Again, while your business sale will be slightly different, and perhaps even massively different when you get down to the details, the basics are similar for everyone. Here are the steps that absolutely need to be on your to-do list so that you can ensure the best transaction and the biggest profit every time.
Step 1: Determine Your Worth
Your profit is not the same as your business’s net worth. Generally, a company will be worth a multiple of its profit. Most range between two and ten times the profit, with larger profits garnering larger values for sale purposes. It might be helpful to do this with the assistance of a financial professional or a business sale expert to ensure that you value and price your business accurately.
Step 2: Prepare the Financials
Businesses are valued on profit, which means that having good financials is critical to prospective buyers. It’s essential that you prepare a profit and loss statement that can be handed to your buyers. If you don’t have this, it’s the first sign for a buyer to walk away. Again, if you want the assistance of a financial professional, that’s fine, too. Actually, that’s the next step– figure out what assistance you need. If you’d like, you can make that your first step. Just make sure you take the help you need.
Step 3: Acquire the Assistance
If your business needed a coat of paint to sell, you’d paint it. You’d probably hire painters to do the job, even. If it requires operational assistance, such as in the financials or the marketing, you’re going to hire people to help– it’s an investment in getting the best sale. Sometimes, it’s best to work with a professional team that specializes in selling businesses in Florida so that you can get the best outcome and let them handle the details.
Regardless of the assistance that you choose, take advantage of what you have. Learn about brokers, accountants, and professional consultants, as well as others that can help you build up your business image and prepare it for the best possible sale. Make sure that you choose people who are aligned with your own goals and intentions, and who know how to get the best results.
Step 4: Create an Executive Summary for the Sale
An executive summary is a place where you can outline what the business is, what it offers, and what the financial situation of the company looks like. You can even add in some frequently asked questions and other details if you want to help buyers make the most educated offer possible. When you give your buyers the best tools, they will respond in kind.
Step 5: Put it On the Market
Once you’ve got all the details in order, you can take your business to the market. Make sure that you’re priced right for the Florida business market, and more specifically for the city or region that you’re in. Your broker or agent can assist with this. Make sure that you’re listing your business in as many places as possible, and welcome inquiries via social media and other unconventional means– if you make yourself more accessible, you’ll get more interest from people who don’t have time to follow traditional avenues of communication.
From here, it will be a matter of waiting for potential buyers to come along and start making offers. Then, you’ll have the chance to negotiate and close the deal. When you take the time to use the resources and plan accordingly, though, you can guarantee that you’ll get a much better sale price and a better experience, too.