Selling your business fast and at a fair market price is the goal of many small business owners. After making the decision, “I want to sell my business,” there is nothing more frustrating than having the market respond or getting very low offers. Understanding the sell a business will greatly help you to sell your business faster.
To sell your business fast, follow these 9 steps.
Step 1. Establish Fair Market Price
This is the most important part of selling your business. Because the value of the business is more than just the equipment and furniture and fixtures, determining the fair market price requires detailed knowledge of the market place and what buyers are paying as well as an in depth understanding of your business.
To obtain the fair market price, you will need to contact a business broker or business valuation specialist who values businesses on a regular bases.
To estimate the fair market value, minimally your valuation professional will want the following documents:
- Last 3 years of tax returns
- Current Profit and Loss Statement
- Current Balance sheet
- Copy of Lease
Because small things, like outstanding Daily Deal coupons, can make a buyer walk away, so it is important to be open and honest about your business in order to establish the Fair Market Value.
Step 2. Prepare a Confidential Memorandum
The Confidential Memorandum is a brief summary of your business that answers the key questions that buyers ask. This is only shared with a buyer after they been pre-qualified and have signed a confidentiality agreement. This document drastically reduces the time wasted with unqualified and not serious buyers. Many business brokers will only prepare this document for larger businesses because it is very time consuming and detailed. As the owner of smaller business, your business will sell faster with this document. This is the foundation of your marketing program and basis by which the buyer will evaluate your business. It really is a must to sell fast.
Step 3. Market your business – confidentially
Once the profile of the ideal buyer is determined, it’s time to create a strategic marketing plan to attract that buyer. That could through the internet, paper advertising or direct marketing. With over 90% of the buyers coming from the internet, It is important to leverage the internet as a tool to sell your business fast.
Some brokers will market to 30 sites while others market on over 300 sites. When choosing a business broker, consider their familiarity with online marketing techniques to help you sell fast. If you had to advertise yourself on these sites, without using a broker, you might pay up wards of over $1000 per month and no guarantee your business would sell. This is one area where using a business broker that understands marketing can help you find the ideal buyer faster and cheaper.
Step 4. Screen and meet with qualified buyers
This can be the longest and most intensive part of selling a business. One business can get 20-30-50 calls and each buyer must be taken through a detailed screening process to determine if they meet the criteria of the ideal buyer. This includes a phone interview, financial background check, often a criminal record check, as well as a confidentially agreement. Finding buyers is easy, finding the perfect buyer takes times and profiling skills.
Sadly, when a business owner tries to sell their business them self they fail to properly screen prospective buyers and this can lead to devastating results, both financially and legally.
Step 5. Presenting the business
Once a prospective buyer has been qualified and if required, the seller has approved the person to see the confidential memorandum, then it is time to present the information about the business.
After the presentation, the next step is to qualify the buyer to see if they are serious about buying the business before they ever see or meet you, the seller. This saves you time by only meeting with pre-approved, pre-qualified buyers that know about the business details.
Step 6. Conduct a buyer seller meeting
Once a prospective buyer has been found that meets the criteria, can be financed, has sufficient down payment, and is serious about pursuing your business, it is time for you to meet them.
