The Sign Businesses For Sale Blog
Is Now the Right Time to Sell Your Company?
Like many things in life, timing can be everything when it comes to selling your company. Every day more and more baby-boomers are now reaching retirement age. Soon, the market will likely be flooded with companies looking to sell.
According to a 2016 survey of business brokers, 54% plan to exit in the next ten years. We may be on the verge of a massive wave of businesses hitting the market. Getting out in front of that wave could be in your best interests. Now very well may be the time to sell.
Are You Suffering from Burnout?
If you’ve been running your business for many years, it is quite possible that you are suffering from burnout. This issue is remarkably common with business owners and it is also very dangerous. Owners suffering from burnout don’t invest as much of themselves and their creative energy into their businesses, and that has a range of implications.
Everything from losing customers to failing to keep up with the competition are all possibilities when an owner feels ready to throw in the towel. The end result is that owners, through poor decisions and inaction, can inadvertently decrease the value of their businesses. Combine this fact with the fact that a wave of businesses may soon be hitting the market and selling may start looking more and more attractive.
Jump into a Strong Economy
Further, today’s strong economy means that new and unexpected competitors may soon enter the picture. It is difficult to predict how the marketplace may change in the coming years, but a strong economy means both more opportunities for existing businesses and the potential for greater competition.
Interest rates have remained at historic lows and that could definitely help you sell your business. Working with an experienced business broker is one way to test the waters. You may determine that now is the perfect time to sell your business. There are many factors involved in selling your business, and a skilled broker can help you look at the overall situation at hand and determine when it is the right time to sell.
If You’re Selling, Get Ready to Expect the Unexpected!
Many experts agree that the best time to prepare to sell your business is when you start your business. That may sound extreme. However, few business owners reach that level of preparedness. A simple fact of life and owning a business is that most sales are event-driven. Factors such as problems with a partnership, health issues, burnout or even divorce can drive a business owner to sell.
Once you’ve made the decision to sell, it is essential that you realize one key fact. Unexpected events and factors will always rise to the surface. In this article, we’ll explore four key questions that you’ll need to address before selling your business.
1. What is the Value of Your Time?
Meeting with prospective buyers can be a serious time sponge. One of the key benefits of working with a business broker is that a broker can take some of the pressure off of you. They can interact with buyers on your behalf.
A large percentage of business owners are also deeply involved in the day-to-day operation of the business. Business owners don’t have time to meet with every interested party or take the time to weed out the qualified prospects from the window shoppers.
2. What Do You Want Your Level of Involvement to Be?
Working with prospective buyers is obviously time consuming, but so is knowing every detail about a prospective buyer’s visit. A seasoned business broker can sift through what information is essential and what information is extraneous. In this way, you only hear about what is relevant and can skip the rest.
It is important for business owners to keep in mind that buyers expect that the business will continue to run successfully not just during the sales process but through closing as well. For this reason, you’ll want to stay as focused on the day-to-day operations of your business as possible; after all, if a deal falls through the last thing you want is to have a dip in revenue.
3. Are There Other Decision Makers?
Determining whether or not there are any other decision makers is a very smart move. Part-owners and silent partners will have to be addressed when it comes time to sell.
4. Just How Important is Confidentiality to You?
Confidentiality is important when it comes to selling your business. The more active your selling process, the greater the chances are that you’ll have a leak if you’re not extremely careful. Leaks unfortunately occur more than you might think.
How much will this issue negatively impact your business if it does occur? You should have a “leak plan” ready to go. In your plan, you should have in place what steps you should take to minimize the damage caused by the leak. Being ready to deal with key customers, employees and distributors is the cornerstone of dealing with any leak. Business brokers are experts at helping clients maintain confidentiality. This can save you a great deal of time and effort on many fronts.
By answering these four questions fully, you will save yourself time, stress and effort. Selling a business is a complex process. But with the right planning you can minimize your effort and maximize your results.
How Your Employees Can Boost Profits and Values
The simple fact is that without employees, you don’t have a business. Given the tremendous importance of your employees, it is important to step back and reflect on the value associated with keeping those employees happy.
There is a direct relationship between happy employees and happy customers. A happy employee takes steps to ensure that your customers are satisfied. This approach in turn leads to a higher level of customer retention and helps in attracting new customers. On the flip side, unhappy employees can be quite dangerous to your company’s bottom line.
The hiring process is a key process for the health of your business and should never be overlooked or treated as a secondary process within your business. Cultivating happy employees begins at this point. Hiring can and will either make or break your business.
Offering great pay and benefits is only one important factor in keeping employees happy. A more overlooked important factor is to appreciate the contributions that employees make. If employees feel as though they are being overlooked or not appreciated, their overall happiness level will falter. Many owners unnaturally expect their employees to have the same dedication to their business that they do, and this can lead to problems.
Your employees realize that they don’t own the business. As a result, most are only willing to invest so much of themselves, their talents and their abilities into your business. Taking steps to keep your employees engaged, such as showcasing that their talents are appreciated, will help keep employees invested and happy. Research has also revealed feeling happy will make them more productive. A few years ago, Fortune Magazine wrote an article that cited a UK study connecting employee happiness and productivity. It’s definitely worth a look.
Being a positive owner is a gigantic step in the right direction where cultivating happy employees is concerned. Being a good role model is at the heart of having happy employees. It is vital that you reward people with praise and bonuses for jobs well done and fire employees that are consistently negative or failing to perform their respective duties. Special touches, such as giving employees their birthdays off, can go a long way towards cultivating the kind of climate that leads to increased satisfactions. And don’t forget, your team’s satisfaction will increase your bottom line.
When it comes time to sell a business, you can be sure that prospective buyers will be interested in your level of profits. In this way, the investment you make in the happiness of your employees can be returned many fold.