How to Prepare to Sell Your Business

A successful sale can depend on a lot of groundwork well in advance.

Offloading a business can feel a lot like selling a house: if the business isn’t in good shape, you can’t expect potential buyers to be too impressed. You should be particularly careful to…

Get the timing right

There are various reasons why you might be mulling over selling the company. The firm could be accumulating debt at a disconcertingly rapid pace – and, even if it isn’t, the business could soon fall on financially hard times if your passion for the work has started faltering.

Whatever the reason, if you have made your decision recently, don’t rush bringing the business to market; otherwise, you could hamper your efforts to sell it successfully.

Have your business expertly valued

You should resist attempting to value the business yourself. Even if you are experienced in valuing other people’s companies, you won’t be able to look at your own sufficiently objectively. For this reason, you should hand the responsibility over to an external expert – and we can provide one. You can get in touch with us at Hilton Smythe to arrange a meet-up with a valuer. They can provide the valuation at no charge to you, a particular plus point if your firm is financially struggling.   

Freshen and tidy up your books and records

How much income is your company making? How have its revenues and costs grown or fluctuated during the previous 3 to 5 years? Expect interested parties to ask such questions – and you need to provide the clearest possible answers.

Therefore, before you start inviting people to consider buying your business, check that you have easy access to books and records that are both tidy and up-to-date.

If some clients’ contracts are about to expire, it would also be a good idea to have those contracts extended to ensure that potential buyers can be confident about what they will be getting.

Give your premises a spring clean

As your business valuation won’t reflect the cleanliness and tidiness of the premises, you must be careful not to underestimate the worth of a good-looking corporate building. Otherwise, would-be buyers could be repelled by an adverse factor that you could easily have avoided.

This sheds light on why repainting peeling walls and replacing carpets or worn-looking equipment could literally pay off in the long run. You can then feel more confident as you task our Sales Negotiator and support team with managing the sale of your business.