4 Steps to Selling Your Business

Sometimes a beloved business, created from scratch by yourself, has to be sold. This is quite difficult to do if the company is not doing well, but even if the company is successful at first glance, the buyer may have problems because the former owner did not adhere to the standards of doing business.

So, if a business owner is thinking of parting with his brainchild, he needs to follow the steps to take when selling a business.

What steps should I take to sell my business?

So, you have decided to sell your company, but you do not know how to do it in such a way as to get the maximum benefit from the transaction. For those who are wondering “How to sell my business?”, we have prepared step-by-step instructions:

1. Preparation of the business

If you want to sell your business profitably, you do not need to skip this stage and immediately go search for buyers. It is necessary to prepare for the sale of the business. How successfully you will be able to sell your business depends on this stage.

Firstly, you should conduct a business assessment. To do this, it is not necessary to invite expensive experts, especially if you have a small business and do not have the opportunity to pay money for such work.

Business valuation can be carried out independently, but for this, it is desirable to have reliable management reporting. When it comes to selling a small business, in most cases, when evaluating a business, you have to rely on management reporting, because it can differ significantly from accounting.

2. Search for potential buyers

To solve this problem, you can use several opportunities.

Now there are a large number of Internet platforms where you can place information about the business for sale usa, like websiteclosers.com.

It should be borne in mind that there are a lot of ads for the sale of a business, so yours should somehow stand out and differ from others. In this case, we are talking not only about the fact that on specialized sites with ads for the sale of business there is a technical opportunity to highlight your ad (usually, you have to pay for it).

3. Presentation of the business

A potential buyer must be convinced that:

– The data about the business presented in the presentation are true;

– the business does not have any hidden debts that the new owner will have to deal with;

– the business will continue to operate after the change of ownership (there will be no problems with the landlord, the staff, customers, suppliers, etc.)

If the buyer of the business can be convinced of this (and is satisfied with the amount requested by the seller of the business), it is very likely that he will agree to move to the next (final) stage of the business sale.

4. Execution of the sale transaction

  Usually, the sale of a small business is carried out according to a simplified scheme. It is enough to draw up a business sale and purchase agreement and an act of acceptance and transfer of assets.

The business sale and purchase agreement specify all the terms of the sale, including its value, and even the obligations of each party. In the acceptance certificate, all assets of the enterprise are recorded: both material and immaterial.

In general, in fact, the business sale and purchase agreement specify the seller’s obligations to transfer all business assets to the buyer and the buyer’s obligations to pay for the purchased business. As a rule, the sale of a small business is carried out for cash upon execution of the relevant receipts for the receipt of money by one individual (the seller of the business) from another individual (the buyer of the business).

How to sell business: conclusion

So, a well-thought-out business sale consists of four steps.

Step 1 – analysis of the current financial condition of the business and risk assessment.

Step 2 – valuation of the company and formulation of proposals for the buyer.

Step 3 – negotiate the approval of key terms of the transaction.

Step 4 – passing the examination and legal conclusion of the transaction.

Sales is a serious business and not so easy, especially when it comes to selling a business. And believe me, education and a degree are, of course, good, but you cannot do without sufficient experience. You can and should, of course, learn from the achievements and mistakes of others, but each business is unique in its own way, everywhere has its own characteristics and nuances. Study all the above recommendations and use them in relation to your own situation when you need it.