Once you have made the emotional decision to sell your company, there are many different questions that must be answered shortly after. Some of these have to do with how you will prepare to sell the business. You may not have intended to always sell your company, making it even more difficult to transition into this phase. There was no business succession strategy in place. But sometimes you get a great offer or it’s an excellent opportunity or you find just the right buyer. Research from BizBuySell shows that the number of businesses bought and sold experienced record numbers in some recent years.
This means that this is an important opportunity to think about potential future ships in the economy and how you can protect your own company. There are several steps that you can take to make your business more valuable before listing it for sale. First, start by lowering the risk profile of your business.
Then consider diversifying your revenue, which might relate to vendors, products, or customers. If a significant portion of your business’s profits rely on the work from one vendor or one client, this may be viewed as an issue that makes your company difficult to sell. Recurring revenue streams are extremely popular with business buyers, so consider how you can use these to make your business more appealing to people in the market.
Cultivating high-quality talent and determining the people, processes, and systems that will be established before you leave makes it easier for a potential new owner to see how they can step in with minimal challenges. Increased profitability and improve your business’s cash flow position, as these can both represent optimal goals for establishing your business as a great one to buy.