Selling Your Business

My help in the sale of your business will focus on critical key areas.

Where To Begin

Brokers

Consider that almost all business brokers are actually "real estate" agents who handle businesses on the side. They will have an ad in the paper that includes "business for sale" and any responses they forward to you. Certainly they are incapable of handling the hundreds of questions the buyers will have about your business so inevitiably it falls to you. We have a process that allows you to address all the questions the buyers might raise in a manner that consistently presents your business in the best possible light. Remember, you are selling a forward stream of earnings. If you are to get the best possible price your sales presentation must be geared to convincing the buyer(s) of the continuity of those potential future earnings.

Buyers

For any given business there is at least 3 buyers living within a 25 mile radius of your location. We will create a marketing approach to identify them and reach out to them. The idea is not to wait forn them to stumble upon some small tombstone ad in the paper. The additional benefit is that we attempt to get potential buyers to bid against each other creating the obvious benefit of multiple buyers.

Presenting your business

Before we speak to the first buyer we must prepare your business for presentation. Consider that if you were selling a house you would paint, decorate, make all necessary repairs before you show it. We would do the equivalent with your business. Remember, there is just a very limited number of real buyers so we don't want to lose the sale because of the wrong reasons. Sometimes it takes as long as 3 months to complete the preparations so the business is "presentable".

Business Valuation

We start by reviewing your financials and operations and then discussing my findings and conclusions with you. The purpose of the evaluation is to price the business in a manner you can justify to prospective purchasers. You can place any price you want on the business but if you cannot justify it to the purchaser, you simply will not sell your business. Too high a price and you won’t sell – Too low a price and you leave thousands of dollars on the table.

Do you realize that the pricing of your business is determined by the purchaser’s profile? So we will create multiple prices depending on whom and what type of buyer is interested. The price paid by a person who will work the business versus someone who will be only an investor versus someone who is a competitor are all different prices. Does it not make sense to first look for the buyer who's profile will pay the most money?

Positioning the Business for Selling

When selling a business, you are selling an intangible forward stream of earnings. Selling a business is much more difficult than selling any other asset type where the buyer can inspect the asset directly and see what they're buying. Essentially, you are selling a forward stream of potential earnings.Your presentation of this information becomes the major factor in the purchaser’s decision of whether or not to purchase your business.

We will explain:

How best to package this information and present it to prospective buyers while avoiding traps that sellers fall into.

How to properly prepare the business for sale.

• Preparation Selling Pamphlet
• List of all Documents to collect
• Financial records
• Accountant
• Treatment Intellectual Properties
• Employee Non-Compete agreements
• Addressing Business problems

How to identify and advertise for buyers.

• Using a real estate broker
• Consultants
• Pricing the business
• Different buyer profiles

Advertising:  I will also guide you on how to best position yourself to find and engage multiple buyers.

Structuring the Deal

Before the first conversation with any buyers you and I will discuss how to structure the sale with an understanding of tax implications. This alone could save you $20,000 per every $100,000 in sale profit.

After Sale Liability

How to protect yourself for after sale liability exposure. This could undo the sale and cost you everything.

There are any number of reasons that may cause your buyer to try to rescind the sale. At best, even if you are successful in defending against such claims it could easily cost $50,000-$100,000 in legal defense costs. At worse, you lose and you get your business back in shambles and you are still out the legal costs. There are many things you can do to protect yourself and avoid this from happening. In other words, stop it before it starts.

Consulting

The range of topics I will cover and discuss with you is so varied and extensive it is impossible to list here. My assistance begins immediately and ends at the closing when you get paid for the sale. Remember, no person knows more about your business than you. No one will be able to explain it better to any prospective buyer. Each and every business brings with it unique issues that must be addressed to successfully sell the business. The areas I will bring my expertise are those that you have no experience but yet will play a critical role to your success. However, most important during the period that you are selling your business I become that resource you can always call to get answers and help for those many issues and problems that will arise during the sale process.  For information about me go to .....About Lance Shields

Fee

My fee is generally 5% of the sale price and is paid at closing.

Questions?... There is no charge to talk to me so make a list of questions and call me.

Call me…Lance Shields 786-206-5309 or use our Contact Us Page......

Please Principals Only

No Charge for the Consultation

All information is kept in strictest confidence

Related Information

Seminar 6 provides a very high level of information that you will find very useful in mapping out a broad game plan.

<<<Click Here more information Audio Seminar 6 Selling Your Business>>>