Using business brokers when selling an online enterprise. How to prepare for a successful sale of a ready made business.
You have decided to sell your business. Congratulations – treating your own business not as an integral part of your life, but as a highly liquid asset with a certain value is a characteristic feature of a mature owner, a real capitalist, in the good sense of the word. If you have any doubts about “is my business ready to sell?” – this article is for you. Let’s check what does preparations for sale mean and why it is so important.
Why preparation is important in business selling?
Preparing a business to sell, as Web Site Closers said, should satisfy the main goals of the seller and the buyer. The seller seeks to sell his company for a profit. The buyer will try to acquire a profitable enterprise, which in the shortest possible time will both reimburse the costs incurred by him, and in the future constantly receive dividends.
In addition, when it comes to the process of selling a business, the legal purity of both the business and the transaction itself is very important for the buyer. Therefore, the seller needs to conduct a realistic assessment of the value of his company and eliminate all identified shortcomings before its sale. Otherwise, they may be discovered by the buyer and require a sharp reduction in the declared price. Usually, the pre-sale preparation of any alienated company includes the following activities:
- Assessment of the real state of the business, taking into account its pros and cons. Often, the seller’s good faith is evidenced by an independent assessment of the pre-sale risks of the alienated enterprise.
- Detailed analysis of the performed accounting activities. One of the important points here is the confirmation of the correct calculation of all established taxes and their timely payment. To this end, you can order and receive a certificate of the absence of debts in the company that is sold on taxes. In addition, it is not superfluous to check the completeness of all necessary payments to employees of the company.
- Ensuring the legal purity of the documents being prepared for the future sale of the business. When preparing documents, it should be borne in mind that the new owner of the business will take over all loans, receivables, previously concluded agreements, contracts, production equipment, and premises, as well as everything involved in the commercial business. For this reason, it is necessary to conduct a detailed inventory of all assets of the alienated enterprise.
- Monitoring of the prospects of the enterprise being sold. This measure will contribute to the successful sale of the business at a more favorable price due to the prospects of increasing profits in the future.
- Assessment of the pros and cons of the business is prepared for sale. Establishing the advantages is necessary to attract a large number of buyers. Assessment of existing shortcomings will allow for taking timely measures for their possible elimination before the sale of the enterprise. For example, a detailed check of the timeliness of payment of the authorized capital or its parts will allow taking measures to repay the identified debts before the sale of the business.
- Checking the correctness of registration of rights to intangible assets of the company (if any). Such assets include software, created or acquired various websites, etc. For sale, it is necessary to properly register the rights to own them. Otherwise, it may be an obstacle to the successful sale of the company.
After completing the pre-sale preparation, you should look for a buyer for your business.
Who can help me sell my business?
Now with successful growth of your business, transaction for the purchase and sale of a ready-made business is always interesting and promises good opportunities, but at the same time, it is a complex and responsible process in the course of which it is easy to make grave mistakes, resulting in the loss of valuable resources.
Therefore, many entrepreneurs seek the services of business brokers to get their help in selling a ready-made business – from the stages of finding a client to negotiating the price and providing legal support for the security of the transaction.
- With their help an accurate assessment of the project is carried out to establish how the value corresponds to market realities, which ultimately affects all subsequent actions;
- Assisting in the sale of a business, a broker takes over the entire process of packaging the offer for buyers – creating and placing advertising campaigns in various sources, preparing presentation materials, etc;
- In buying a business, a broker helps to find a suitable project and then checks its introductory statements in advertising for accuracy;
- In the work of a broker the most important thing is the professional conduct of all negotiations from the first contact to the conclusion of the contract of sale, and in addition, the coordination and control of all meetings and smoothing the thorny moments that arise between the seller and the buyer.
Interesting fact: in 80% of successful transactions, both parties say that without an intermediary it would be much more difficult to reach an understanding, and most likely the transaction would not have taken place due to broken negotiations;
So, comprehensive preparation of the business for a successful sale is one of the most difficult and important tasks for the owner.
Competently influence the valuation factors, conduct “work on mistakes” and direct all processes to increase the value of the company, regardless of whether it is sold or not.
