The Sign Businesses For Sale Blog
What Do You Need to Do to Get Your Business Ready to Sell?
In his recent article in Smart Business entitled, “How to get your business, and yourself, ready for sale,” author Adam Burroughs explores the key points of getting your business ready to sell. Burroughs points to the truism that, at some point, almost every business owner must sell his or her business. For this reason, it is critical to think about what it takes to get your business ready to sell. Simply stated, it is best to explore and plan for selling your business long before you actually need to place your business on the market. Let’s explore some key points for selling your business.
Broadening Your Options
Burroughs interviews Scott McRill at Clark Schaefer Hackett. McRill notes, “The sooner you think about your exit, the more options you’ll have for yourself and the business when the time comes.” A savvy business owner will always want to give himself or herself as many options as possible. McRill wisely points out that early planning is key, and a failure to engage in early planning could lead to a lower selling price. If you want to get the best price for your business, then planning for the eventual sale as far in advance as possible is a good move.
Planning in Advance
According to Burroughs, business owners should start planning to sell their business at least 2 to 3 years before they actually plan to sell. Part of the reason for this is so that business owners will have enough time to make operational improvements designed to maximize the business’s overall value.
A Financial Review
At the top of every business owners “preparing to sell” list is to have a third-party review the business’s financial situation. This is excellent advice for, as frequent readers of this blog know, any serious prospective buyer will look long and hard at your business’s financials. Getting your business’s financial house in order means that you should turn to an accounting firm for help. You’ll want to review financial statements for at least the previous 2 to 3 years.
Burroughs points out that when it comes to selling a business, there are many variables that business owners often overlook. At the top of the list is the management team.
Your Management Team
Prospective buyers can get very nervous about the stability of the management team once ownership has changed hands. Often, the new buyer may only sign on the dotted line if the owner agrees to stay on after the sale during a transition period. Having a competent and proven team in place, one that is dedicated to staying with the company will help you get your business ready to sell.
There are a lot of variables involved in preparing to sell a business. The sooner that you get experts involved in the process, the better off you will be. A business broker can serve as a guide – one that can point you in the right direction. Find a broker with an abundance of experience, and you’ll have an invaluable ally who can help you navigate the process. It can take a lot of time and effort to sell a business. Working with a business broker can keep you from reinventing the wheel at every step of the process.
Selling Your Business, Taxes & Tax Structures
It is never too early to start thinking about what tax structure you should use when it comes time to sell your business. A simple, but undeniable, rule of life is that taxes matter and they can’t be overlooked. Author Tim Fries at The Tokenist has written an excellent and quite detailed overview article on what tax issues business owners need to consider before selling their business. His article, “What Tax Structure Should You Use When Selling Your Business?” explores many aspects of a topic that many business owners fail to invest enough time in, namely taxes.
As Fries astutely points out, the taxes involving the sale of a business can be complex and are usually unknown to those selling a business for the first time. Your tax structure can influence how much money you receive at the closing of your deal, so it’s a very good idea to pay attention to all aspects of taxation and your business. It is key to remember, “When you are selling your business – as far as taxes are concerned – you’re ultimately selling a collection of assets.”
Fries points out that taxes and selling a business are no small matter. It is possible that up to 50% of the sale of a business can go to taxes. Don’t worry if you are learning this for the first time and feel more than a little shocked. However, this fact does a good job of illuminating the importance of setting up the right tax structure for your business. While you might not be able to get around taxes altogether by investing the time and effort to set up the right structure for your business, you can keep from paying more taxes than is necessary.
There are a lot of variables that go into how much you will ultimately have to pay in taxes. Let’s take a look at some of the key questions Fries raises in his article.
- Is your sale considered ordinary income or is the sale considered capital gains?
- Are you operating as an LLC, a sole proprietorship, a partnership or are you operating as a corporation?
- What portion of the sale price goes to tangible assets as compared to intangible assets?
- Is there a difference between your tax basis and the proceeds from your sale?
- What does your depreciation look like?
- Don’t expect that the buyer will instantly agree to your terms.
- Realize that the decisions you make during negotiations with a buyer will have tax implications.
- Is an installment sale right for your business?
- With C corporations, sellers usually want a stock sale whereas buyers generally prefer an asset sale.
- Cashing out immediately, where you receive all your funds at once, will increase your tax liability.
- Have you considered switching to an S corporation?
- Have you consulted with experts to decide which tax structure is best for you?
- Have you consulted with a business broker?
Selling a business is obviously complicated. Finding a seasoned business broker can help you demystify many aspects of buying and selling a business. Ultimately, having the best deal structure and finding the right buyer can be a labyrinthian process. Having the very best professional help in your corner is simply a must.
Tackling Growth Delusions When Buying a Business
There is no doubt about it, it can be exciting to buy a new business. However, in the process, it is very important that you don’t become unrealistic about future growth. Keep in mind that in the vast majority of cases, if a business is poised to quickly grow substantially, the seller would be far less interested in selling.
Richard Parker’s recent article for Forbes entitled “Don’t Be Delusional About Growth When Buying a Business” seeks to instill a smart degree of caution into prospective buyers. Parker notes that when evaluating a business and talking to the owner, many buyers come away with a sense that enormous growth is just “sitting there” waiting to be seized. In particular, Parker cautions those buyers who are buying into an industry that they know nothing about; those individuals should be very careful.
When buying into an industry where one has no familiarity, there can be a range of problems. The opportunities that you see may not have been tapped into by the existing owner for a range of reasons. You couldn’t possibly guess what these reasons might be without more of a knowledge base. Since you are an outsider, you likely lack the proper perspective and understanding. In turn, this means you may see growth opportunities that may not exist, as the seller may have already tried and failed. Summed up another way, until you actually own the business and are running it on a day to day basis, you simply can’t make a proper assessment of how best to grow that business.
The seductive lure of growth shouldn’t be the determining factor when you are looking for a business. A far more important and ultimately reliable factor is stability. The real question, the foundation of whether or not a business is a good purchase option, is whether or not the business will maintain its revenue and profit levels once you’ve signed on the dotted line and taken over. You want to be sure that the business doesn’t have to grow to remain viable.
As Parker points out, the majority of small business buyers will buy in a sector where they don’t have much experience, and that is fine. What is not fine is assuming that you can greatly grow the business. Of course, if new buyers can achieve that goal, that is great and certainly icing on the cake. But don’t depend on that growth.
In the end, everyone has some ideas that work and some that don’t. You may take over a business and, thanks to having a different perspective than the previous owner, are able to find ways to make that business grow. But realize that many of your ideas for growing the business may fail completely.
A professional business broker will be able to help you determine what business is best for you. A business broker will help keep you focused on what matters most and steer you clear of the mistakes that buyers frequently make when buying a business.