You need to plan for the day you wish to sell your business from the day that you either establish your business or purchase it. Getting your business ready for sale early can have a large positive effect on the final price that you can achieve; it can also have an effect on the time it takes to sell.
The pricing and timing are important reasons to have a plan for getting your business ready for sale. However there are also other quite significant reasons that you should be planning. You never know what opportunity is around the corner; you never know when a sale might occur. You might not have thought of selling but you have an approach from a potential purchaser. We have all heard someone say, “Got an offer I couldn’t refuse”. If you have planned from day one then such an opportunity can become a reality. There is also the potential of a need to sell due to personal circumstances such as illness or injury. Once again if you have been planning you can move relatively quickly. Putting in place a plan for the sale of your business can take time, which means that you need to get this started well in advance of your decision to sell. Having a plan will give you peace of mind and a feeling of confidence that you have presented your business in the best possible light. The reward for the work that you have put into the plan is the feeling of confidence that you can attract the interest of more qualified buyers quickly and hopefully achieve a better selling price. You will also know the business that you have worked long and hard to grow, will be handed over in the best possible position for the new owners to take to the next level. Business owners become very emotionally attached to their business and want to see their baby grow. A well-presented business will also mean that will be less hiccups during the contract process. You will have greater likelihood that the contract will proceed to settlement, and you won’t have the frustration of contracts “falling over”, and the business needing to be replaced on the market for sale.
When this occurs some buyers are understandably cautious, as they perceive there may be something wrong with the business.
-Jo-Anne Wilson
