Exit Planning Tips
Selling a Health Care Management Consultants Business
There are few things as intimidating as selling a business in a sluggish economy. Fortunately, a health care management consultants business sale isn't as scary as it seems.
Despite your best intentions, great business sales don't happen overnight.
Many business owners don't know that health care management consultants businesses are still a hot commodity, to the extent that sellers have properly prepared them for the marketplace.
Average Preparation Time
It's critical to properly plan for the sale ofa health care management consultants business. Since buyers prefer to see evidence of future cash flow, you'll want to to strategically lock in cash flows and increase profits before you list the business. Additionally, prospective buyers usually request documentation that allows them to understand the business's daily workflows and operational strategy. Since all of this takes time and effort, a health care management consultants business can rarely be ready for the marketplace in less than six months. A more likely scenario is that it will take more than a year to create the conditions necessary to receive the maximum sale price.
Preparing Your Employees
As a business owner, you want to keep you employees informed about your plans; as a seller it's in your best interest to keep your employees in the dark for as long as possible. The more people who know that the business is on the market, the riskier the sale becomes. But sooner or later, employees will begin to suspect that something is up, especially when you start parading prospective buyers through the business. So at some point you will have to resign yourself to the idea of telling some or all of your employees that you have listed the health care management consultants business on the market. Maintain a positive tone in your conversations and answer your employees questions as completely as you can without jeopardizing the sale.
Sale Documents
We run into a lot of health care management consultants 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 . By the time the deal reaches the final contract, many of its features are set in stone. 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 health care management consultants business may be a waste of time.
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