Are you planning on listing your business for sale in the New Year? You may be ready to proceed immediately, offering it for sale “as is” and prepared to make price concessions to account for any of its unaddressed weaknesses. Or, you may have decided to delay listing it until you’ve made the necessary improvements to overcome its weaknesses and make it more attractive to prospective buyers.

In either case, you must first evaluate certain key aspects of your business and then assess each of them. Through this process, you will be deciding whether your business is ready to present for sale, or improvements need to be made in order to attract prospective buyers.

The following pre-sale checklist is a great way to start preparing your business for sale in an organized and efficient manner.

Flag areas of your business in need of pre-sale improvement.

Make a list of these areas and rate them as either: good, average or poor. The primary aspects buyers will look for include: legal condition, business image, business operations and organization, products, clientele, and transferability. Buyers are attracted to businesses with low risks and high rewards, and these are the aspects of your business they will look for when considering it as a possible purchase.

Commit to a pre-sale improvement action plan.

Create your pre-sale improvement plan.

Keep your sale plans quiet while you prepare your business.

Maintaining a level of confidentiality is extremely important in the business sales process. If word of the sale leaks out to customers, suppliers, creditors, employees, or competitors, this could instigate a negative reaction, interfering with your business’s operations and affecting its value.

Add value to your business now.

Whether you choose to sell your business “as is” or make the necessary improvements to improve its value and attract more prospective buyers, this to-do list is a great way to assess the condition of your business and create an action plan going forward.

If you are ready to start the discussion of how to prepare your business for sale or to discuss a Business Pre-Sale Checklist, contact one of our business brokers today for a complimentary consultation.

Article: Bizbuysell

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Edwin Mysogland, CVA, CEPA, CMEA
Managing Partner, Indiana Business Advisors