Sell A Business
How I Sell and Market Businesses
There are two key components to selling a business and you need both of them:
- A competitive pool of interested buyers and,
- A vision of an increasingly profitable future.
If you want to sell your business for all it’s worth, you must actively and intensely create an aggressive and competitive market of interested buyers. Without competing buyers, you have very little leverage to convince a buyer to pay more than the industry standard multiple of past profits.
As a business owner, you know there is more value in your business than what you’ve done in the past. I have spent years perfecting a system that switches conversations away from buyer-focused return on investment to future opportunities and value that your company offers to potential buyers of your business.
Business Brief and Offering Memorandum — Every business is different. Just like its owner, a business has it’s own personality, a special past and an unexplored and exciting future. I invest the time to understand your personal objectives for selling your business. I explore and uncover your business’ strengths and opportunities–and its potential opportunities for a buyer. I use much of that information while researching the marketplace for strategic buyers. I prepare for you a bound business brief.
This business brief is a tremendous benefit for you, because it is an enlightening exercise that allows you to see your business as a buyer will see it. This is extremely important because if I can write it down, I have thought it out. I am meticulous here. I consider all angles and don’t overlook any opportunities.
Market Research - I conduct a customized search project for each client. Potential buyers may be anywhere in the world, here or abroad. I create a list of qualified prospects from the millions of companies in my databases. Each prospect is screened using my proprietary techniques. My objective is to cast a large, targeted net around the most likely buyers for your business. To successfully sell a business, my search must be thorough. Preparation is the basis for what I do. I will target 50 – 100 prospects for each client.
Sales and Marketing - I get on the telephone and call the top decision-maker of every potential buyer I’ve identified. I call them until I reach them. I’m tenacious. I’m pigheaded and determined. I deliver customized presentations about your opportunity to each potential buyer. After I obtain nondisclosure agreements, I present the buyers with a benefit-rich marketing memorandum that focuses on the future potential of your business. A competitive pool of strategic buyers rarely occurs by accident. I create my own luck by working hard in a competitive marketplace.
Exploratory Meetings — Next, I arrange face-to-face meetings with the most qualified prospects. It is too early to discuss price and terms. You and I use the meetings to determine the fit between the two parties. We discuss the value of what your business will look like once the buyer applies their resources, time, energy and money to the business. The buyers we’re looking for buy a business because of its future opportunity, not its history. They buy it for the future value it holds for them. Our goal is to reach an understanding of what the future of your business is for the buyer.
Competing offers – I invite competitive bids when I understand the buyers’ motives. The buying motive of interested prospects is key to selling your business for it’s greatest value. I select prospects based on their plans for the future. Maybe they want a presence in your region; maybe they see cross-selling opportunities. I select prospects because of their plans for your company in the future. I study the information gathered in the exploratory meetings. I negotiate with bidders to reflect the future potential they outlined in the exploratory meeting. By selling future potential articulated in the meetings, they pay for the opportunity, not just for your past.
Concluding the deal – After you accept an offer, the buyer conducts a due diligence to verify what they are actually purchasing. The complexity of the company determines the extent of the due diligence. I work with my deal lawyers to draft the closing documents for review by your and the buyer’s attorneys. I move the deal to a speedy and satisfactory closing.
Contact me now!
Email or Tel: 615-943-8241
