When you sell your Missouri business, and your first opportunity to qualify the small business buyer, will usually be by phone. It’s important that you control this conversation by asking the buyer a series of qualifying questions. But in fairness, you will have to answer a few questions from the prospect as well. Otherwise, they will not feel comfortable moving ahead with the process. Explain the absolute necessity of confidentiality and tell them you have prepared a Selling Memorandum which they are welcome to read after signing a confidentiality agreement.But you can give some general answers to the most basic questions now.Here are some questions you should be prepared to answer when you first talk with your prospect:
1.) Why are you selling?
2.) What is your price? Will you finance? What down payment are you looking for?
3.) How long has this business been in existence?
4.) How long have you been the owner?
5.) Will you stay on for a training period? / Will you be available after the sale for consultations?
6.) How much income can a new owner expect in the first year?
7.) What are the opportunities for growth? / Why is this business unique or special?Much of this information will have already been provided in your advertisement, but if you are talking to a buyer who was referred by your account, lawyer or some other source, this may be new information to them. Still, you should try to answer these most basic questions without divulging any confidential information.Question #1 is perhaps the most important question. A lot of the advice buyers read and hear them to be skeptical of an owner’s reasons for selling. After all, why would anybody want to sell a thriving business? Missouri buyers don’t have the right to know all the details about personal issues like health or a divorce, but you do need to have some prepared response to this question (health, retirement, pursuing new opportunities) that sounds reasonable and positive.
Hopefully question #7 will be the focus of the entire conversation. If you haven’t already done so, take some time right now to list some of the positives about your business.Taking The Next Step: After answering a couple of questions, try to get an e-mail address or fax number where you can send the confidentiality agreement. Let them know that once you have received this form, you will send them your Selling Memorandum with more detailed information.Any viable, professional and reasonable candidate should be perfectly agreeable with this process.Anyone who wants you to give them detailed and personal information about your business without signing a confidentiality agreement is being unreasonable.
If they are unreasonable now, they will be that way throughout the entire process.You can save yourself a lot of time and frustration by cutting them loose right now.
One Other Piece Of Advice: In all your phone conversations take notes. Your prospects will give you clues on how to sell them – if you get them talking about their goals and priorities.
It may be weeks before you meet in person and you’ll forget too much valuable information in the interim if you don’t take notes.Notes about what?Their goals, their aspirations, their experience, the names of their spouse and children, why they want to own their own business, those aspects of your business that most interested them, etc. etc.The selling process begins the moment you first speak with your prospect. Start to learn as much about them and what makes them tick as you can. It will pay dividends as you move into the negotiating phase of the sale.
Selling Your Business to a Buyer in Missouri
Whether to close up shop, or keep fighting for survival is a question that more business owners seem to be facing than ever before. The economy is in the tank, banks won't lend, and you haven't slept in 18 months. As much as you don't want to, if you are losing money month after month, perhaps you need to sit down and have "the talk" with yourself.Nobody wants to be a failure, but as they say, sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. Once you decide to take a hard look in the mirror, ask yourself the following:- What are the chances that this business will ever be able to pay all the bills, and then leave enough for me to make it worth while?Some business owners made purchase at the height of the market, when the economy was chugging along. Of course, things have changed since that time, so the historical cash flows that drove up the purchase price are no longer a reality. If you paid $1,000,000 for a business, and revenues have dropped by 50%, is it reasonable to expect to be able to service that much debt?- What are my alternatives?If the business went away, what do you have to fall back on? A college graduate who left a corporate job to start their own business could always dust off their resume (yes, the one they swore they'd never again) and start checking Monster.com. If you have options, why not cut your losses for the time being? There's nothing that will prevent you from trying again in the future. At least if you have a job, you'll get a paycheck while you attempt to figure out your next venture.- How much are you willing to lose?If you apply for a modification, the bank will inevitably look for more collateral. When the bank starts sniffing around for your house or your stock portfolio, are you willing to bet those items that your business will succeed? It would be one thing to have your business close, it would be another to have your business close AND lose your home to foreclosure.- Do you like what you do?10 years ago, the idea of working for yourself sounded great. Work your own hours, you call the shots, make all the decisions, and do things your way. Now you are tired of crabby customers, haven't had a day off since you had hair, and you don't trust your employees enough to leave them alone. Entrepreneurship is tough. Like, really tough. It's perfectly OK to want to just have a job with a regular pay check and benefits where you can eat dinner with your kids and sleep in every weekend.- buying or selling a business Kansas City Missouri
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