{"id":66,"date":"2011-03-10T17:03:38","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T17:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/murphyword.com\/blog\/?p=66"},"modified":"2017-04-25T15:45:29","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T19:45:29","slug":"how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Sell Your Business, but Keep it a Secret"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t&ldquo;Loose lips sink ships.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s a familiar phrase to Americans, originally written by the War Advertising Council during World War II as &ldquo;Loose lips might sink ships.&rdquo; The British also used variations of the phrase that encouraged citizens and military personnel to avoid careless talk that might serve the enemy.<br \/>\n\tThe phrase is still used today to caution against thoughtless chatter in general.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhen selling a company, it is vitally important that confidentiality is maintained throughout the business transfer process. A breach of confidentiality may not only kill the deal, it can cause further repercussions to the seller as employees and customers may leave, creditors may begin to scrutinize more intently and competitors may capitalize on the perceived opportunity.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIf a business owner is unable to disclose information, how is he supposed to sell his company?\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBusiness brokers are professionals in this arena and have the experience and tools in place to manage the business transfer process discreetly, helping sellers maintain the utmost confidentiality until the transaction has been completed. This is accomplished by:\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\tMarketing effectively\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tQualifying buyers\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tUsing documents that require confidentiality\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tManaging the information flow\n\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tA business broker should prepare a customized marketing approach for each company he lists for sale. This includes describing the business in a generic fashion &#8212; one that will appeal to prospective buyers without jeopardizing the seller&rsquo;s identity.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tApproximately 90% of prospects who initially reply to advertisements are usually not a fit at all, generally because they lack the necessary experience or cash investment for the transaction. There are also a lot of &ldquo;lookers&rdquo; or &ldquo;tire kickers&rdquo; who can easily drain a seller&rsquo;s time and tax his emotional energy. Business brokers have the skills to help qualify buyers immediately before the seller is ever involved.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBusiness brokers use confidentiality agreements, with wording prospective buyers must agree to, in writing, before additional information is released.<br \/>\n\tBusiness brokers also manage the flow of information, holding the most sensitive records secure until a formal offer to purchase (with escrow deposit) has been accepted by the seller.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe business transfer process is somewhat unique in that the details of the entity being sold are not shared initially, but rather peeled away as the buyer becomes more interested and continues to offer proof of his sincerity and qualifications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&ldquo;Loose lips sink ships.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s a familiar phrase to Americans, originally written by the War Advertising Council during World War II as &ldquo;Loose lips might sink ships.&rdquo; The British also used variations of the phrase that encouraged citizens and military personnel to avoid careless talk that might serve the enemy. The phrase is still used &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How to Sell Your Business, but Keep it a Secret&#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":[5,15,16,7],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-consulting","tag-business-broker","tag-closing-a-sale","tag-intermediary","tag-marketing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Sell Your Business, but Keep it a Secret -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How to Sell Your Business, but Keep it a Secret\" \/>\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\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Sell Your Business, but Keep it a Secret -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How to Sell Your Business, but Keep it a Secret\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blog - Murphy Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-10T17:03:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-04-25T19:45:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Murphy Blog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Murphy Blog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Murphy Blog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e0ea55754e128a28657f5362fccca4d7\"},\"headline\":\"How to Sell Your Business, but Keep it a Secret\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-10T17:03:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-25T19:45:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/\"},\"wordCount\":404,\"keywords\":[\"business broker\",\"Closing a Sale\",\"Intermediary\",\"Marketing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business Consulting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/\",\"name\":\"How to Sell Your Business, but Keep it a Secret -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-10T17:03:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-25T19:45:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e0ea55754e128a28657f5362fccca4d7\"},\"description\":\"How to Sell Your Business, but Keep it a Secret\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-business-but-keep-it-a-secret\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Sell Your Business, but Keep it a Secret\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/murphybusiness.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Blog - 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