Niche Exit Planning Strategies
Selling a Diesel Equipment Retail Business
Few entrepreneurs relish the idea of selling a business in a struggling economy. Yet diesel equipment retail businesses continue to be sold at a brisk pace, outperforming the sales of many other types of businesses.
According to the experts, there is currently a large volume of shadow inventory in the diesel equipment retail business market -- businesses that are waiting to be listed until the economy recovers.
But they're also savvy enough to know a good deal when they see it. So for diesel equipment retail business sellers, today's market is all about convincing buyers that the numbers make their companies worth the asking price.
Leveraging Seller Concessions
It's becoming more difficult to sell a diesel equipment retail business without considering seller concessions. The most common seller concession is seller financing. Capital is scarce, causing new entrepreneurs to rely on sellers to finance at least part of the purchase price. As an alternative, clearly state that seller financing is not an option and consider offering other concessions to see the sale through to its completion.
Sale Documents
We run into a lot of diesel equipment retail business sellers who intend to wait until the final contract to negotiate details. Big mistake. With few exceptions, sale structure is hammered out early, in the Letter of Intent . If you are seeking buyer concessions, the time to address them is before the Letter of Intent is drafted. Never sign a Letter of Intent until it has been properly reviewed by your attorney and you are in complete agreement with everything it contains.
Before You Sell
There is a lot of work that needs to be done before you're ready to sell your diesel equipment retail business. Perhaps the most important pre-sale consideration is to right-size your expectations to the realities of the market. Once your expectations are in the ballpark, you can move on to making your business presentable to prospective buyers.
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