You have worked tirelessly to grow your business. You have helped your business grow from a one person, owner/operator operation to a nice sized, 10-employee company. Now you have reached a point where you feel it is time to move on. It is the prime time to sell your business; it is successful and enjoys a solid customer following.
So you decide to meet with a local business broker and begin the process to sell your business. You think well now I can relax a little and let the broker do all the work. It will be okay if I dodge a few business calls, let a few customer issues slide. Maybe you will cancel some of your advertising campaigns. Maybe you decide to take some extended lunch breaks, stop coming in on Fridays, sleep in and then read the newspaper. Stop that!
This is not the time to get complacent or make changes to the business. This is the time to dial in and keep supporting the operations that have brought your business success in the first place. Yes, you can let the broker handle the concerns of selling your business. They will develop a marketing strategy and vet the buyers, all while keeping you in the loop and keeping the sale confidential. But the broker needs to be able to depend on you to keep the success of your business on course. Otherwise, the many characteristics of the business that make it attractive to buyers, such as high profitability and loyal customers, could fall by the wayside.
As a broker, in my past experience, I have seen some difficult examples of complacent sellers or sellers implementing big changes to their operations, which have had large negative effects on their business's success. I once had a highly profitable retail business for sale. Right about the time the business owner hired me to sell their business they changed their marketing strategy. It turns out that marketing strategy was less than effective which in turn caused their revenue to decrease over the next several months. An interested buyer noticed the decline in revenue creating doubt in their mind that the business was worth the asking price. The buyer eventually walked away from the deal because of this revenue decline.
The lesson learned here is to keep doing what you do best. Now is not the time to change the course of the business strategy that has been providing success. Continue on with your proven operations all the way through to the sale of your business and you will have one less hurdle to overcome.
For more information on how to best support the sale of your business visit the Transworld website or schedule a free consultation with one of our knowledgeable brokers.
Schedule Your Consultation Now
Gary Goldwasser is a Business Intermediary with Transworld Business Advisors of Denver. Passionate about business, Gary believes, at its core, business is about trust and building strong relationships. His expertise comes from his years in printing sales, executive management and having owned three separate businesses himself. The experience and challenge of business ownership have directly impacted Gary and pushed him to be a great manager, co-worker, leader, husband, and father.
