In the conduct of our work as business brokers; which includes finding buyers for certain companies on one hand and finding companies for certain buyers on the other, we’ve met and talked with many who would be buyers and many who would be sellers, and have discovered that the two meet far less frequently, and with far less success, than either would hope for. We’ve learned that while both parties are seemingly always out there somewhere, both hoping to find the other somehow, more often than not, they don’t.
- Do you own a business?
- Will you want to sell it someday?
- Have you ever sold a Company before?
We have learned that while most owners do intend to sell their companies “someday,” many have formulated no strategic plan to do so. We’ve learned that most have never sold a business before. Someday will be the first time for most, and we’ve found that many first time sellers don’t know when or how to begin the process and how to best prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime event. Perhaps more importantly, a great many don’t know where to find help that does.
We’ve found business owners who have attempted to sell without adequate preparation, sometimes simply guessing at the price and casting a broad net, most times without success and sometimes inflicting real damage on the business and on any future opportunity. We’ve found many others who have done nothing but wait and wonder about “when and how” until time and opportunity had simply run out on them.
Many businesses, if not most, never sell at all, but eventually just fade away, …… not by design, but for lack of design and preparation.
Ironically, we’ve learned that there is always buyers looking for and willing to pay full value for just about every kind of business. Connecting the right buyer with the right business, at the right time, and achieving the right result, however, doesn’t just happen. It does require preparation; which brings us right back to the matter.
Many owners have a hundred questions, but can find only 50 answers. Many owners have spent their business lives running and building their companies, NOT in the selling of them, and simply have no experience in this unique selling process, and don’t know where to find help that does.
In The Question page to follow, we have outlined many of the questions one should consider, and that we hear so often. Then, throughout the site, we attempt to answer those questions as we describe our approach to the selling process, step-by-step, from preparation to closing. We welcome you to browse freely and we hope the several “how-to” and “how-not-to” suggestions you find will prove helpful.