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Planning the Sale of a Business

Written by: Andy Dun

Article Overview: Preparation is key in the process, and taking a step back months in advance before selling to make the improvements to the business, will only increase your chances of selling your business.

Planning the Sale of a Business

Selling a business is one of the more important things any business owner will do in their lifetime. Years of physical & mental effort has been invested into building the business, so finding the right buyer to pay the right price is important, but an undertaking in itself.

The sale of a business, is something you as a business owner should carefully plan and manage months before putting it on the market. To start with, you should be putting yourself in the shoes of a potential buyer, who is looking for a business to buy, this means you should;

1.Clean up all the loose ends.
2.Minimize wastage in the business.
3.Have proper financial statements and projections.

By actioning theses three main things you will help the business sell, by being more attractive to buyers. So if someone was to step in tomorrow, the business should be able to run as well as if you weren't there. Things that you should be looking at;

> Review leases, make sure they don't set to expire while you're trying to sell.
> Having your customer/clients, invoices digitalized.
> A manual for unwritten rules & techniques.


Preparation is key in the process, and taking a step back months in advance before selling to make the improvements to the business, will only increase your chances of selling your business. On average Businesses take 9 months to sell, with a large percentage of sales before this falling through because of a disagreement over price, or buyers getting cold feet. So With the help of an accountant, and business broker, and comparables on websites like canadabizmart.com, you should be able to arrive at a realistic valuation, with the help to guide you through a smooth sales process.

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Article Tags: 9 months, accountant, business broker, business owner, cold feet, comparables, disagreement, financial statements, important things, improvements, invoices, leases, lifetime, loose ends, mental effort, selling a business, selling your business, theses, undertaking, unwritten rules



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