Prepare your Business for Sale
For you to sell your business seamlessly, it’s important that you prepare the business for sale. To guide you, here are some of the things that you need to do in order to prepare your business for sale:
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Exit the Business
You need to ensure that the business can run even in your absence. The best way of ensuring this is setting systems that ensure that your business is able to run on autopilot. This calls for you to clearly document the roles of each employee. You should also document what every employee needs to achieve within a given time.
When pitching your business to potential buyers you should clearly show that the business has the ability of running in your absence. Remember that no buyer is willing to buy a business that requires full time attention. Also, no buyer will buy a business that will stop working once you leave.
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Document Relationships
Do you have any unwritten agreements with your suppliers and clients? You should put them in writing. In addition to making your business appear stronger, writing down the agreements makes them binding and can’t be broken. If there are any contracts that you had signed before you should check them and ensure that they are up to date. You should also renegotiate any contracts that you deem necessary.
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Do a makeover
Just like when selling anything, you need to create a good first impression of your business. The good thing is that there are many ways in which you can give your business a great impression. Some of these ways include:
Inventory
you should sell all the obsolete or slow moving stock items. In addition to improving the sale figures, selling the obsolete items will also aid in eliminating any disputes about the value of the inventory during the sale.
Business premises
you should look at the business in the eyes of the potential buyer. For a great impression, you should clean it up, maintain and paint the necessary areas. As rule of thumb you should ensure that your premises comply with all the regulatory requirements.
Employees
are there any employees who haven’t taken their leave? You should ask them to do it. This is to prevent the buyer from reducing the buying price.
Leases
it’s common for businesses to lease their premises. You should review the leases and ensure that they are up to date. You should also renegotiate the ones that need to be renegotiated.
