Nowadays, a lot of talk is devoted to how to build a profitable business, organize your own business, create some kind of enterprise that generates income. In fact, as practice shows, there are a lot of people who want to do business. Even someone who is far from the business world would like to try himself in the role of the head of a company. However, today we will not talk about that.
The article is devoted to a slightly different topic. It will be useful for people who, on the contrary, want to get rid of their enterprise, want to find a way to sell the business and at the same time remain in a fairly favorable economic position. In it, we will discuss a number of aspects related to such a sale. This is not only about a direct search for a buyer, but also about various measures that should be taken before the sale. In general, we will talk more extensively about how to sell a business, offering our advice on a particular issue.
Preparing the reason
First of all, if you decided to get rid of your company, we would recommend that you clearly determine what is the reason for the sale and whether it can be called a buyer. One thing is your personal preference. An example is the situation when you want to change the vector of your activity and, say, start organizing a completely different company. Or, say, you are, in principle, tired of entrepreneurship and want to relax a bit. Then you can honestly say this to the buyer, who will certainly ask this question.
A completely different situation is when you are looking for information on how to sell a business because of its unprofitability, the risk of collapse or the difficulties facing the enterprise in the future. Of course, talking about this is undesirable, because, depending on the nature of the difficulties, not every person will take up the management of your enterprise and, accordingly, its purchase. The same applies to profit: the obvious fact is that the more an enterprise earns, the more it is sold. If your business scheme is unprofitable, they will buy it from you, most likely, for a pittance. In this case, we recommend either agree to a lower cost, or go through a difficult period in the life of the enterprise, go out to some kind of profitability, and then prepare for its sale. Then you can help out much more.
Future plans
All of us, including your customer, are people. And man is a creature who is simply obliged to plan his future. We try to make plans, sort out possible scenarios and do our best to look ahead. In the case of business activities, the situation is exactly the same. And the buyer who is interested in your offer will also want to know what he will be able to achieve, where he should move in the future, what profits he will receive. All this must be included in a business plan for your project and provided to the future buyer. So you can not only quickly find a person who is ready to pay for your business, but also get the maximum benefit from the transaction.
If the state of your business is such that it has no prospects in the future, we advise you to think about selling parts, that is, getting rid of the assets that make up your enterprise. For this, a proper assessment should be made to understand their market value.
Time
Since you are looking for information on how to sell a business, time is your best friend. After all, the greater the age of a particular enterprise, the more expensive it can be appreciated by the buyer. This is especially true if your business is successful and pays off.
There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. A person who wants to enter a particular business niche is ready to purchase an already functioning (and maybe even unprofitable) enterprise conducting activities in this area. And for you personally, this is the best option on how to sell a business quickly. The buyer wants to start work as soon as possible, but on the contrary, you want to get rid of the rights to your company and get compensation for it. For everyone who is looking for information on how to sell a business (it doesn’t matter if it is an IP or any other organizational form), finding people who want to try yourself in your niche is the best strategy for a successful sale and a profitable transaction. And using time as a factor to add value to your business is a good tactic.
Documentation and legal support
This advice, although very obvious, is of great importance. Turn to your professional when it comes to selling your business. Fix all the rights and obligations of the parties, write down every little thing if you want everything to work out in the best possible way. Otherwise, how to sell a ready-made business (IP) and be sure that you will not be deceived?
When it comes to monetary relationships (and even more so about large ones, such as in the case of a company for example), you should not abuse the honesty of other people. It is better to try to use all the tools that will protect you in the sales process. This is the answer to the question of how to properly sell a business (IP or LLC, no difference).
Look for your buyer, not wait for him
One interesting tip about how to sell a business quickly is to find someone who is willing to pay for your business. The mistake of many businessmen can be called personal expectations. They expect that a buyer will come to them and pay the money. They believe that this will happen very soon. However, this approach cannot be called correct.
If you want to know how to sell a ready-made business quickly, think about who really can buy it from you. We are now talking about such a specific product that a simple visitor “from the street” will not be able to pay you for your company. A real buyer can be either the one who is just starting in this area (unlikely), or the one who already has experience in this niche of the business and knows what can be squeezed out of it. Most often, such people are the owners of a network of some points of service, sale of goods and so on.
To give you the simplest example: you have a restaurant, and you are looking for how to sell a business in order to make the most of it. In this case, it is best to write to the owners of restaurant chains, mainly - similar in theme to your institution. It is possible that a person will seriously think about expanding his business by acquiring yours. So selling your business may not take so much time, the main thing is to look for a buyer, and not passively wait for him.
No, in fact, if you submit an ad for sale on various business forums and message boards, you will be interested in some people anyway. Only one of them can really contribute all the necessary amount and who plans to develop your business further, no one knows. Therefore, in order to understand this, make suggestions. Communicate with potential buyers, offer them your business - and who knows, maybe you will interest someone enough to continue discussing a future transaction.
Hear the buyer
Another tip that a business seller would like to give is to develop the ability to listen to someone who wants to buy your business. You must find out why he wants to buy your business, what he is going to do with it, what plans he has regarding the enterprise. This information is necessary for you in order to prepare for how to properly submit your project. After all, you can do this in different ways, changing approaches to describing and characterizing a business, changing your view of prospects. Such a technique will make it possible to meet the expectations of a person who wants to buy your company. Its application is the best key to how to sell a business profitably. Just convince the buyer that he will be able to achieve the desired results by owning your company (customers, employees, assets). How to do this, you will see after you understand the goals of this person.
Protection
Another important point that everyone who wants to know how to properly sell a business should pay attention to is protecting your business. At first glance, this is not so obvious, but in practice there are different situations. Including there are cases when, under the guise of a buyer, a person comes in who simply steals your business in the future. How does this happen? Read carefully so as not to lose your job.
So, this item is addressed, rather, not to some owner of a particular enterprise or institution, but to business owners working in the service sector. For example, this may concern the owner of a travel agency. Indeed, as we know, the most valuable tool of such enterprises is not a rented office with office equipment, but a customer base and managers working with it. And how many different stories there are that employees of the company stole its base, after which they started their own business! The same applies to the sale of business.
There are stories when, under the guise of a buyer, a person came to the company to find out certain facts about it. Later he contacted the key managers of this company, offering them a substantial fee for starting work with his base in favor of another company. Having lured people, such pseudo-buyers actually ruined the entire business of the real owner of the base, creating their own structure in return. At one time, this became a real problem in the market: it is quite difficult to protect your base from theft, given the fact that other people should work with it. Plus, the same situation can be repeated in relation to the technologies used in production, as well as other not so obvious innovations and solutions in your business.
Protection mechanisms exist. Moreover, they are actively used by many companies. The customer base, for example, is tied to the enterprise itself, without giving full access to it for managers and sellers working on the phone. The situation is similar with technologies and different know-how: you can tell the buyer that there are some ways to improve the financial performance of the business, “production secrets” that, alas, you cannot reveal to the buyer at the acquaintance stage. Thus, the results of your work will be safe.
“Training” on competitors
Are you not sure if everything is indicated in the description of your business? Has all the information been published from those that may interest the buyer and become for him the best reference points? You do not know how the negotiations will be held, what you need to answer some of the questions, and what if you get a call? The solution to all these and a host of other problems is very simple. It consists in “training” on your competitors. What is meant?
If you want to know how to sell a business with debts or how to make a maximum for your company, you can simply find competitors selling a similar type of company and write them under the guise of a buyer. Believe me, they will provide you with maximum information regarding their company (since the seller is likely to be interested in selling).
This kind of “training” is very useful. You immediately see from the side the customer’s behavior, notice the questions that your customer wants to ask, and note the best answers that should be given.
Intermediaries
Today, there are many companies that help get rid of their business. If you do not want to do everything yourself, you can turn to one of them for help, describing the essence of the task. There are no difficulties in finding a company that will help sell the business. There is a huge amount of contact information, and you can easily find feedback on the work of intermediaries. True, you should be prepared for the fact that you will be charged a commission for the services provided. On the other hand, professional business sellers may have their own appraiser, who will help you, in turn, help you out more for the individual resources used in your business.
conclusions
In fact, such an important stage in the life of any entrepreneur and businessman as selling a business can be treated differently. For some, this situation can mean a serious loss and bear some negative connotation: they say, he gave away what he had been trying and working for so long. On the other hand, the same procedure can be considered as the next stage in your career as a businessman, as an opportunity to create a new project and earn more on it.
In any case, you will be able to gain some funds for your company, the amount of which will also determine the seller’s further mood. After all, someone understands that his brainchild should be rated much higher, while someone, on the contrary, is very pleased with the deal and is glad that he finally got into a project. Each of the business sale stories is unique, they happen to people, and there is nothing wrong or reprehensible in this. On the contrary, it is possible that with new hands your project will bring more benefits, become more profitable and give new jobs.