Are you planning of selling your business? You need to ensure that everything is in place for you to sell the business at the right price. To help you out here are some of the questions that you should ask yourself as a business seller. When selling your business:
- What Are The Things That A Buyer Will Look For In My Business?
There are many things that a buyer will look for when buying your business. Some of these things include: product lines, management structure, compatibility of operations, and customer and market base.
The buyer will also review your financial condition which includes: tax returns, payroll records, financial statements and depreciation schedules. If there are any employees in the business the buyer will like to know about their employment contracts.
- How Do I Determine The Value Of My Business?
It’s easy to determine the value of your business, if you plan to sell it. All you need to do is to hire a business broker/ certified business intermediary to do the valuation for you. The intermediary will consider a number of factors in order to come up with the value of your business. Some of these factors include: assets, cash flow, market share, customer base, and financial history.
- When Is The Right Time To Sell My Business?
The right time to sell your business is when everything is in place. You should wait until your business is viable and you can predict that it’s going to have an exponential growth. You should also wait until you have prepared all the necessary documents and you have a professional exit strategy.
You should never sell your business when you are desperate. For example, you shouldn’t sell your business when you have a pressing loan that you need to settle. This will not only give you stress, it will also result to you selling the business at a very low price.
- Should I Tell My Employees That I’m Selling The Business?
You shouldn’t tell your employees about it. This is to avoid the repercussions that come with telling them. Some of the repercussions include: key employees looking for work elsewhere, competitors bad-mouthing you, vendors shortening terms and banks calling in notes.
You should maintain confidentiality and only let the employees know about it only after you have completed the selling process and the new owner is ready to start operations.
Conclusion
These are some of the questions that you should ask yourself when selling your business. To complete the selling process flawlessly you should consider working closely with a professional advisor.
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