Sell a Business Tips
Selling a Skiing Guide Services Business
Business-for-sale markets are susceptible to a variety of influences. As you know, the skiing guide services business industry has seen more than its share of fluctuations in business values. Many sellers have exited their companies under less-than-ideal circumstances. Yet it's still possible to achieve personal and professional goals when selling a skiing guide services business during challenging economic times.
You won't find any magic formulas for selling a skiing guide services business, especially while the market is struggling to overcome the perceptions created by a down economy.
But at Gaebler, we see skiing guide services businesses still selling at a brisk pace. And the ones that are commanding the highest price tags are the ones with sellers who are committed to the sale process.
Average Timeframes
Hoping for a quick skiing guide services business sale? You may be disappointed. Although asking price and other factors contribute to sale time, it's difficult to predict how long your business will be on the market before you locate the right buyer. Before you can list your skiing guide services business, you'll need to invest as much as a year in preparing it for prospective buyers. Even though it's conceivable that an attractive opportunity could sell in weeks, an immediate flood of offers could indicate that the business is underpriced.
Identifying Serious Buyers
Unfortunately, many of the prospects you will encounter aren't serious buyers. Selling a business is hard enough. You can't afford to waste time on prospects that have no chance of turning their interest into an actual purchase. Your business broker can offer insights about how to quickly spot tire kickers. As a rule, they limit the amount of information that is provided in the initial stages of an engagement, waiting to reveal the juiciest details of the business until the prospect has been thoroughly vetted. Smart sellers may require prospects to provide background and financial information fairly early in the process as a way of verifying the financial capacity to close the deal.
Working with Accountants
Accountants lay the financial groundwork for a business sale. Before your skiing guide services business goes on the market, you should sit down with your accountant to clarify your financial goals and the tax consequences of a sale. Brokers often advise their clients to have an accountant perform an audit of the business prior to sale. In many instances, your accountant will be invaluable in evaluating prospective buyers' financial position and buying capacity.
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