Business Exit Planning
Selling a Metal Finishing Equipment and Supplies Business
Few entrepreneurs relish the idea of selling a business in a struggling economy. Yet metal finishing equipment and supplies businesses continue to be sold at a brisk pace, outperforming the sales of many other types of businesses.
Waiting for better economic times to sell your company? That's a common anthem in the small business community.
Most metal finishing equipment and supplies businesses are good business opportunities, a fact that is not going unnoticed by today's discerning buyers.
Identifying Serious Buyers
Unfortunately, many of the prospects you will encounter aren't serious buyers. Even though tire kickers are a fact of life in any sale scenario, they sap valuable time and energy that could be spent identifying more serious prospects. Your business broker can offer insights about how to quickly spot tire kickers. Never provide detailed information about your metal finishing equipment and supplies business until the prospect has been qualified as a serious buyer.
Emotional Considerations
Prepare yourself to feel a broad range of emotions when you sell a metal finishing equipment and supplies business. From hopefulness to remorse, it's all part of exiting of your company. Given your personal investment, you may also experience disappointment in the market's assessment of your company's value. Although it isn't easy, you can mitigate the emotional impact of a metal finishing equipment and supplies business sale by setting realistic expectations before you list your business.
Legal Concerns
We run into a lot of metal finishing equipment and supplies 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. For sellers, that makes a close review of the Letter of Intent more than a formality - it's a critical juncture on the path to closing.
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