these steps is a full-time job. By hiring us, you’ll be able to focus on keeping your business running at the top of its game – which will ultimately allow you to command a higher purchase price for your business.
We personally recommend you turn the many steps above into one simple one: get a qualified business broker to take care of all the complicated stuff for you. We would be happy to help.
Are you thinking about selling your business? Would you like to know the value of your business? If you would like more information please visit my website Business valuation.
For more immediate help you are welcome to send an email to Andrew Rogerson or give me a call on 916 570-2674.