Selling a Florida Business? Let's Talk Strategies!
The decision to sell your business can be the most important decision of your life. Florida Business Broker Dan Smith can guide you through the process, help structure and implement an exit
strategy to meet your goals. The selling process starts with a business valuation. Call or write for a no obligation, confidential introduction to our services. We invite you to complete and
submit our Online Seller Response Form to expedite a response.
Fee Basis and Policy
For the most part, our fees are earned on a success basis. This is to say, if we are successful in selling the client’s business, the client pays our fees at closing. If not,
the client knows in advance what the costs will be.
Unlike the sale of real estate, the sale of an active and ongoing business should be kept confidential for both the seller and buyer. All inquiries are held in strict confidence.
Prospective buyers will be pre-screened, which includes signatures on confidentiality/nondisclosure agreements, before learning about a business.
We will create a series of blind, non-specific advertisements that will appear in our network, trade publications, professional associations with multi-list database and in most cases
picked up by national business for sale publications. Florida Business Broker Dan Smith, in association with Corporate Investment Business Brokers, has developed a strong presence on the
Internet and your blind advertisement will be displayed on numerous productive sites. All inquiries for information on your business are sent directly to Dan so the exchange of information and
process adheres to our confidentiality procedures.
Determining the selling price is critical to selling your business, pricing a business too high or too low can have a detrimental effect on the sale of the business. It is important to price the
business correctly from the start. The final selling price of a business is ultimately decided by the market. However, Florida Business Broker Dan Smith can provide you with an unbiased and fair
market valuation of your business in a price range that should maximize your cash at closing. Dan has the expertise and experience to perform a fair market valuation for almost any type of business.
It generally takes, on average, between five to eight months to sell most businesses. Keep in mind that an average is just that. Some businesses will take longer to sell, while others will
sell in a shorter period of time. The sooner you have all the information needed to begin the marketing process, the shorter the time period can be. It is also important that the business be
priced properly right from the start. Some sellers, operating under the premise that they can always come down in price, overprice their business. This theory often "backfires," because buyers
often will refuse to look at an overpriced business. It has been shown that the amount of the down payment may be the key ingredient to a quick sale. The lower the down payment, generally 40
percent of the asking price or less, the shorter the time to a successful sale. A reasonable down payment also tells a potential buyer that the seller has confidence in the business’s ability
to make the payments.
After a buyer has signed a non-disclosure/confidentiality agreement, completed the prescreening process, reviewed the Confidential Business Review and expressed continued interest in your business,
an important part of the process may be to schedule a meeting with you and the potential buyer to view your business at a time that is appropriate for your type of business.
When a buyer is sufficiently interested, we will assist in the preparation of a written offer to purchase. The Purchase Agreement will spell out the buyers offer in detail. The offer may contain
several contingencies that the buyer feels must be met before the transaction goes to actual closing. We will present all offers to you for consideration until you find one that is acceptable to you.
This is a contract and you will have the right to accept, counter or reject. It is important to know that time is important and this contract will expire if you do not respond. If you accept the offer,
or you counter it and the buyer accepts your counter, be prepared to do some fast work to remove the contingencies. Florida Business Broker Dan Smith will guide you through the process until the deal
is closed.
All negotiations are handled at arms-length through Dan Smith and Corporate Investment Business Brokers. The main reason is to maximize the price you can get for your business, but it is just as
important to make sure the deal actually happens. All negotiations can be stressful and after you have closed the transaction you and the new owner must have a good working relationship for the
transition period. You want what is best for you, but you do not want to run an interested buyer off. Let Florida Business Broker Dan Smith buffer any stressful negotiations.
You are not required to finance any portion of the sale of your business, but you need to be aware of the many reasons to consider this option. With reasonable terms, the chances for a timely
sale increase dramatically, and at times for a higher purchase price. In many cases, businesses listed for all cash simply do not sell. Unfortunately, most banks and lending institutions do
not make loans for the purchase of businesses. The major reason is that most small businesses attempt to minimize the profits shown on financial statements to reduce tax liability. You will
need to understand that your new buyer will be considered a new start-up without any track record. Seller financing may be the only way to sell your company. Dan will show you the various ways
to protect yourself if financing is involved. Seller financing emphatically tells the buyer you have confidence in the continued success of the business and the company can make the payments.
In most cases, yes. The terms of a non-compete agreement will be spelled out on the offer to purchase. This will allow you to approve the terms if they are acceptable to you. The buyers will
want this to protect their investment in your business. There will be allowable exceptions to some non-compete agreements that we can discuss with you.
Training will be important to most buyers. They need to learn your bookkeeping system, operating procedures, who your suppliers and vendors are and their agents, introduction to employees and
customers and general product knowledge. The typical training period offered by sellers is two weeks at no cost to the buyer. For companies that warrant extended transition periods, the proposed
allocation of time should be known by the seller before the deal closes.