Alt text: An hourglass.
When you are running a business, it may happen that you need to sell it quickly. Whether you are doing that because of personal reasons or it's a part of your strategy to invest in a new, promising opportunity that has presented itself, selling your business quickly often isn't such an easy thing to do (if you don't want to get a lousy deal, that is). People usually plan the sale of their business for some time in order to get the best results. However, with our hopefully useful tips, you should be well on your way to selling your business quickly and getting a decent amount of money in the process.
#01 Find potential buyers quickly
The first thing to do when you are trying to sell a business is to find serious potential buyers. There are several ways to do so. The first one is generally the quickest, however, not everyone will be able to pull it off (especially if you're running a smaller business).
Namely, we're talking about directly approaching all the parties that you think might be interested in acquiring your business. In order to eliminate the risks that this approach comes with (namely, you're exposing yourself and potentially divulging inside information pertaining to the sale that should have remained confidential), it would be best if you didn't contact the potential buyers yourself, but rather with the help of an intermediary.
While this method is the quickest, some business owners simply won't be able to find buyers this way. If you are among them, you will have to attract buyers by paying for ads. The fact that you're in a hurry means that you'll need to market your business aggressively. While doing so, you can target parties that are working in your industry, or those that are outside of your industry. In the case of the former, trade magazines and publications are the way to go. In the case of the latter, you will need to place an ad in various printed media, as well as on appropriate online sites. Depending on your business, different methods may work better, however, both of them will require a serious monetary investment if you want your ads to attract buyers quickly.
If you’re not already aware of who the potential buyers may be, you may have to place an ad in trade publications.
Alt text: A man reading a business newspaper, the kind you’ll probably have to place an ad in if you’re interested in selling your business quickly.
#02 Eliminate the buyers who aren't serious enough
As soon as you start talking to potential buyers, you will need to have a business summary prepared. That is a carefully made document, 10 to 20 pages long, that contains all the important information about your business. Such a document is always useful to have, however, when you are trying to sell your business quickly, having a business summary is essential. Instead of taking the time to answer each and every question your potential buyers may have, you can simply present them with a document containing all the relevant information.
Then, in order to save some additional time, you'll need to determine if the buyers are serious enough. This is very important, as you don't want to waste time dealing with parties who will probably pass on the deal.
Before sending them your business summary, ask them to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) and to answer two very important questions: what does their net worth amount to, and what is the amount of liquid cash they are currently operating with. If they aren't serious enough about wanting to buy a business, they will not sign the NDA, and you can also eliminate those who can't afford to buy your business.
Buyers who sign an NDA are serious enough to proceed to the next phase.
Alt text: Two men going over a contract; one of them is signing it.
#03 Quickly move on to the next phase
Next, it's time to keep screening buyers. Even though they have signed a non-disclosure agreement and have seen your business summary (meaning that they are serious enough), some buyers may still not be convinced that buying your business is the right move for them. They will probably have additional questions for you.
If they send one or two questions by email, then you can reply to them. However, if they send a lot of questions, don't answer them, but rather invite their representative to visit you and discuss all the relevant details in person.
Apart from initially saving you time, this is a very good way to determine how interested the buyers really are. If they never find the time to visit you personally, this means that dealing with them would most likely be a waste of your precious time. And if they provide a very good reason why they couldn't visit you, you can email them the answers, however, be sure to ask them to send you some information as well. If you're looking to get the best deal, selling your business should be a procedure involving both giving and taking.
#04 Tips related to the final phase of selling your business quickly
After no less than one and no more than three meetings, serious buyers will stop wasting your time and they will make an offer. This is the right time to ask the buyer to show you some proof that they have sufficient funding (another way to make sure that someone isn't wasting your time). If they are really serious about buying your business, they will provide you with proof, and the process of selling your business quickly will be coming to an end soon.
Only one important phase remains at this point - due diligence. This process involves an investigation into both businesses that will, hopefully, make both you and the buyer happy after seeing the "insides" of both companies. Good organization and a properly managed checklist will go a long way toward making sure that due diligence remains a routine procedure.
Just like detectives, potential buyers will try to deduce whether there’s anything wrong with your company during the final phase of selling your business.
Alt text: A cartoon detective.
In order to speed things up, though, you can let the buyer know that you wouldn't be misrepresenting your business, as such things are not only against the law, but will also certainly surface sooner or later. Therefore, there's no point in lying.
#05 Get the help of moving professionals to expedite the process
Finally, while you're busy trying to find buyers and sell your business quickly, there's another complicated procedure going on simultaneously. Namely, there's a good chance that you'll be taking plenty of things from your offices with you after you have sold your business. As you are also trying to do that quickly, choosing the right services when relocating that involve a high-quality moving company can certainly speed up the entire operation.
While you're getting closer and closer to selling your company, you'll hardly have enough time to worry about moving your items as well. You'll need someone like the professionals working for Tik Tok Moving and Storage Queens to handle everything quickly and efficiently.
So, enlist the aid of such professionals, closely follow our other advice as well, and hopefully, selling your business will be a quick and smooth procedure that will earn you as much money as your company is worth. The only question is: what to do with that money next?
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