Selling a Business

a. Where do you start?
There are many options for you. Some are better than others. You should not automatically assume that a sale right now is the best approach for you. There may be other and better options. These include liquidating, divesting a portion of your company, selling at a much later date, bringing in a new level of management, buying another company, or even merging with another competitor. The Business Brokerage Group will always assess these factors first, before making any recommendations to you.

b. What is your company worth?
The Business Brokerage Group will make sure that any initial questions concerning our firm’s services are satisfied during our next conversation. Next we need to schedule time where we can discuss the business at length based on our due diligence checklists. This will lay the groundwork for our valuation of the business. An accurate valuation is critical because it will document and justify the fair market value of the business; determine the maximum amount and types of financing it can support; and examine the best options for you.

You should know that the professionals at The Business Brokerage Group are recognized experts in the valuation of closely held businesses throughout the northeast. Many attorneys ask us to value companies for court purposes, and business owners whom we represent achieve sales at the ranges that we recommend. Your business will be assessed from a number of perspectives. Assets, earnings, cash flow, marketability, growth opportunities are just some of the vantage points we use.

After our analysis, The Business Brokerage Group will provide you with a detailed valuation report, including our financial analysis of your company. You will see how a proposed sale would take place in the open market. Important to our success in providing a usable valuation for you is our experience of twenty years in handling business sales and valuations, and our knowledge of purchasers and financing sources. When the valuation is completed, you will know exactly how much your business is worth and why.

c. Is there a way to increase the value of your company?
Yes there is.  Need more information?  Please read Improving business before selling can add value.

d. We are specialists in marketing a company while keeping matters confidential!
While the valuation is very important, the individualized and confidential marketing program that we put in place for your business represents the service provided by The Business Brokerage Group, that is perhaps most valued by the majority of our clients. We will attract, pre-screen, and financially qualify prospective purchasers. We will prepare and present a prospectus on the company to selected purchasers. The prospectus is intended to fully explain the opportunity that exists for a new company owner. Our marketing approach is geared to allow you to run your business successfully without the daily diversion of prospective purchasers. We will present to you only those buyers who are interested in and able to purchase your business.

In fact, your purchaser may be among the few thousand individuals that we have in our proprietary investor database right now who have already asked us to help them purchase a business. These prospects have already been pre-screened and interviewed by us, and are ready and able to buy a business. Approximately half of these prospects are geographically located in eastern NYS and western New England, about one-fourth in the NY-NJ-CT metropolitan region, with the balance located nationally and internationally.

There will be additional confidential and targeted marketing done to reach prospects through general advertising, direct marketing and other methods that we will establish specifically for your business and your confidentiality concerns. In addition, we will identify company purchasers through our proprietary company prospect database. This enables us to identify companies by business type, SIC/NAICS, sales, employment, location, names of company owners, or other factors.

Once found, we will work closely with you and your purchaser (and with both sets of attorneys and accountants) to put together a sensible transaction. This will make it much easier to complete contract negotiations and achieve your goals. Our unique position is that we handle the sale of private companies every day.

We know the experienced lending officers in most commercial banks. We are very familiar with lending programs available through other sources such as the Small Business Administration and numerous economic development programs. If need be, The Business Brokerage Group will assist your purchaser in the development and presentation of the business financing package.

Finally, we will attend the closing with you to help assure that your interests are protected and to see that the deal goes through on time and exactly as planned. We represent you, and we will be with you through every step of the transaction.