The time has finally come for you to part ways with your cleaning business. Perhaps you’re looking into retirement or starting a new venture somewhere else. No matter the reason, the thought has likely crossed your mind at some point…
A career as a business broker prepares you for negotiations regarding the sale of any company. However, business owners tend not to have this same skill set. When selling your business, you could be left uncertain, frustrated, or deadlocked about…
When contemplating how to sell your business, there are numerous details to consider. As an owner, you have dedicated the time and effort to watch it grow. There have certainly been ups and downs, and in that time, your role…
You’ve never been known as someone who has trouble making decisions. But here you are swinging like a pendulum when it comes to following through on selling your business. You’ve taken your business as far as you can. You have other ideas about what you’d like to do with the rest of your life while you still have the health to act on it.
So what are buyers looking for in a business? Whether it’s their first purchase of a business or their 10th, buyers are looking for an ongoing income. Not surprisingly then, they’ll be attracted by businesses with a proven track record of consistent financial performance with solid, growing revenue and earnings.
Most of the people who come to us to buy a business are first-time buyers. And likewise, most of the business owners who contact us about selling their business have never gone through the process before. Buying or selling, there’s a lot for them to absorb. And while we do our best to guide them each step of the way, the subject matter can be a bit daunting for those unused to the terms that come up as we help them get to their goal line.
As a buyer, you are excited about the opportunity to purchase a business and confident you have enough money for its purchase. But do you have enough money to keep it "working?" If you plan to grow the business, do you have enough working capital to fund its growth? Growing businesses require more working capital than shrinking businesses as receivables are growing.
Proper pricing is a must when you go to sell your business. And that means an asking price that is reasonable and correct. A reasonable asking price should factor the true earnings of the business and what the market is willing to pay. Business patterns, systems, competition, markets, quality of service or product, staff and operational factors are all predictors of future earnings that need to be taken into account.
In a recent 2015 post, I noted that more mid-sized businesses in the Canadian market are turning to complementary acquisitions with fold-ins or add-ons that allow the buyer to add on the revenue of the acquisition without the costs the seller (and their smaller business) had. As we enter the New Year with renewed resolve and resolutions, I've been asked to say more about these financial benefits.
The Process of Selling a Business