How to Successfully Sell Your Business
1. PRICE IT RIGHT
Some Merger & Acquisition Advisors just can’t bring themselves to tell you that your price is too high. Don’t shoot your Merger & Acquisition Advisor for valuing your business so that it is priced realistically and don’t choose a Merger & Acquisition Advisor on the basis of which one values your business at the highest price so they can get a listing.
The price of your business needs to be realistic. The best way to accomplish this is to have your business valued by a third party valuator that is knowledgeable in both the science of valuations as well as the art (market forces) that shape the valuation. Businesses that use a third party business valuation have an 80% chance of selling at a much higher price. Those who do not use a professional business broker and a third party evaluation only have a 10% chance of selling.
Your tendency will be to overprice your business. When you do, the time it takes to sell just stretches out to the point where it is mighty shopworn merchandise by the time it finally sells . . . if it sells at all. Nothing raises the doubts of a prospective buyer more than to find out you’ve been trying to sell for a long time. A full-fledged business valuation costs upward of $3,000, so don’t expect a good written appraisal for less. For a larger company, one can easily cost $10,000 or more.
This Article is a re-print written by Brian Mazar, Feb 4, 2014