You have decided to sell your business. This is an important business event after many years of directing, so don’t miss it. In order to sell your business at the best price and to the best person, it is essential to prepare well in advance.
need to identify the buyer
It is already necessary to identify the buyer. Setting a price is not enough for sales to happen well. That’s why you should make a list of potential buyers, which often includes:
- company employee
- a child or family member
- a friend or acquaintance
- a competitor
- Investor….
In relation to your future buyer, it will be necessary at the same time to ensure:
- Does he have the required skills?
- that it will have the ability to take from you (internally and with customers and suppliers)
- that she is well aware of the workload and responsibilities that await her
- that his family is ready to accept life changes (possible drop in wages, loss of unemployment rights …) …
Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business…
It is essential to clearly identify your company’s strengths as well as weaknesses, even though you probably already know them. Sometimes it is interesting to get opinions from professionals outside the company, who will give you their perspective on the following:
- Your Market, Your Customers, Your Products/Services
- Your internal organization (are you well computerized, is your team competent, is your production method perfect, etc.)
- Your team (age, skills, productivity, overstaffing or understaffing, demand for temporary workers, high employee compensation, etc.)
- Your work equipment (old machines, unsuitable work equipment, etc.)
- Review of contracts and legal acts (review of leases, review of employment contracts, etc.)
- Review of your company’s accounts and your past and future profitability (accounting, management controls, margin monitoring, dashboard, etc.).
…to improve the weak points and highlight the strong points and hence sell it better.
These two steps are important. It is advisable to estimate your strengths and audit your weaknesses well in advance, which may take time. Don’t think about tomorrow for the next day.
Of course, strengths will be the strengths of your business that a future buyer needs to highlight, but it would be a shame if all your strengths came to naught due to some weak points that could have been corrected in time. ,
It is important to prepare yourself for the transfer of your business, as the buyer will not fail to inform you of “weak” points and therefore reduce your selling price.
which address ?
If you don’t know who to sell your business to and especially who to contact to help you with the process, keep in mind that there are sites on the Internet that are dedicated to selling businesses, but there are professionals in CCI as well. .