5 Tips to Selling Your Business Successfully

You’ve decided to sell your business, and you want the process to be as smooth as possible. Let Sunbelt Business Brokers help you through the process. Selling a business can be complicated, but selling it successfully is much easier if you follow these five tips from Sunbelt Brokers:

1. Get Your Business Appraised

Before you even think about selling your business, you need to know how much your company is worth. You must know the value of your business when selling, so you don’t end up selling your company for less than it’s worth. Identifying the true value of a company to prospective buyers usually isn’t easy – they don’t want financials as much as they want hard evidence about what makes this particular investment worthwhile.

Our team at Sunbelt Business Brokers is highly trained and prepared to provide an in-depth evaluation of every part of your company. We know how to present what you can do better than anyone else so that buyers will recognize the real benefits of ownership.

Contact Sunbelt Brokers today to start the appraisal process!

2. Create a Marketing Plan for Selling Your Business

Marketing is a key component when trying to sell your business. The goal here isn’t to make up some random marketing campaign – the goal is to get potential buyers interested in what you have to offer as an owner! You want to create a marketing plan that outlines your company’s strengths and weaknesses so buyers can understand the assets and potential risks.

To get a marketing plan started, you’ll need to look at the following:

• What is your target market?
• Where are they located?
• Who’s in charge of marketing?

Sunbelt Brokers has years of experience when it comes to creating advertisements and promoting businesses for sale. We have over 200 websites around the world that we can promote your business on. Sunbelt is also prepared to advertise your business in multiple languages.

3. Protect Yourself with Contracts

Many people think that contracts are only necessary when they’re actually selling their business. However, the truth is that you need to protect yourself all along the way! If someone wants to buy your company but you aren’t sure about them yet – ask for a contract before giving access to any sensitive information or financial records.

A good contract will specify what can and cannot be done with your data as well as how much it would cost if there’s a breach of confidentiality. You should also find out the terms of ownership in case things go south during negotiations!

Contact Sunbelt Business Brokers today for more advice on protecting yourself from potential liabilities at every step of the process.

4. Make Sure Your Taxes are Up-to-Date

If you’re in the process of selling your business, or even if you’ve just started thinking about it, don’t forget to make sure all your taxes are up-to-date. This is an important part of selling your company, and it’s essential to do this before you start marketing your business or even as soon as you’ve decided to sell.

Though the IRS may not care about every detail in your taxes, they will be interested in knowing that everything is up-to-date before allowing a sale of any kind. If there are outstanding tax issues that could result in penalties for failure to file on time, then these should be resolved first.

If you have employees who work with contractors under contract labor agreements, make sure all contracts are correct, so no withholding information is required from either party when presenting documentation for final approval by the IRS. Failure to provide complete disclosure can lead to delays in processing paperwork, preventing the timely closure of the sale.

If you need help with taxes or any other part of preparing to sell your business, some professionals specialize in this on our team at Sunbelt Brokers.

5. Prepare for Transitions with Key Employees

Once you’re ready to start the selling process, it is important to address any questions or concerns your employees may have about an ownership change. If you don’t, they will likely leave and take their valuable knowledge with them before the transition has even begun!

Most buyers looking to purchase your company will expect your employees to stay own when they transfer ownership. You should have a plan in place to reinsure your workers about the transition. As the current owner of your company, it is also important for you to be sensitive and understanding when talking to key employees.

Let Sunbelt Brokers do the heavy lifting for you when it comes to selling your business! Call us to schedule a consultation today!