Whether you’re ready to retire, make a career change, or downsize your responsibilities from owner to employee, now may be the time to ready your practice for market. Irrespective of the reason for selling your business, the goal is that you sell it for the highest profit. When selling a home, you repair damages and boost its curb appeal to attract the best buyers and receive the highest offers. Below are the steps you should take to make your business show-ready for a sale.
Understand the Value of Your Practice
While you want to sell your practice for a tidy profit, you will not fool investors into overpaying for it. Be realistic about your business’s worth. This is when you should contract with a business appraiser to determine how much your practice is worth, and the realistic price at which you should list it based on current market trends. Some sellers are wary of an appraisal but remember that buyers will either ask you for one or perform one themselves. As such, you gain credibility by having a professional business valuation performed before going to market.
Pick the Best Time to Sell
As in real estate, timing is critical when selling a business. For some people, selling a business is an option only when the practice starts hemorrhaging cash, when they are facing bankruptcy and when they have legal challenges. At these times, prospective buyers will eagerly wring every last cent from the deal because they see it is a distressed sale or “fire sale”. The best time to sell a business is when it’s doing well and revenues are trending upwards. At this time, your practice will be enormously attractive, and investors will be willing to pay top dollar. Also, consider the market conditions in your industry when selling your business. Check the interest rates at the time and whether consumers are skittish about spending, or they are spendthrifts. These economic aspects determine how profitable your sale will be.
Improve Your Brand
Most buyers will search for your business online before contacting you. After all, deals start way before meeting in conference rooms or Zoom calls. Thankfully, you can control what a prospective investor sees when he/she types in your company name on search engines. Having the best-looking brand online means you can sell your business faster and for a higher price. Some features that will make your business stand out online include a good social media following, visibility on the first search engine page, an attractive, polished logo, and a brand with integrity rather than scam reports, scandals, and class action suits.
Promote a Unique Selling Point
In most instances, there is one thing that makes your business stand out. Identify your unique trait and maximize it. The single shining selling point will mainly depend on your buyers. Each buyer comes with his/her goal. As a seller, identify the primary goal of your target market, then align your selling point as closely as possible with these goals. The unique selling point can be a loyal workforce, a unique innovation or technology, that you occupy an attractive niche or geographic region, or have promising profit margins.
Get a Professional Business Broker
Some business owners assume that the first step they should take when planning to sell a business is to set up a “for sale’’ sign to attract potential clients. This is a huge mistake that might lead to employee turnover as most will not want to work under the uncertain terms of a new employer. Get a professional business broker to confidentially introduce you to prospective buyers so that the sale remains confidential and does not affect the operation of your practice.
After the above steps, you are now ready to sell your business. The process will be smoother and faster with the right business broker by your side. Private Practice Transitions is the best brokerage firm to help you sell your professional service business. The firm has the prestigious Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) designation that identifies it as a dedicated and experienced business brokerage. You can thus be sure you are working with the best brokers to maximize your return on investment.
