To speed up selling your business you will require patience and create a working business-selling system. In this article, we will look over some hacks that will be helpful for any business owner intended to make a good deal selling his or her business in any industry.
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Summarize your business’ essentials
The first thing you will need to start selling your business is a business summary. This document will sufficiently optimize your time, as you will not be obliged to explain to your potential buyers all the details of your business. The business summary will increase your business' value and help make the sales process organized and professional.
Related: How to Create a Sales Memorandum When Selling Your Business
What should I include in a business summary?
A business summary is a document that is usually up to 20 pages long and represents the overall review of the business. The best way to formulate a working overview of your business is to give straight answers to potential buyers' questions. That is why it is vital to conduct the previous market analysis and surveys for potential buyers.
Note that this is not a public document as it contains details on your financial results and other private business-related data. That is why sending a business summary to your potential buyers is only possible after they sign a non-disclosure agreement with you.
Non-Disclosure Agreement Template
Hire a professional broker
Selling your own business is not an easy task, especially when you do it for the first time in your career. If you opt for hiring a professional broker, he or she will advise better what details are vital to include in your business summary. Professionals help to sell effectively, as they understand the way buyers make their decisions and highlight the essential data for your offer.
A broker is irreplaceable when it comes to such crucial business selling steps as:
- Strategizing the sales marketing
- Determining the actual price in terms of a particular market
- Preparing and reviewing primary business documentation
- Structuring a deal
- Reducing potential troubles on future deals
- Make essential pieces of advice and recommendations on advertising and more.
Identify your ideal buyer’s profile
The portrait of your ideal buyer takes time to create, but this instrument will be beneficial. You will gather the preliminary information on your buyers while you will be making your business summary. We presume that you already know your business and your industry very well if you are up to sell your business. This knowledge will also help identify your buyers' portrait.
Related: How to Check the Background of a Potential Buyer
It is vital to understand some core details on your buyer: does he or she need professional experience in your industry? If the answer is "yes", then look for business owners and investors advertising in trade publications. If the answer is "no", you can combine several approaches to look for potential buyers.
Selling Your Business - Qualifying The Small Business Buyer | thebizseller
Look for buyers in various ways
It would help if you diversified the ways you look for potential buyers of your business. Using distinct sources will make the process of your business selling faster and much effective. There are three most effective ways to find buyers for your business:
1. Emails, business letters, phone calls
A general and useful approach that does not require a lot of preparations and resources to realize. All you need to proceed with is a list of names and contact details to target your messages. This approach to finding potential buyers works better for businesses that are valued at USD 1 million and more.
Related: Pitch-to-Brokers Tool
2. Advertising inside the industry
This is a significant part of the complex approach to look for potential business buyers. The most effective way is to channel your advertising through your industry using such sources as social media, magazines, blogs, trade publications, etc., that directly relate to your business. Advertising works perfectly if your business's price is less than USD 1 million. This is a working option for some industries that require buyers' specific experience - for example, medicine, engineering, professional services, etc.
Related: Go-to-Market Tool
3. Advertising outside the industry
This method works well for printed media and some web resources with a broad audience that is not related to your industry straightforward. This approach to looking for potential business buyers is questionable because, for some industries, this approach seems too expensive and ineffective at the same time. Another way to advertise selling your business outside your industry is to use brokers' sites; however, not all of them are worth it.
Systemize and track buyers’ inquiries
The vital hack for those who are up to sell their business fast and effectively is to screen and track buyers' inquiries. How to do it correctly? You will get most of the requests by email. You will need to prepare an email template beforehand to send it back once you get a fresh inquiry. This template must briefly represent your business and include the primary data buyers usually want to know. A working hack is to have in the answer template some parts of your advertising letter to help buyers identify what you are selling.
Related: Follow Up and Deal With Buyer Feedback To Your Selling Memorandum
The next step for each buyer will be signing an NDA or a non-disclosure agreement. This document is necessary to receive from each buyer before sending him or her your business summary with financial data and other insider information on your business.
Related: Documents for Selling a Business
After completing these initial steps, you will have a pool of real potential buyers with serious intentions because those who are not motivated to buy will not sign an NDA for you.
What questions should an NDA include?
Keep an NDA simple and include such vital questions as:
- Do you have a particular amount of liquid cash to date?
- Please, explain your net worth.
Meet each buyer personally
The way potential buyers communicate with you will define their intentions. We recommend starting with communication by email. The buyers who sign an NDA and get your business summary to look over might have questions. So the next step will be talking with potential buyers interested in buying your business by phone and answering their questions. Remember that if a buyer does not intend to meet with you personally, you will not need to waste your time negotiating with him or her. The next step will be meeting each buyer personally to negotiate the deal. Prepare for several meetings with each buyer as selling a business is an ongoing process.
Related: How to Give a Buyer a Tour of Your Business
To wrap up, remember that systemizing and planning make sense in any activities. Follow the hacks from our article to make your business selling effective.
About the author: Thornie Longmuir is a SEO specialist and content creator. Since 2007, he has been working in the field of information technology and internet communications for the website EssayShark. Now, he practices search engine optimization (SEO) for sites, as well as for leading advertising companies such as Google AdWords and Facebook. He tries to present the articles in a simple and understandable language. He reveals relevant topics and fundamental principles for creating, advertising, and promoting websites on the Internet. The main part of the published material is designed for beginners who want to learn how to develop and promote web projects on their own.
