Sell a Business for the Best Price
Selling a Personnel Management Business
You've learned a lot during your tenure as a personnel management business owner. The next step is to position your business for the demands of the business-for-sale marketplace.
It takes dedication to sell a personnel management business under the best of circumstances. In the current market, you'll need to redouble your efforts and get serious about convincing prospects that your company is a good investment.
Most personnel management businesses are good business opportunities, a fact that is not going unnoticed by today's discerning buyers.
The Best Person to Sell Your Personnel Management Business
An unassisted business sale is a double-edged sword. Without a doubt, you have the most at stake in the outcome of your sale. That makes you the most passionate advocate for your personnel management business in the business-for-sale marketplace. The problem is that your passion for your business can also sabotage your sale. Nearly all sellers have an inflated sense of their company's value. At a minimum, conduct an independent appraisal of the personnel management business to gain an objective sense of fair market value.
Sale Preparation Timeframes
There are no effective shortcuts for selling a personnel management 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. Next, the business will need to be documented in professional financial statements and manuals that facilitate the ownership transition. Since all of this takes time and effort, a personnel management 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.
Buyer Concessions
Sellers aren't the only ones who can make concessions in a business sale. In many instances, sellers can request buyer concessions. Often, buyer concessions represent financial incentives that the seller receives in exchange for providing a non-cash benefit (e.g. training, financing, etc.. Like seller concessions, buyer concessions should be addressed during negotiations, before the preparation of a Letter of Intent.
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