{"id":103,"date":"2010-08-09T18:34:09","date_gmt":"2010-08-09T18:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/murphyword.com\/blog\/?p=103"},"modified":"2019-04-29T16:05:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T20:05:25","slug":"ten-steps-to-the-successful-sale-of-a-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/ten-steps-to-the-successful-sale-of-a-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Steps to the Successful Sale of a Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t<strong>1. <\/strong>Make sure you have a valid reason for selling your business. The first thing a prospective buyer will want to know is the reason you are selling. The more valid the reason you offer, the more serious the buyer will be.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>2. <\/strong>Don&#39;t wait until you have to sell, for either economic or emotional reasons. You don&#39;t want anxiety to force you into accepting a deal that&#39;s not good for you or for the buyer.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>3. <\/strong>Once you have made the decision to sell&#8211;and before talking to your business broker&#8211;you should gather the information needed to market and subsequently sell your business. Here&#39;s the list of key items:\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\tThree years profit and loss statements\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tFederal income tax returns for the business\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tList of fixtures and equipment\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tThe lease and any lease-related documents\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tCopy of the franchise agreements (if applicable)\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tList of loans against the business with amounts and payment schedule\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tCopies of any equipment leases\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tAn approximate amount of the inventory on hand\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tNames of outside advisors\n\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>4. <\/strong>Remember that you are part of the marketing team. Your business broker can&#39;t do it all&#8211;and might even ask you to come to an office meeting to tell the rest of the staff about your business. Follow your broker&#39;s advice about dealing with prospective buyers&#8211;there&#39;s a right and a wrong time to meet them.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>5. <\/strong>Confidentiality works both ways. The broker will constantly stress confidentiality to the customers to whom he or she shows your business. However, as the seller, you must maintain confidentiality about a pending sale in your day-to-day business activities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>6. <\/strong>You, as the seller, should put yourself in a prospective buyer&#39;s position. The next time you go to your place of business, pretend you are a buyer looking at it for the first time. How impressed are you?\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>7. <\/strong>Just because you are selling, now is not the time to let the business slip. It&#39;s important that prospective buyers see your business at its best; bustling, and showing no signs of neglect.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>8. <\/strong>Engage an outside professional who understands the sales process. If you are going to use a lawyer, use one who is seasoned in the business sale process.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>9. <\/strong>Be flexible! You need to keep the ball rolling once an offer has been presented. Study it closely. Just because you didn&#39;t get your asking price, the offer may have other points that will offset it, such as higher payments or interest, a consulting agreement, more cash than you anticipated or a buyer that you are comfortable with.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>10. <\/strong>Remember that most successful transactions are successful because they create a win-win situation for everyone involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1. Make sure you have a valid reason for selling your business. The first thing a prospective buyer will want to know is the reason you are selling. The more valid the reason you offer, the more serious the buyer will be. 2. Don&#39;t wait until you have to sell, for either economic or emotional &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/ten-steps-to-the-successful-sale-of-a-business\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Ten Steps to the Successful Sale of a Business&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,13],"class_list":["post-103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-consulting","tag-exit-strategy","tag-sell-a-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ten Steps to the Successful Sale of a Business | Murphy Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ten Steps to the Successful Sale of a Business\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/ten-steps-to-the-successful-sale-of-a-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ten Steps to the Successful Sale of a Business | Murphy Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ten Steps to the Successful Sale of a Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/ten-steps-to-the-successful-sale-of-a-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blog - 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