Advice on Niche Market Exit Planning
Selling a Tugboats and Towing Business
Although a tugboats and towing business may not be completely recession-proof, the best companies can survive nearly any storm. To increase your company's sale price, you'll need to perform adequate preparations, positioning it to the catch the eye of profit-minded buyers.
The economy isn't the only thing that is uncertain these days. So are tugboats and towing business buyers, many of whom are waiting to pull the trigger on their next acquisition.
There is no simple way to sell a business. But the most prepared tugboats and towing business sellers are achieving fair market value and more for their companies through persistence and the application of sound selling techniques.
Sale Costs
In a tugboats and towing business sale, pricing is based on a number of factors, including the costs incurred during the sale. Although they can significantly increase the final sale price, brokers typically receive a 10% commission. Professional consultations can also represent a significant expense during the course of a tugboats and towing business sale. Furthermore, your time has value, so you may need to include a personal compensation consideration in your expense estimates.
Business Assets
It's incumbent on buyers to commission their own appraisal of your tugboats and towing business's inventory, equipment, and physical assets. Most sellers, however, conduct a pre-sale appraisal to gain an accurate gauge of asset value prior to negotiations. A pre-sale appraisal is a prerequisite for because it offers insights about your assets' market value before you initiate conversations with prospective buyers. During your appraisal process, you should also note the condition of your assets. Cost-effective repairs can then be made before your list your tugboats and towing business.
Average Preparation Time
There are no effective shortcuts for selling a tugboats and towing 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. You'll also need to create financial reports, operations manuals, and other documents to create the perception of a turnkey tugboats and towing business operation. Since all of this takes time and effort, a tugboats and towing 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.
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