Business Exits By Industry
Selling a Corporate Lodging Business
Maybe you're counting on your corporate lodging business to be a stepping stone to your next big business venture. Maybe it's your retirement fund. Either way, you need to maximize the price it gets in the business-for-sale marketplace.
Cutting corners never pays off, especially in the sale of a corporate lodging business.
Many business owners don't know that corporate lodging businesses are still a hot commodity, to the extent that sellers have properly prepared them for the marketplace.
Sale Costs
In a corporate lodging business sale, pricing is based on a number of factors, including the costs incurred during the sale. Hiring a broker is a mixed bag because although brokers can increase the sale price, they also take a 10% fee. Professional consultations can also represent a significant expense during the course of a corporate lodging business sale. Furthermore, your time has value, so you may need to include a personal compensation consideration in your expense estimates.
Setting the Stage
A successful corporate lodging business sale begins with careful planning. Although you are convinced your business has value in the marketplace, the planning process establishes a framework for communicating its value to prospective buyers. In our experience, it pays to solicit the advice of a professional business broker as soon as possible. A good broker will guide you through the preparation stage and make sure you've covered all the bases. Specifically, brokers can advise you about the preparation of financial statements and other documents buyers expect to see in a premium corporate lodging business opportunity.
Buyer Concessions
Most corporate lodging business sellers realize they will need to offer concessions to sell their businesses. But for every concession you grant, there may be an opportunity to obtain a concession from the buyer. Although this scenario frequently plays out around seller financed deals, it's possible to push for a higher sales price or other form of compensation if you agree to mentor the buyer for a specified period of time. Asset exclusions, retained ownership shares and long-term contracts with another of the seller's companies can also be leveraged to extract concessions from buyers.
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