The following are situations where the price was not the deciding issue in the successful sell of a business. The ultimate buyer may be the only one who really understands the situation. A business intermediary really understands the issues and can lead the buyer and seller to a successful resolution. • One seller had 60 shareholders …
Category Archive: Selling a Business
How to sell a business!
Reasons to Sell / Reasons to Acquire
A January 2004 survey conducted by the DAK Group/Rutgers found the following breakdown of why businesses are for sale: Reasons To Sell Risk reduction 44% Competition or market changes 41% External pressures 27% Lifestyle factors (age, health, etc.) 14% Lack of capital 9% Ownership/management issues 07% Note: Multiple responses allowed; Source: DAK Group/Rutgers It is interesting to note that the …
Reasons for Sale
The reasons for selling a business can be divided into two main categories. The first is a sale that is planned almost from the beginning or by an owner who knows that selling is or should be a planned event. The second is exactly the opposite – unplanned; the sale is motivated by a specific …
Rating Buyer Seriousness
Use the following criteria to separate the serious buyers from window-shoppers. (Add up plus points, subtract minus points. The serious buyer will rate a 6 or above.) Minus Point Factors -4 needs outside financing (excluding home equity) -4 been looking for 6 months or more -3 no available cash -3 still working in corporate world …
Questions Business Buyers Want Answers To
If you are even thinking about selling your business, it’s important to know the questions that buyers generally want answers to. For example, the first question almost always asked by buyers is: If this is such a good business why is it for sale? How you answer this question can make or break a sale. …
Prior to Closing — Red Flags from the Seller’s Viewpoint
Buyers are expected to perform a thorough due diligence on both the business and the seller(s). However, many sellers don’t do an extensive due diligence on the buyer(s). Deals do not always close; many are aborted in the very early stages, and others tank somewhere along the way to what was hoped to be a successful …
Price or Terms: The Structure of the Deal
An old saying in negotiating the sale of a business goes like this: The buyer says to the seller, “You name the price, and I get to name the terms.” Another saying used to explain the actual value of the term full price: “If we could find you a business that nets you $250,000 a …
Price and Value: Any Difference?
The question most often asked by those considering placing their businesses for sale is: “What is my business worth?” The question that should be asked is: “How much can I get for my business?” Worth and value are words that in many cases are interchangeable. Leading business appraiser Shannon Pratt, in his book Business Valuation …
Pre-Sale Tuneup
Business owners are often asked, “Do you think you will ever sell your business?” The answers vary from: “Only when I can get my price” to “Never” to a realistic “I don’t really know” with everything else in between. “When will you sell your business?” is often asked, but very seldom answered. Certainly, misfortune can …
Points to Ponder for Sellers
Who best understands my business? When interviewing intermediaries to represent the sale of your firm, it is important that you discuss your decision process for selecting one. Without this discussion, an intermediary can’t respond to a prospective seller’s concerns. Are there any potential buyers? When dealing with intermediaries, it always helps to reveal any possible …
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