If you’ve decided you want to sell your business, the next question that may come to mind is how. The more prepared you are with all the information we need to market and sell you business, the smoother the process will be and the faster you will accomplish your goal of selling.
Before you take any tangible steps to sell your business, make sure you have all the key information about your business. Collecting all the documents can be time consuming, so we provide an overview of the items we will ask you for to help get you started. After reviewing this list, reach out to us to set up a free consultation for a more in-depth look about all the specific information we will need for your business based on the industry, market outlook and buyer knowledge.
Your Checklist To Start:
- Year to date Profit and Loss Statement and Balance Sheet
- Three years' tax returns
- List of equipment, appliances, and fixtures including leased items
- Lease and lease-related documents
- Any loans against your business (with amounts and payment schedules)
- Any existing agreements or contracts (including franchise agreements)
- Approximate amount of inventory (itemized with values)
- List of assets (tangible and intangible)
- Record of marketing and advertising done the past year
- Customer information
- Demographics
- Retention/loyalty/CRM programs
- Contact lists and data
Make sure this information is as up-to-date as possible so that you are able to give an accurate picture of your business.
As you’re pulling all this together, it would be natural for you to start to wonder, “what can I do to add value to my business?” Here are some additional items and tasks that can help add value or prepare you for the value focused conversations you will have with potential buyers:
- What proprietary products, services, techniques, methods do you have? How do they add value?
- Do you have any customized programs or software that add value?
- What kind of employees do you have? Are they versatile? Are they experts? How are they trained?
- What is the physical appearance of your business? First impressions matter, so what will the first visual impression of your business be?
- What surprises can you eliminate by identifying them now? Legal? Accounting? Environmental? Social?
If you are wondering how a buyer thinks, try putting yourself in their shoes and think about what you would want to know if you were to purchase a business.
With all these ideas in mind, set up a free consultation with us so we can start helping you bring these thoughts to life.
We look forward to working with you!
