When you make the decision to put your business up for sale, your hope is, of course, that someone buys it, but what happens when they don’t?
If you’re just trying to test the waters and feel out the market, you may not be in as much of a rush to sell your business, but if you are ready to retire, or you’re facing a pressing situation, you may find yourself in a panic if there’s no interest or buyers for your business. This can be particularly true in industries like marketing and technology, where it seems like companies are constantly selling. You may be looking around wondering, what’s wrong with mine?
This can happen even if you have a great business, and it’s important to understand the possible reasons there aren’t buyers knocking down your door to make an offer.
Below are some things you might want to consider if your business isn’t selling like you’d expected it to, or even if there’s seemingly no interest at all.
Do You Know The Process And The Details?
You might be great at owning your business, but if you’re having problems in the selling department, it can be a good idea to consider whether or not you really understand everything you should here. Selling a business can be complicated, and if you’re not familiar with the process and the terms, it can be even more challenging. You might consider working with an outside consultant to help you get a feel for what you should be doing.
Is Your Valuation Right?
According to the Firmex report, “The Deal Environment For Sellers,” one of the biggest problems business owners are having when it comes to selling, is that they haven’t optimized the value. If you’re pricing your business too high, it’s never going to gain any interest. Instead of going in high, look at ways you can legitimately improve the value of your business, and then put it back on the market. The wrong price can also become a factor when a business owner settles on a price too quickly, without doing the necessary legwork to find a true value.
Being Unwilling To Negotiate
Selling a business can be an emotional experience for a lot of sellers. They may have worked for most of their life to build this business, and when it comes time to sell it, negotiation may be the last thing they want to do. Unfortunately, you could be losing a potentially good deal by being set on your price with no flexibility.
Not Working With The Pros
Noted above was the potential need to work with consultants if you’re not sure of how to go about selling a business. Not working with professionals, in general, can be causing your business not to sell. You should work with people who understand what it is to sell a business and utilize their expertise. Without this kind of guidance, you’re not likely to be successful.
As a final note, selling a business is a massive undertaking, and it should be treated as such. If you’ve been waiting around for interest for a while, and you’re not getting it, it may be time to rethink your strategy and enlist the help of expert outsiders.
Business valuation measures the economic value of owners interest. Which may be loss or gain to the owner. selling you business is your choice, but valuing your business is not you choice, it’s a well applied technique you need to follow and communicate to the buyer too.
One more point I would like to add here- If you do not understand how to automate your work or automated your work in the past, You can also not convince your buyer that this way he/she can also make money, Since most of the task in your business is automated.