Selling a Business Step by Step

 

Typical steps for selling most small businesses.

Call Richard at 479.689.4455 Ext 11 for details about the steps to sell your business or fill out our contact form.

STEP 1 – Interview Your Professionals and Business Broker
The decision to sell your business is a process that can be rather complicated. You will find it helpful to talk to a couple of business brokers, your accountant, attorney and possibly other professionals prior to deciding if you want to move forward with selling your business.

STEP 2 - The Initial Meeting
Your initial meeting will be held in the strictest of confidence supported by signed confidentiality agreements. We can schedule your meeting at your place of business during non-business hours, at our office in Fayetteville or we have access to private offices throughout the area suitable for a confidential meeting.

STEP 3 - Market Valuation
If you are interested in possibly taking the next step, we will require the information listed on the sheet provided at our initial meeting. We can pick it up, or you can drop it by our office or you can send it electronically. We can convert your documents to electronic format while you wait so you will not be without your documents.

The market valuation process takes approximately 7-10 days and will include 2-3 methods of valuation when possible, comparables of similar businesses for sale and businesses sold. When we have completed our market valuation, we will contact you for a follow-up meeting also at no cost to go over our findings with you.

STEP 4 - The Listing
If you decide to list your business for sale with AEGIS Business Brokers, LLC, we will start the marketing process as outlined on our marketing information sheet.

We have programs with small up-front marketing fees that are credited at closing towards our success fee and our fees are some of the lowest in the industry.

Combine that with some of the lowest fees in the business brokerage world and you will see that you can maximize your proceeds with AEGIS.

We also provide and pay for the Escrow Attorney and the Closing Attorney.

STEP 5 - Marketing Your Business
Your business will be marketed confidentially utilizing blind ads and limited business summaries.

We market on all the major national business for sale websites, email blasts to our large list of buyers, our own websites and specific business for sale domains, multiple social media outlets, Google AdWords and FaceBook Pay-per-click campaigns, trade specific sources, plus direct mail & telemarketing to potential buyers.

STEP 6 - Non-Disclosure Agreement
Every inquiry we receive is responded to with a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for electronic signature that includes a limited summary of the business opportunity. This limited summary does not include any business identifying information. The goal is to provide enough information to let the buyer know if they are interested or not without providing name of business or identifying and financial details..

STEP 7 - Confidential Summary
When we receive a signed NDA we send out a summary of the business opportunity with the company name, description details, total sales, cost of sales and cash flow for three years. We do not send out any detailed financial information.

This helps the potential buyer to understand if this is the type of opportunity they are seeking.

STEP 8 - Qualifying the Buyer
We do not send out any detailed information, financial or otherwise to a potential buyer until we have qualified them as having the resources necessary to be able to complete the transaction at your price. We do this with a Buyer's Profile and Financial Statement.

If the potential buyer is qualified we will send them a "Confidential Business Report". The CBR goes into detail about the business opportunity including the financials no deeper than information that would appear on a P&L or Balance Sheet.

At this point we determine with the buyer if there is reason to move forward, tour the facility and meet you. At AEGIS we believe it is important for you to be free to run your business without interruption or riding on an emotional roller coaster from having potential and sometimes unqualified buyers (tire kickers) making demands of your time.

STEP 9 - The Offer
If the buyer wants to proceed after meeting you and touring the facilities, we help prepare a written offer. There usually are at least three contingencies; due diligence, loan approval and lease negotiations.

You usually will have 72 hours to accept the offer and then the buyer will have 72 hours to make a good faith deposit in an escrow account.

STEP 10 - Due Diligence & Contingencies
Due diligence is where the buyer looks at all your records in detail as a way of verifying what they have been previously told. We do not allow it to be a place to open negotiations. The due diligence contingency allows the buyer to withdraw their offer for no stated reason with no penalty. Their entire escrow deposit will be returned. If they believe the price should be adjusted based on information they discovered, they will be required to submit a new offer and you will then need to accept it or reject it.

After due diligence the remaining contingencies are more binding and the buyer must prove they were denied a loan or lease, etc. or move forward with the transaction.

STEP 11 - The Asset Purchase Agreement
We prepare the first draft of the APA which includes all the finer details of the offer. This document generally is reviewed by the buyer's and seller's attorneys and then we prepare the final draft. It will be signed by all parties at the closing.

STEP 12 - The Closing
After all the contingencies have been met, the closing is scheduled. The closing will include a review of all the sale related documents, the asset purchase agreement (APA) and a closing statement.

You will receive your proceeds minus any liabilities that you agreed with the buyer to pay, AEGIS will receive their success fee and AEGIS will Pay the Fees of the Escrow and Closing Attorneys provided by AEGIS.

 

Call Richard at 479.689.4455 Ext 11 for details about the steps to sell your business.

Additional Information