Selling Your Business? Make Your Business Valuable!

Selling a business is one of the most important financial occurrences in a business owner’s lifetime. Selling a business should be a planned and controlled process of making a business desirable, marketable and purchasable. The actual sale transaction is just a part of the whole selling process. The secret to netting the most value from the sale of a business is for business owners to carefully manage and nurture the business while taking the proper steps and time to prepare for sale. Mindful consideration of the following may be helpful to attain greater success by way of preparation:

1. Form a Team of Professionals: Business owners are experts in operating businesses– not in preparing businesses for sale. Many sellers are reluctant to hire business brokers and intermediaries or seek assistance from their attorney, banker and accountant to prepare for the sale of their business. Many business owners unwisely and myopically focus on fees and the short-term as opposed to the long-term and net-value, thereby losing bottom-line benefit from sale, increasing liability exposure and risk of overall sale and post-deal failures. Business brokers and bankers can provide excellent market and sale process perspectives, capital and access potential buyers and sellers. Attorneys and accountants can provide tremendous value by way of proper legal and tax structuring. Business owners using a team of dedicated and well-coordinated professionals attain the best sale and post-sale long term results.

2. Plan for Sale Well in Advance: Abraham Lincoln said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” As home owners take the time to spruce-up their houses before listing their residence for sale, business sellers benefit from making their business more attractive to buyers. Savvy sellers and teammates take the time well in advance of sale to identify potential internal and/or external buyers, determine what a buyer desires and make the appropriate changes to fulfill those desires. Making the desired changes takes time and proactive planning is needed to be ready to strike when the business owner chooses. Some common planning considerations include:

• Enhance business revenues, positioning and value by locking down existing customers or suppliers with long term contracts and investing in consultants and salespersons to increase market share and operational efficiencies
• Complete employment agreements, buy-sell agreements, non-competes, and restrictive covenants with co-owners and key employees
• Establish or maintain solid and trusting banking relationships to facilitate third-party financing and readying the seller/owner’s personal financial planning for anticipated seller-financing concessions
• Review business level legal and tax structuring, compliance and operations. Examples include entity structuring and protecting intellectual property such as core know-how, customer lists, patents and unique operating capabilities
• Settle outstanding litigation threats or issues
• Review personal level estate tax and income tax planning as well as asset protection planning
• Identify and disengage any potentially suspect or gray area business and tax practices
• Address accounting practices, controls and tax records to provide credibility to purchasers by way of audit, review or compilation attestation services
• Disengage cash flow drains such as unprofitable or slow paying customers and address the collection of accounts receivable
• Document key operational processes and invest in modernized computer system to better fit potential buyer processes
• Address business and personal goodwill considerations
• Secure third party leases, contracts and the like
• Discard unsalable inventory

For more information on how we can assist you, please contact us today!

Information provided to us from Kelleher & Buckley, LLC