• That only 20-33% of business who want to sell actually sell
• Did not prepare for sale
• Tried to sell on their own
• Used 1 professional resource
• Only market to existing relationships
• Small pool of buyers
• Only get ONE chance

• There are a lot of small businesses out there
• At any time a portion of these businesses are for sale
• Percentage of small businesses that sell is discouraging
• Only about 20% of small businesses sell
• Higher percentage of larger businesses sell in the market
• It takes from 4 to 12 months to sell approximately 82% of businesses, with 38% falling into the 7 to 9-month range.

First baby boomer turned 60, Next decade, 50% of small and medium sized businesses are going to sell, 65% of business owners don’t know what the value of their business is, 85% of business owners don’t have a exit plan There are many ways to get out of a business:

• Carefully liquidate
• Fire sale
• Give it to your children
• Sell to key employees/ESOP
• Sell to a third party

Selling maximizes the value, minimizes the taxes and cash out on your own terms.

• Work with M&A Team, Accountant, Attorney & Business Intermediary.
• Owners can set timetable, goals and objectives that work best for them.
• Find right buyer by finding all buyers
• High net worth individuals
• Strategic buyers, Financial buyers
• May be hard to search for these attractive candidates – something that an owner might or might not be able to do • Creating the right buyer candidates is key to maximizing the worth
• Make sure you (owner) know that we (Brokers) can’t sell a portion of your stock –  you need to sell 100% of the stock.
• Realize the full worth of the business’s style
• Price and structure the deal
• Develop a relationship with people who are in wealth planning
• An intermediary may have to work for a year or two to get all your money, so we need to make the transition as smooth as possible.

• Identify the pool of potentially qualified buyers
• Help find an attractive acquisition candidate
• Negotiate based on what the buyer wants and chase after buyers
• Allows you to run your business during the process
• Maintain confidentiality – We can almost guarantee confidentiality- so that your employees and customers don’t find out until the appropriate time. We’re not perfect, but pretty close.
• Sellers almost always get less value when they try to sell it on their own because they don’t know all the value drivers
• We are experts in marketing; we know how to market your company
• Can protect you from your employees, competitors, finding out until the right time, in the right way
• Try to figure out why the buyer is buying your company
• Hard for the seller to not be emotionally attached and thus remain objective

• Long-Term Planning
• Develop Management Depth, Advance Tax Planning, Improve Financial Statements, Formalize Partnership Agreements, Purchase Minority Interests, Negotiate Lease Transfer-ability, Begin to Form your Planning Team.
• Intermediate Planning
• Clean up your Books, Invest in Taxes, Computerize, Have Equipment/Real Estate Appraised, Obtain a Business Opinion of Value or a Certified Valuation.
• Short-Term Planning
• Clean up the Premises—Increase your “Curb Appeal”, Sell or Replace Obsolete Equipment, Clean up Receivables and Inventory, Trim/Prune your Payroll, Negotiate any Contractual Agreements, Update the Valuation, Address Environmental Issues

• Things are in your control and positive now, which may not be in a few years as there are more buyers than sellers
• Younger baby boomer generation looking to control their own destiny
• Interest rates are good but going up, Lot of money, Good time to sell.