Dealing With The Inevitable - Your Exit From Your Business

12/01/2010 by info.

Business Transfer Agents have the same frustrations as Will Writers.

As a Will Writer will tell you…. you are not going to die in the near future so there is no need to plan for that death, you all have decades to live and to contact them to draw up a Will and put your affairs in order, so we can deal with it next year.

The fact is that a Will Writer will tell you exactly the opposite and unfortunately fate may have other things in store for you.

I am also sure that a good proportion of business owners reading this blog have no intention of exiting their business, they are not going to die, get ill, move, retire and have no intention of finding another business opportunity. So of course they do not need to plan for their exit.

However, the vast majority of people who approach me to sell their business are looking for a quick sale, why is this? It is because their circumstances have changed and they now need to sell or they have been trying to sell their business elsewhere and have been unsuccessful; however because they did not plan for a sale they will not be able to sell their business, or at least for the amount that it technically could be worth.

There are a few very easy steps you can take to increase the value and saleability of your business, too many to list here. The one question you need to ask yourself is “If I put my business on the market tomorrow will it sell for its market value?”

I can assure you that if you answer, “Yes” to that question you may be being over optimistic.

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