Submit For A Valuation
Submit your company information into our sell your business form. One of our team will get back to you that day to introduce themselves, ask you some questions about your business and then request your financials for review to complete the final valuation. Make sure you have ready – Past 2 years tax returns and most recent current year profit and loss statement and balance sheet.
TimeFrame: Within 24 Hours
The Valuation
Once we have received your tax returns and interim financials we will request a second call with you to do the final valuation. There are 13 factors we consider when valuing a company, the most important being the net profit of the company. Our experienced broker will give you a range as to what your business is worth if sold today.
TimeFrame: Within 48 Hours
The Agency Agreement
Part of the valuation call we will discuss the services we offer. We get paid a % commission of the total sales price of the business (no upfront fees) upon closing. After the valuation call our broker will send you our agency agreement for review which outlines our role and responsibilities in acting on your behalf to sell your company including how much, how and when payment is made and what determines if we get paid. You are welcome to send this to your attorney for review before signing.
TimeFrame: Within 1 – 5 Days
Information Gathering
Once the agreement is signed we will request documents and information about your business so we can build the prospectus about your company. This includes but not limited to: up to last 5 years tax returns, current profit and loss statement and balance sheet, payroll reports, licenses/trademark information, Frequently asked questions about the business, history of the company and the owners.
TimeFrame: Within 2 – 10 Days
Copywriter Interview
With all the information we have now gathered we set you up with an interview with our in-house copywriter. They take the information gathered, complete a 1 hour interview with you and then take your information and craft a very compelling story, executive summary and edit the prospectus to tell a story to make your company looks extremely attractive to buyers.
TimeFrame: Within 1 – 4 Days
Bank Financing
Also part of our process setting your business up for sale is we organize financing for the buyer before we put your business on the market. What this means is the buyer will take out a loan to buy your business, this gets you a full cash at close and also allows us to market your business to a wider selection of buyers. For example lets say your business is worth $3million dollars. Only buyers with millions in cash can buy your business. However if we get financing approved. Buyers with as little as $300,000 in cash can buyer your business as the bank loans the rest. There are many more people with $300,000 than $3million cash in the bank.
TimeFrame: Within 7 Days
Prospectus
This is the document we use to market your business to buyers that explains your business, what it is, how it makes money, recast financials to reflect the true profit. All the information gathered goes into this 15-30 page document.
TimeFrame: Within 7 Days
Deal To Market
We then take the deal to market. We use three different marketing approaches to find a buyer for your business.
- We send it to our buyer database. Generally, 70% of our deals get sold to our existing database.
- We send it out to our marketing channels we have 13 different marketing channels we use to find people looking for companies to acquire just like your
- We look for synergistic buyers and create a target list largest competitors/suppliers/distributors and contact them directly.
Buyers Inquiries- from our marketing all interested buyers have a range of questions about the business – we answer all the questions we can ourselves, if we can’t answer we get the answers from you and get back to buyers. Buyers will also request a management call with you to talk in more detail about the business, financials and operations.
TimeFrame: Within 1 – 4 Months
Accept An Offer
All interested parties put in an initial offer and you decide on the best buyer depending on price, terms and who buyer is. We negotiate with all the buyers until we get to final agreed amount. The winning buyer then gets an exclusive diligence period to verify what we have claimed about the business.
TimeFrame: Within 7 – 14 Days
Due Dilligence
The buyer will be given an exclusive period to interested buyer to verify financials and go through tax returns, bank statements etc. to verify the business is a claimed. Generally, a 2-6-week process.
TimeFrame: Within 2 Weeks – 2 Months
Contract Development
The buyer is responsible for developing the contract for sale. They send through the version and then we advise you get an attorney to review until everything is agreed upon. Roughly costs a couple of thousand dollars to review. Generally, the purchase is an asset purchase agreement that means you are selling the assets of the company not the company itself.
TimeFrame: Within 2 Weeks – 4 Weeks
Escrow
We use a 3rd party escrow service (either lawyer or escrow company) to hold the money while the buyer transfers money. You then transfer assets. Once buyer receives the assets and confirms the money gets released to you as the seller. We are paid at that time.
TimeFrame: Within 2 – 7 Days
Post Sales Training
After the deal closes there is a transition period where you help the new buyer learn about the business, be introduced to employees/suppliers etc. This is normally negotiated and agreed upon before the deal closes as to how hands on and how much time this will be.
TimeFrame: Within 1 – 6 Months