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Selling a business can be tricky, even for experienced sellers. There are many things that play a big part in how successful you will be as a seller, but one thing is constant – you need to know what types of businesses sell.
Selling a business that does not fit into this category will make it more difficult than necessary. You must understand if your potential buyer wants to buy a similar business or if they want to take over everything!
There are several reasons why buying a business that is already running may be hard. It could be because they have invested too much money to start from scratch, it could be due to financial limitations, or perhaps they do not believe the future of the business lies with them.
Whatever the reason, most buyers would prefer to purchase an established business rather than starting from scratch. This article will talk about some ways to help you market your business and determine if there is interest in purchasing yours.
The appeal of your business will play a major role in how well you market your turn-businesses. If you’re looking to sell yours, make sure to look into what attributes your business has that are attractive to potential customers.
Does your business have a unique product or service? Does it give its clients good value for their money? Is it run with professionalism and ease of use?
These are all qualities of a successful business! Just because someone else does something similar to you doesn’t mean they can’t be copied. But if they could, then you wouldn’t have much of a market edge now would you?
Your ideal buyer will do some research and determine whether or not this is a viable business. They will consider whether or not your competitors are better suited to take over the running of the business once sold, as well as determining whether or not your current owner is likely to stay put.
In fact, selling a business includes more than just marketing and advertising alone. There are lots of other things that need to happen before anyone actually purchases the company, such as finding new owners, transferring ownership documents, etc.
If these steps aren’t done correctly, your business may end up being wasted time. More importantly, there might be legal complications down the line. It's best to be prepared by making your business accessible, professional, and saleable.
As mentioned earlier, being able to identify the weaknesses of your business is a great way to know if you are ready to sell or not!
If there's something that could make people lose trust in you (or worse, walk away), this will hurt your sale more than help it.
It'll be like having a big fat "X" painted across your forehead saying, "Look here, I have serious shortcomings!"
The only difference is, instead of someone walking away because of you, yourself can't walk away due to poor leadership. You're putting your own success on the line by investing in your company.
So before thinking about selling, do some research and see what things you might find. Read personal reviews, talk to past customers, get testimonials, and look at documents such as licenses, agreements, and contracts.
These all play an important part in determining whether or not your seller's license is expired, proof of service, etc. An empty wallet doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve moved onto bigger and better things, but it is a good indication they may need to reevaluate their career choice.
Companies that sell turn-key businesses offer their customers a limited warranty. This way, if something goes wrong with your business within the first 30 days, the vendor will take over!
Most vendors do not provide their own warranty because they know it is easily overlooked. By offering one for you as the owner of the business, they are ensuring your success.
They may even cover parts or repairs in addition to giving you replacements or new equipment.
Before you even approach someone about buying your business, you must first decide what you will accept as a sale! What do I mean by that?
You have to set a minimum sales price for your business. This is usually determined off of how much revenue your business made in its most profitable year. Because businesses with less income can be more stable, we recommend using either twice the annual profit or one times the average monthly profit as an absolute number.
Either way, this value should be adjusted slightly so that not every seller makes a good owner. Most entrepreneurs lose money at some points during their career, which would make it very difficult to finance a buyout. Therefore, we suggest setting the lower limit at two times the annual profit plus 10% to account for potential losses in the future.
This gives sellers who are riskier capitalized units that may not make enough per month to put up significant funds for the company.
The next step in selling your business is making a solid marketing plan. This includes determining how you will market your business, what channels you’ll use to promote it, and when you’ll invest in each one.
It also means figuring out what costs are associated with these marketing strategies and how much money you have available to spend. You don’t want to start spending heavily on advertising until you know how much capital you have to work with!
To give you some starting points, we’ve created an easy-to-use checklist that can help you get going as you prepare to sell your business. Check out our free seller’s kit here.
You’ll find all sorts of helpful information for those first few weeks after you launch your new business, including tips on how to advertise like a pro, effective ways to manage your team, and more.
Starting your business from scratch includes creating an online presence. This can be done through using free websites or via paid sites that offer professional looking web pages.
It is not necessary to use fancy, fully-designed sites as starting points, however, it is best to create a website that looks professionally designed.
Many people start their businesses with a free WordPress site because of how easy it is to edit and update. Many have experienced sellers who begin editing and updating their sites and then discover expensive additions they need to purchase such as email or survey software.
By having a free site, you will be saving money!
You should also check out our article here about why selling a business makes sense for you. It’s a great way to make some extra cash while leaving the hard work of running the business behind.
The second way to sell a turn-key business is by connecting with possible customers or patrons. By creating a presence on social media, you can start gathering contacts that may need your services or products.
Running an online business does not mean that you will go unnoticed. With over 2 billion people using at least one smartphone in the world, there are many ways to reach out to new customers.
By having a presence on all of the major social networking sites, you have a strong chance of reaching someone else who might be looking for your services.
Some areas where you could focus are talking about businesses like yours, offering discounts, answering questions, and/or making comments related to your field.
This is especially helpful if you are trying to generate interest in your own business or those of others.
The hardest part about this is choosing which days and times of day to put up content so that it does not feel forced.
The second way to sell your business is to distribute promotional material about it so that people can see it and pick whether they want to invest in it or not.
There are many ways to do this, but one of my favorite strategies is creating a business sale package. A business sale package is an informational packet designed to help potential buyers learn more about your business and what services you offer.
It can include things such as your company profile, photos of the owners, testimonials, coupons, etc. These items and content are all focused on selling the business and promoting its use.
By doing this, you’re clearly indicating that the business is viable and someone else could benefit from owning it.
