Niche Exit Planning Strategies
Selling a Dress Patterns Business
Is the economy still a little shaky for a business sale? Sure it is. Yet dress patterns businesses haven't heard the news and are reporting steady action on the business-for-sale market.
In a down economy, many dress patterns business sellers wait to list their businesses until they see signs that the economy has rebounded, making it difficult to accurately evaluate the number of dress patterns businesses that are actually for sale.
Fortunately for sellers, forward-thinking entrepreneurs continue to be attracted to dress patterns businesses that exhibit strong financials and potential for future growth.
Selling a Dress Patterns Business to an Employee
Employee sales have pros and cons. There are some perks to selling the business in-house. 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. A seller-financed deal may be necessary unless the employee has significant assets or investor backing.
Legal Concerns
We run into a lot of dress patterns 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. So after consulting with your broker and attorney, make sure you're comfortable with the terms of the Letter of Intent. If not, everything you do to close the sale of your dress patterns business may be a waste of time.
How to Identify Prospective Buyers
Many sellers don't realize how many prospective buyers there are for their businesses. We frequently see qualified buyers emerge from the seller's network of business and personal acquaintances. In other cases, sellers take a proactive approach to finding likely buyers and contacting them directly. If possible, steer clear of selling to a competitor if for no other reason than the fact that competitors pay less for dress patterns businesses than other buyers.
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