Homebuyers are familiar with the mantra—location, location, location. Well for a business owner looking to sell their business, there’s an equally important phrase to remember—timing, timing, timing.
But if you are looking into selling your business, what does that mean for you? And exactly how long will the process take?
This graph represents the average number of months to close based on business listing price.
A main street business can take more than six months to sell, depending on its value. At Transworld Gulf Coast, we have years of experience selling businesses just like yours, and we can provide insight into how to accurately value your business. In fact, we’ve helped business owners sell more than 10,000 businesses. Our experience has determined it can take between 6 to 12 months, on average, to sell your business.
Read on to discover what factors can influence this time frame, as well as how to ensure that your business fetches a good price.
Do It Yourself or Use a Broker
It can be tempting to save some money and choose the DIY route. But anyone who has attempted that option when it comes to home repairs knows that you must know what you are doing, or you will end up with a hole in your wall and an even more expensive problem. The same holds true with selling a business.
Opting for the professional expertise of a broker gives you an edge because you have someone to help you navigate the process. This allows you to not only sell your business as quickly as possible but also helps ensure you are getting the best possible price. When owners choose to sell their business on their own, they risk lowering the profitability value by putting running their business on the backburner. This will at least lower the price – or worse, kill a deal. Your time is more valuable when invested in continuing to run your company. To achieve the best price, your company must continue to grow. After all, that will be what a buyer who wants to purchase it will be looking for.
Because brokers have knowledge of the process, they can help you avoid any errors in the selling process that could impact your timeline and your pocketbook. They offer access to a large professional network that can connect you to an interested buyer, saving you time and effort, something that is in short supply for most business owners.
Lastly, a qualified broker, like ours at Transworld Gulf Coast, provides you with the quality representation you need. After all, you have had success running a business, not in selling a business.
The Marketing Advantage
Selling your business requires a certain degree of confidentiality. For instance, if word gets out to your customers, employees, suppliers, etc. before the deal is complete, you may be dealing with a lot of people’s concerns before you are ready. What’s more, news of your business’s sale can also impact your competition and reputation.
Controlling the timeline of the sale of your business, therefore, is essential. But it can be overwhelming if you are trying to handle this on your own. You most likely don’t have the knowledge necessary to successfully market your business—either how to do so or to whom. But an experienced broker like the business advisors at Transworld Gulf Coast can help.
Not only do we promise to keep the news of your business’s impending sale confidential, but we also understand how to best utilize our worldwide network to advertise the sale. We spend more money on advertising than anyone in our industry. Equally important, we focus on your specific industry to find the right buyer, giving you faster results.
Handling Due Diligence and Closing
The final area of a business sale that Transworld Gulf Coast can assist with is the final stages—due diligence and closing. Both can be complex endeavors, and they often require negotiations and a significant amount of paperwork. All these arrangements and more can be safely and efficiently handled by a Transworld business broker.
To paraphrase a quote often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, “A man who negotiates for themselves has a fool for a client.” Enlisting a qualified business broker means you have an expert to help you. During the due diligence period, which can last for one to three months, a broker can help to move the process along, streamlining the potential buyer’s review of all the business’s details.
Finally, beyond these three important factors, business owners also should ensure that their business has clean and organized financial records and good legal standing to help facilitate a faster sale. Doing all this will make sure your business is the best it can be by the listing date.
There’s no doubt that making the decision to sell your business is an exciting and stressful one. Transworld Business Advisors of Gulf Coast have the training and know-how to help. Learn more about how we can help you speed up the process and sell your business by scheduling a FREE consultation today.
