In many cases, the sale of a small company is “event” driven. That is, the reason for sale is often an event such as a health decline or illness, divorce, partnership issues, or even a decline in busi…
December 17, 2013
Can You Really Afford to Sell?
Surprises CEOs Face When Selling Their Companies
Surprise #1: Substantial Time Commitment In the real estate business, once the owner engages the broker there is very little for the owner to do until the broker presents the various offers from the p…
October 30, 2013
Company Weaknesses
Take two seemingly identical companies with very similar financials, but one of the companies was worth substantially more than the other company. One company will sell for $10 million “as is” or som…
September 16, 2013
What Would Your Business Sell For?
There is the old anecdote about the immigrant who opened his own business in the United States. Like many small business owners, he had his own bookkeeping system. He kept his accounts payable in a ci…
July 1, 2013
How Long Does It Take to Sell a Business?
Recent studies indicate that it now takes, on average, about eight to ten months to sell a small business. This figure seems to increase yearly. Why does it take so long to sell a business? Price and…
May 21, 2013
When to Create an Exit Strategy
There is the old saying that the time to develop an exit strategy is the day you open for business. Sounds good, but it’s not very realistic. Further, it also isn’t very optimistic. On the day you ope…
May 1, 2013
Five Kinds of Buyers
Buyers are generally categorized as belonging to one of the following groups although, in reality, most buyers fit into more than one. The Individual Buyer This is typically an individual with substan…
March 25, 2013
Why Deals Don’t Close
Sellers Don’t have a valid reason for selling. Are testing the waters to check the market and the price. (They are similar to the buyer who is “just shopping.”) Are completely unrealistic about the pr…
March 14, 2013