Showcasing Your Business’s Potential: Presenting a Compelling Investment Opportunity

Business investors are notably meticulous. With several opportunities within their reach, they must be assured that a business for sale is worth the price. That evaluation starts — and sometimes ends — with the prospective seller’s first presentation.

When selling your business, you need to convince buyers that it’s a sound investment with enormous potential for profit. But you also need to be forthright, realistic, and honest in your presentation. Understating problems and overstating value are often the downfalls of otherwise solid showcases.

With a little foresight, research, and preparation, you can make a professional presentation for selling your business. Here are just a few strategies to think about.

Serve in an Advisory Capacity

You’ve already built knowledge capital just by running a successful small or medium-sized company. Now that you’re selling your business, a potential buyer might have some questions or concerns about their ability to run it. You can address these issues as early as your first presentation.

Give your potential buyer the benefit of your wisdom. Offer advice based on how you’ve built and maintained a running business. Talk about your experience, the obstacles you’ve encountered, and what you’ve learned.

Your buyer might want to know about certain opportunities in your business that you haven’t pursued — they may have ideas on how to turn those ideas into reality. Having them come up with such plans themselves might make them more involved at the start.

Focus on Buyers’ Personal Strengths

If you’re selling your business, you’re entitled to a little intel on your buyer. What projects or businesses have they invested in before? What’s their record with turning around a business? Do they specialize in certain areas of expertise? Do you have business contacts in common?

The reason for asking these questions isn’t just to learn more about the buyer. It’s so you can reflect their business strengths and abilities back to them during the presentation. Demonstrate to them how you know their history and traits will turn their investment into a win-win situation.

Keep Financial Reports Updated and Clear

Many deals have fallen apart due to inaccurate or unclear data at presentation — especially financial data. It’s not just intentionally overstating one’s financials that can sidetrack a deal. Much of the time, financial misstatements are just mistakes or errors of omission.

Make sure your presentation features updated, precise financial info. Profit-and-loss (P&L) numbers must be accurate as of right now. Projections and estimates must be realistic. Past results must reflect correctly on history. Your P&L numbers should be clear and unambiguous so the buyer understands how benefits and salaries will be factored in.

Build Your Narrative on Past Strengths

What are the most attractive selling points of your business? Maybe it’s well-known for customer service or quality. Maybe it has an innovative marketing staff that always drives attention. Perhaps it has built an outstanding reputation among other local businesses and customers.

Make sure to mention these strengths and values, both external and intrinsic. Showcase the strengths that your company best espouses; highlight the factors customers and clients always seem to appreciate. These traits are just as important, if not more so, than your business’s financial value.

Sunbelt Business Brokers: You in Your Best Light

Florida business owners looking to sell don’t have to step on the presentation stage alone. Sunbelt Business Brokers is there to help you at all points in your sales process.

We work with small and medium-sized businesses looking to sell and move on to new opportunities. Our proprietary business valuation calculator can help you get clear on your company’s worth. From there, our experts can help you fine-tune your business, find legitimate potential buyers, and work out a deal agreement that works in your favor.

If you’re ready to start the process of selling your business, Sunbelt is ready to help. Contact us to learn more and set up a free consultation.