Master the Sale: Insider Tips to Sell Your Business for More
You’ve put years of money and hard work into building your company. Naturally, if you’ve decided to sell your business, you want to make sure that you can secure a high sales price. The following are a few suggestions that may help you sell for more.
Understanding Business Valuation: What Increases Your Worth?
Before you put your company on the market, you need to make sure you understand it inside and out. One of the most basic (and most important) pieces of data is your business valuation. An online valuation calculator can give you a reasonable estimate, but if you’re considering selling, it’s worth paying for a professional appraisal and valuation.
Once you understand your company’s value, you can get to work increasing its worth. The higher you can get your business valuation before sale, the more profit you’re likely to generate. These are some of the steps that could increase your company’s value:
- Create repeatable processes to make daily operations more efficient
- Train a reliable management team to run the company in your absence
- Create accurate revenue projections
- Identify and address any inefficiencies and redundancies
The above steps are good general advice. However, your business broker can offer targeted suggestions to make your unique company the best it can be.
Marketing Your Business Effectively to the Right Buyers
In almost every case, there’s someone out there who wants to buy your business. Unfortunately, if you can’t identify and market to the right buyers, you’ll have a hard time making a sale.
When you conduct market research into current industry trends and market dynamics, you can create a picture of your ideal buyer. When you have a better idea of who you’re marketing to, selling your company becomes easier.
However, if you choose to sell your business with the help of a broker, you may unlock a shortcut to effective marketing. Most brokers have networks of approved buyers. If your company is a good fit for one of these buyers, your broker may market it to them directly.
Negotiation Secrets: Strategies to Get the Highest Offer
Negotiation is an art, and more often than not, strong negotiation skills lead to a high sales price. Here are a few strategies that may make a difference:
- Understand a buyer’s needs and highlight how your business meets them
- Be willing to walk away from unfavorable deals
- Make sure your valuation and revenue projections are backed by data
- Engage multiple interested buyers to create competition
- Focus on reaching a mutually beneficial agreement
The process of negotiation can be intense and emotionally fraught. When you remain aware of your own emotions and make an effort to keep them in check, you can stay focused on your ultimate goal: selling your company for a reasonable price.
When you sell your business, you don’t necessarily have to handle negotiations on your own. Your business broker can negotiate the final price and the deal structure on your behalf.
Ready to Sell Your Business?
The process of selling a company can be immensely stressful, but the stress and effort will be worthwhile once you sell your business for a respectable price. When you maximize your company’s value, market it effectively, and understand how to negotiate, you can increase your chances of a profitable sale.
These can be challenging steps for anyone to take, but fortunately, you don’t have to prepare your company for sale on your own. At Sunbelt Business Brokers, we’ve helped South Florida business owners like you since 2015. Whether you’ve made the decision to sell or are still considering it, we want to hear from you. Contact us today!