Successfully Selling Your Business

A business that is worth something to someone else will be growing and profitable and well-managed – in short, everything that you would want your business to be right now, even if you aren’t thinking of selling it.

If you simply wake up one day and decide to sell your business or receive an offer out of the blue, without proper preparation and planning you will obtain only a fraction of the true value of the business you have put years of your life into. 

So start preparing your company for sale today to allow you to choose:

• When to sell
• The buyer you want
• The value you deserve

Here are some of the considerations:

• Your motives for selling
• How to get the best price
• How to get into shape
• How to get the timing right
• How to minimise risk
• How to sell future strategy rather than past numbers
• Whether you can generate competition among potential buyers
• What type of sale is most appropriate

The selling process

The factors that make a business attractive to potential buyers are the factors that make a business more attractive to you as the current owner.  Potential owners want a business that is stable, manageable, low risk, profitable and with good and growing cash flow.  As a business owner you should be working on making your business sellable a soon as possible – even if you have no intention of selling it.  This approach forces you to address those areas of risk, strategic compromise or inefficiency that otherwise you would put off and to find ways to deliver the sustained growth and profitability that you might otherwise cope without.

If you do want to sell your business then you probably need to allow two to three years to prepare it for sale through a process of systemisation, for example, documenting all your processes; compiling financial records; maintaining and updating your business and marketing plans.

Attempting to transform your business in this way without help is likely to be expensive and problematic – if you knew how to do it you would have done it already.  You should consult an experienced management consultant or coach at an early stage to carry out a full audit of your business and develop an action plan.  The increase in sale proceeds could be worth 15-20 times the cost.

Business brokers Pace Equity and business advice firm Nick Bettes Consulting are conducting a seminar which will give you further information and advice that you can incorporate in your own business planning immediately. You'll also get a chance to talk directly to our experts about your particular concerns or challenges.   

Follow this link for further details and to register: http://successfullysellingyourbusiness.eventbrite.co.uk