If both you and your business are ready for sale it should take between 3-8 months to sell your business.
The key sentence is, “If both you and your business are ready for sale”.
Sales Readiness And Sales Process
The sale process entails putting your business on the market and is the part that should take between 3-8 months. The “sales readiness” part may take the longest and is best determined through a structured exit planning process. A good exit plan will consider whether you and your business are ready for sale and, if not, it would set out an action plan, with timelines, for closing the gap.
A lot of business owners go to market when they aren’t ready resulting in the business either not selling, or the business selling at lower than market value. It can take time to get a business ready for sale and what you don’t want is to be forced to go to market when your business is not sale ready.
How can you shorten the time to sell your business?
The solution is to put an exit plan in place.
A good exit plan will consider whether you are ready for sale by looking at your “cash out” requirements versus what you can reasonably expect to receive if you sell. You can then either come to terms with the gap, outside of a pressurised sale process, or work on closing the gap before going into the sales process.
It will ensure that essential contracts are established, the management team is of high quality, succession plans are in place, taxes are in order, and addresses various other potential pitfalls in selling your business.
This will leave you with an action plan that optimises your sale price and an estimate of time to close the gap.
Should you be interested in a short no obligation consultation please feel free to contact us.
No comment yet, add your voice below!