Before you can think about selling your business you have to prepare it for the sale. If you are a naturally organised person your business is probably in fairly great shape, but there are still some aspects to the sale you will need to prepare for. We cannot stress enough that you need to consider the current market before you sell.

The market and other businesses in that market will determine if a successful sale is possible. You do not have to start by looking at the market, but it is certainly a step you mustn’t forget. We have a list of other steps to follow for preparing your business for sale.

1. Streamline the business’ day to day operation. It will not be possible to sell your business if things are not running smoothly. You will need to look at all aspects of the business. What is running correctly? What needs to change to make it run better? Do you have any legal disputes that are outstanding right now? If anything is causing the business to run less than smoothly it could throw off potential buyers. There are very few buyers who are willing to step into a sale when there are legal disputes going on. In fact you may not make the sale if legal issues are involved because the court may not allow it.


2. Employees: the question in preparing a business for sale that always comes up is whether to tell the employees. Should you let them know of the impending sale? There are a couple of ways to look at this, but you always need to treat your employees respectfully and with integrity. We will have a section on this site devoted to answering this question.


3. As you prepare your business for sale you will need an advisor or team of advisors. A business transfer agent could take care of everything, including getting the valuation of your business and the legal documents ready. You may also hire a team to take care of everything. You do need to have at least one expert as part of the selling team to ensure everything is legal and you get a fair deal.


4. Something that a seller often over looks is what to do with the sale income they have generated once the sale is completed. You will need to consider this because there are taxes that could affect the profit of your sale. Investing the money in a retirement fund and doing other things to protect it from huge taxation might be imperative to you.

Once you know that it is the right time to sell and you have followed some of the suggestions above you will be ready to put your business on the market. You do not want to advertise your business too early in the event a buyer is interested. It is better to prepare the business and then seek a buyer. It will maximise the potential profit you gain from the sale.