What Have You Done To Prepare Your Business For Sale?

Prepare your business for sale starting with the advanced planning needed. Remember that a job well planned is a job half done. Knowing exactly what you have to do, and why, makes the rest of the task much easier.


The advanced planning needed to prepare your business for sale will take you through a number of critical activities. These activities have been dealt with here in no particular order. The order that you choose to assign to exploring and completing these activities is not of critical importance. And until you are through with all of them, you may question the relevance of one or more.


This takes us to the Olympic Parallel something that describes commitment, early and directed preparation, combined with hard work. Attributes commonly found in business owners, but not always applied appropriately when the time comes to sell.


My advice on these activities as you begin to ready your business for sale is to start. And as order doesn't matter very much, start with the one thing you think will be easiest for you to do. There is nothing like completing something to encourage you to move forward.


As you prepare your business for sale, in addition to looking backward to past performance, you also need to help potential buyers see future potential. That is where you use a business plan. A business plan should provide a fairly detailed blue print of future performance. To learn more go to Business Plan .


As you prepare to sell your business, you want to consider the ways in which you differentiate it from other businesses, etc. You want to plan how you can help prospective buyers see that it is different, and in how many important ways. For an expanded discussion of your differentiation challenge, go to Differentiate Your Business .


An important consideration as you contemplate selling a business is proper planning. You will probably need to consider and evaluate a number of alternative ways of leaving. Formalizing them into writing, or at least into something well though out will give you a number of Exit Plans .


One of the steps in preparing for sale is getting an idea of worth. What is it realistically worth to a third party. There may be some discrepancy between your initial belief, and your perspective based on more objective criteria. It will be very helpful to you to form an objective view of this enterprise value. To take important first steps toward that goal, explore the subject of Enterprise Value . Review the information at How To Value A Business to get a better understanding of the key drivers of value.


You want to prepare your business for sale. A helpful part of doing this is to get a sense of the amount of debt it will support. If you live in the United States, you can be more specific and explore SBA business loans. It has been possible to pre qualify a business, so that you were able to advise the prospective buyer. Because the US and its owner operated business sector is so vibrant, more information can be found by clicking on the following SBA Loans link. Other countries may have similar institutions, designed to promote small business growth.


In preparing for anything, including selling a business, something you need is a strategy. You have probably heard a strategy described as a time sequence of events. So a sense of time is important as you prepare your business for sale. Click on the following Time To Sell A Business link for a better understanding of this topic.


One of the items for consideration at this stage is the identification of communication and marketing channels. And since you are reading this on the internet, you will probably want to understand what if any role the internet can play as you prepare your business for sale. And as you proceed to sell it.


Many owners will offer their businesses for sale by owner. They will do this to save what they perceive to be the huge fees charged by intermediaries. Without commenting on whether this is an astute way to proceed, they will probably be able to use some help. In this as well as other things, a website called Bizquest can be helpful. It is a website where buyers and sellers can meet. You can use the information on the site to get some sense of valuations in your industry.


You may decide that brokers can add value to your transaction. Depending on your location, you may find it convenient to contact a network of brokers like Sunbelt Business Brokers . They have a fairly extensive business broker network across the US and other parts of the world. If you believe that brokers can add value to your transaction, you may wish to find a local broker that is part of that group. This is not an endorsement, merely an attempt at supplying useful information.


In anything related to business, the state of the economy will play a key role. One of the factors involved in the state of the economy is the business cycle. Really smart buyers like Warren Buffett buy after a decline in the business cycle. Because revenue tends to decline with a declining business cycle, he expects to buy at a better price. So click on the following Business And Economy link for an expanded discussion of this timing related subject.


No discussion dealing with how to prepare your business for sale would be complete without touching on people. And in particular management. Your business will have one or more people employed in management jobs. You are likely one of them. More sophisticated buyers are keenly interested in the management team. Click on Management Function for the next level of detail.


You may choose to go from Prepare Your Business For Sale to Home Page . You may have already done enough online reading. You have decided to Acquire The Manual Now and begin to prepare your business for sale. As you have undoubtedly discovered, nothing can take the place of action. And by claiming your personal copy of this manual, you will have taken action in the form of that all important first step. The first step toward a more rewarding and lucrative outcome when you sell your business.


Not ready yet? Learn more by downloading your copy of a free report that will provide you with an overview of the steps that you can take to make your business more attractive to many more buyers. Steps that will increase the return that you will realize when you sell your business. Actionable information that you can apply to your business starting today.

Claim your copy by clicking on Free Report now.