How To Sell Your Business FAST - Avoid common mistakes of most business sellers in the Philippines by getrichpinoy.com
I decided to write this quick sensible article after observing business sellers in various advertisements online and print ads. Overall most business sellers sell their business however, they lack basic strategy in selling their business. If you don't believe me check out online and print ads ask the sellers how long they have been selling their business =)
1. Financial Statements checked or audited by
your Accountant (Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement, Income Statement, Sales
Report).
This is the most
common mistakes of Business Sellers. They are selling their business and they
don't have supporting documentation why they are selling their business on that
particular price . SMART Investors and business owners don't just buy a business
out of the blue. Buyers would like to see the entire assets of the company,
including liabilities that they will shoulder when they buy your business, how
much income/losses your business incurs in a monthly basis. Buyers would like to
see the entire FINANCIAL picture of your business that will help them a lot in
making a "SMART" decision.
Around 90%-95% of Business SELLERS don't have this... some of of the reasons are the business is very small. My take to that is even how small your business is as long as you business is legally registered you need a BOOK keeper to maintain your books of accounting for TAX payment purposes and other financial matter purposes of your business.
SAD to say that there are a lot of BUYERS who buys business however, they don't understand how to buy and value a business. They buy losing business... that in the end they will also suffer same mistake being committed by other business owners. BUYERS CANNOT ASSESS YOUR BUSINESS IF YOU DON'T HAVE THIS BASIC FINANCIAL DOCUMENT. Work with your Book Keeper/Accountant.
I encountered 1 business seller saying "Sorry we cannot provide you the financial statements just a monthly sales report" and guess what they've been selling their business and advertising it for half a year now. At first the deal seems like a "GOOD" deal but i bet it is worst than a losing business. You get the idea.
Be HONEST to your Buyers lay down your card. Financial statement is the most basic documentation that a SMART Business BUYER will look for. If you have this you will always be confident to any Buyers who would like to take a look at your business.
2. Make it Clean! and Organized.
Organized
all your assets, If you are selling a Canteen or restaurant make sure the
restaurant is always CLEAN inside out all utensils are properly arranged, If you
are selling an Internet Cafe make sure the computers, cables, environment is
clean and all transactions are properly tracked. Train your staff to properly
behave when you asked the Buyer to visit your location. Learn the art of great
customer service.
3. Tell Your Friends, Relative and Family And
Contact a Broker/Agent
Tell your friends, relative and family that you are selling
your business and maybe they could help you out tell their friends or people
they know that might be interested in starting a business or buying a
established business.
Contact a Business Broker or Agents to help you sell your business. Make sure to provide them an authorization letter stating that they are your authorized broker/agent plus make sure to put in writing the agreed commission if they found a buyer and the sale was successful.
4. Marketing Your Business - One of the most
important part.
Advertise your business to various marketing channels such
as Print Ads, Online Ads,
Targeted Email Marketing or Email Blast
- Check out PropertyBuyersManila.Com, Radio Advertising and other more ways to
where you could advertise your for sale business.
Remember the 80/20 rule in marketing. 80% of your result is derived from 20% of your effort. Do not waste most of your time posting or advertising your for sale business for the sake of advertising it. A lot of people waste time and money because that's what they do. They don't think how they could reach their target market. Perfect example of targeted marketing is Propertybuyersmanila.com email marketing program when you subscribe you could advertise your for sale property or insurance to people looking specifically for properties and insurance. The leads from their email database are people who are looking for properties... those people are the ones who sign-up and ask for help in looking for the right property for them.
Advertise the type of business that you are selling, List down the location/features of the location, features of your for sale business, highlight special components of your business and so on.
Download the FREE SPECIAL REPORT in PropertyBuyersManila.Com featuring Robert Kiyosaki's 6 Week Promotional Cycle. Its a good read. I am not promoting that website i just feel that it will help you a lot.
SMART Business Buyers buy losing or winning business as long as they have a clear picture of the business that would help them decide whether they will buy, they could make the business GROW or Turn around a losing business. Only people who don't have business knowledge will buy a business who don't have a clear picture in what they are buying... they treat business as GAMBLING as a whole. Same principle applies in Philippine Stock Market investing in Buying/Selling stocks/shares/business, Smart stock market investors don't rely on speculations alone, they don't buy stock because the market is moving up, they carefully read the financial statement of the company, read some background about the business and understand the fundamentals as a whole.
To your Success,
GetRichPinoy.Com
Follow Us on TWITTER for latest investing commentaries: http://twitter.com/getrichpinoy