SELLING YOUR BUSINESS

It is a popularly held belief that once you have decided to sell your Business, you have already lost interest in it, and have probably been letting things slide. This is not a good time to sell!

Analyze your reasons for selling the Business. Selling a hot company in a hot market is always better than the other way around. Buyers will always be willing to spend more for a company that is doing well, so it's worth the extra effort to get your Business in order before you put it on the market for sale.

There are a few simple exercises you can perform to see where your business stands with respect to the rest of the market.

• Has your company shown a profit for the last five quarters?
• Have your profit results been increasing over the prior five quarters, or are they erratic in nature?
• Has your company been gaining market share compared to the competition?
• Has your company recently obtained the rights to a patent, trademark or other intellectual property?
• Have you received any new major contracts?
• Is your company in a hot market segment?

A combination of any of the above, will make the appeal of your Business much stronger.

Boredom has caused the downfall and sale of more small businesses than most people would like to admit. If you are in this position and have convinced yourself that you need new challenges, you might be better served by selling your company before you do something that compromises its financial condition.

Management or family squabbles are often a reason for selling a business. More than one happy relationship has broken up of over money, and a successful, or even unsuccessful business can cause personal friction between shareholders, partners or owners.

Whatever your reasons are for selling, be honest with your Broker - the better we understand your reasons, the better postition we are in to help you sell it.

Selling your Business is a complex process involving many Legal & Accounting steps that are best handled by a Professional if you want to get Top Dollar, and have a painless experience:

• Preparing the Business for Sale
• Preparing a Prospectus
• Getting an independent Professional Valuation
• Pricing the Business
• Marketing the Business
• Negotiating with Buyers
• Managing Legal Contracts
• Managing Mergers & Acquisitions
• Closing the deal
• Managing the Due Diligience Audit
• Managing your Employees
• Managing the sale of assets, inventory, etc.
• Tax Implications
• Post-acquisition Process
• etc.