Niche Exit Planning Strategies
Selling a Dental Implant Practice
We hear it all the time: 'This economy is a hostile environment for a business sale.' However, dental implant practices haven't heard the news and are reporting steady action on the business-for-sale market.
Economic data is scary stuff for small business owners. But quarterly data dumps don't impact dental implant practice sales nearly as much as sale strategy.
Eventually, it will the time will come to exit your business. As a consequence, you have a substantial stake in knowing how to receive maximum price for your dental implant practice.
Signs You're in Over Your Head
Many dental implant practice are tempted to save brokerage fees by selling their businesses on their own. Although there are exceptions, solo sales typically take longer and are less productive than brokered sales. As a rule, no business should sit on the market for more than six months without attracting the interest of at least a handful of qualified buyers. Lack of buyer enthusiasm or persistence indicates that something is wrong. The remedy is professional brokerage or a consultation with more experienced sellers.
Pros & Cons of a Sale to an Employee
Employee sales have pros and cons. A key employee may seem like a natural sales prospect. If you need to sell quickly, the timeframe is condensed in an employee sale because you don't need to track down a buyer. Yet most employees lack the means to buy their employer's business at or near the asking price. Seller financing is one way to get around the capital deficit of an employee-based dental implant practice sale, as long as you are willing to vet the employee's credit worthiness the same as any other buyer.
Average Timeframes
Hoping for a quick dental implant practice sale? You may be disappointed. Although asking price and other factors contribute to sale time, it's difficult to predict how long your business will be on the market before you locate the right buyer. Before you can list your dental implant practice, you'll need to invest as much as a year in preparing it for prospective buyers. In a good market, an attractive dental implant practice can sell in as little as a few months, although it can take more than a year to find the right buyer after the business is listed.
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