If you are considering selling your small to medium sized business, you no doubt want to ensure you get your business marketed to the right people and as clearly as possible. Many businesses rely on total discretion and confidentiality when they go up for sale, in fear of losing a client base, a reputation or even stock market value. However, there are many instances where it would help your cause a great deal if it was well known that your business is up for sale. Let's look at some good examples of when it is most likely safe to make a big noise about your sale and ensure your business gets noticed on the marketplace.
The obvious industry is the food sector. If you run a search on the major business for sale portals, you'll instantly see that there is a whole minefield of cafés, diners, restaurants and take away outlets up for sale. These kinds of businesses change hands quite often and are a good business to sell because in most cases, they already have a footing in the local area, are known by the local residents and should already have a loyal customer base.
More importantly though is the fact that anyone becoming aware of this kind of business being sold will make very little negative impact. In fact, when a restaurant or café changes hands, it can have the opposite effect and create a new positive, fresh outlook for customers new and old. With so many on the marketplace, there is a lot to choose from so any potential suitor effectively has the upper hand because they have so many options available to them. This is why in a situation such as this, you need to make as much noise as you can. For every café up for sale in any town or city, you can count several others will be too. Businesses such as these change hands often because they require a very intense level of dedication from the owners. Some go into running a business such as this with a great deal of optimism and enthusiasm, only to find that its really hard work and too much to take on. Within a year or two, they've had enough and are ready to move on. Sound familiar?
If this is you, then you are not alone. Any business in the food industry is tough graft and like every other business in this sector that is up for sale, you need to ensure your marketing doesn't reflect this and that your business for sale appeals to these fresh, enthusiastic and energetic individuals. So if you have an advert online or are about to embark on advertising your business, try to spend some time getting your advert up to scratch.
Take some good quality photos of the premises. But make sure you clean the place first and make it look great. Remember, you're selling a dream! Also, take the time to get your figures in order, especially profit margins, turnover and any other information that will help really sell the dream to the next owner. If you want to sell your business in an already saturated industry sector, you need to make some serious effort. One big push will help you sell it faster. So don't put an advert online with only a few poultry lines of text. Really give the full details and take as many pictures as you can to give any interested parties a real feel for the place.
And finally, don't get greedy. Have your business valued correctly and put it on the market for what it's worth. If you need some advice on this area, read another of my articles that covers business valuations and how to price it correctly.
Selling a business is a tough task and it is time consuming. But if you want to get it sold, you need to put in the time and effort. If you are based in an area surrounded by other businesses, it might not be such a bad idea to tell your neighbours of your intensions. They may know someone who is looking to open a business such as yours. Your direct neighbours may even want to buy you out of your business so that they expand their business across your premises. The more people who know, the more opportunities that could arise. If you are certain that disclosing your intensions will have little impact on your business then tell the right people. Get on the search engines and start submitting adverts to the business for sale directories.
There are numerous examples of businesses that I have seen up for sale and quite clearly are happy to disclose the business name, location and price. Why? Because it sometimes pays to get it out there so that word can spread fast that an opportunity for someone else could be waiting around the corner. Example businesses include petrol stations, convenience stores, pubs and clubs, small boutique stores, shoe stores, take away and sandwich bars. Even tourism related businesses.