CAN YOU SELL A BUSINESS YOURSELF?

If you own a business that you no longer want and are thinking about selling it, the very first thing you need to know is that you can make a much bigger profit off the sale if you sell your business privately. Most people hire a business broker to sell their business simply because they think it is the easiest way to go, but by selling a business yourself you can avoid paying high commission fees that brokers charge and keep the majority of the proceeds from the sale for yourself, and here’s how to sell a business yourself.

DON’T LISTEN TO BROKERS, OF COURSE YOU CAN SELL YOUR BUSINESS PRIVATELY!

Business brokers will tell you anything you want to hear in order to get you to hire them. Their main concern is making money off the commission from your house, so of course they don’t want you to know that you can sell your business yourself. After all, if everyone went this route, then they would be out of a job. So instead of hiring a business broker and having to pay a large portion of your profit to them, read on to find out exactly how to sell a business yourself.

LIST YOUR SMALL BUSINESS ON PRIVATE BUSINESS SALES WEBSITES

When selling your business privately, the internet will be your main tool for letting people know about your business. There are many private business sales and for sale by owner websites that will allow you to create a listing for your business. These sites have increased in popularity recently and they are now a great tool to get your business noticed by potential buyers. The best private business sale websites will charge you a fee to list your business, but this fee is still minute compared to what you would have to pay to a broker in commission fees.

After signing up on one of these for sale by owner websites, you will need to create your listing. The most important things to pay attention to are the description of your business and the headline for your ad. Make sure that they are both well-written and catchy, as this will be the only information potential buyers see about your business before they contact you. So you need to make them interested and want to know more.

NEGOTIATE A FAIR PRICE FOR YOUR BUSINESS WITH INTERESTED PARTIES

After creating your listing, you can then just relax and wait for people to start showing interest. Once you have been contacted by potential buyers, it will be up to you to show them all of the relevant information on your business, so make sure you have your books in order as they will definitely need to see them before they make an offer.

You will eventually start receiving offers for your business from interested parties, at which time you can then enter into negotiations over the price and terms of the sale. You are in total control of the negotiations, so don’t just accept the first offer than comes in. Instead you can negotiate with the potential buyers to try and get yourself the Joe Fortune best possible price. After coming to terms with a buyer, all that is left is to have a lawyer draw up the contracts and then finalize the sale. The entire process of selling a business yourself is actually quite easy and should result in you being able to make a much larger profit than if you had used a business broker.