Preparing Your Business To Sell

 Preparing Your Business To Sell

Most businesses that go to market unprepared do not sell. The ones that do often close below what the owner expected.


The difference usually comes down to preparation that started early. When your financials are clean, your operations are documented, and your business runs with less reliance on you, buyers have fewer reasons to discount, and you keep more of the value you built.

Preparing Your Business To Sell

First Choice Business Brokers (FCBB) has guided owner exits since 1994. We look at your business the way a buyer will, before it ever reaches the market. Roughly 87% of the businesses we take to market close, and our sellers receive about 94% of asking on average, compared with an industry average near 85%. Preparation is a large part of why.

Why Preparation Protects Your Price

Buyers price risk. Every unanswered question, missing document, or area that depends entirely on the owner becomes a reason to lower the offer or build in a contingency. Preparation removes those discounts before a buyer ever raises them. Clean financials, documented operations, clarity on working capital and deferred revenue, and reduced owner dependence each move the conversation toward your number rather than away from it.




10 Steps to Prepare Your Business for Sale

These are the steps that most often create higher value and a smoother process. You do not have to complete them alone. We work through them with you.


Step 1:  Decide, and be honest with yourself about why. Your motivation for selling shapes timing, pricing, and the kind of buyer who fits. A clear and honest reason gives the whole process a foundation.


Step 2: Protect confidentiality. It is usually best not to discuss your plans to sell with employees, even those you trust most. Premature word can unsettle staff, customers, and vendors. We market your business confidentially for this reason


10 Simple Steps to create higher value and a smoother sales process of your business.

Steps to Preparing Your Business for Sale


These are the most common steps to prepare your Business for sale:


Step 1:  Your initial decision to sell your business, reflecting your true and honest motivation.


Step 2: Avoid discussing your plan to sell the business with even your most trusted employees.

Step 3: Organize your financial records. Every serious buyer will review your profit and loss statements, so keep them current. Have your lease, inventory records, accounts payable, and accounts receivable ready as well. Clean financials are the single biggest factor in avoiding buyer discounts.


Step 4: De-personalize the business. If your name is woven into the brand, such as menu items like Mary's Meatloaf or Harry's Hot Dogs, consider stepping the brand back from you. When a business depends heavily on the owner, buyers worry the value leaves when you do.


Step 5: Clear the clutter. Remove items and equipment that are no longer used. Organized, clean businesses tend to sell faster and for higher amounts than those that look neglected. First impressions carry into offers.


Step 6: Get a realistic valuation. A professional advisor can give you an Estimate of Value and a Suggested Asking Price grounded in current market data, so you can decide whether this is the right time. FCBB offers a free Market Readiness and Value Assessment, and no listing agreement is required to start.


Step 7: Give your advisor complete information. The more documentation your advisor has, the more accurately and confidently your business can be presented to qualified buyers. Gaps in information often become gaps in price.


Step 8: Plan to be available. Qualified buyers will want to meet, and some of their questions may be pointed. Being prepared and responsive signals a healthy business and keeps momentum.


Step 9: Work as a team with your advisor. Positioning your business to its best advantage is a shared effort. The owners who treat it that way tend to see better outcomes.


Step 10: Be honest about your business. This is the most important step. If a buyer discovers something that does not match how it was described, they begin to doubt everything else and often move on. Honest preparation is what earns full value.



How First Choice Business Brokers Helps You Prepare



We do not list a business and hope. We assess it from the buyer's perspective first, and we only go to market when we believe it can sell and you agree it is the right time. Nobody at FCBB gets paid until your business sells, so our interest is fully aligned with yours.


The first step is the free Market Readiness and Value Assessment. It tells you what your business is likely worth today, where the discounts are hiding, and what to fix before a buyer ever sees it. There is no listing agreement and no obligation. It simply gives you a clear, honest picture so you can plan your exit on your terms.



First Choice Business Brokers serves the Mountain West across Utah, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, with a focus on businesses in the $1 million to $10 million enterprise value range. Your advisors are Mike and Lynn Lee, Team Lee. Mike Lee is Principal Broker and a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA).


Step 3: Organize your financial records, as every buyer will want to review your profit and loss statements. Make certain these records are as up to date as possible. Be prepared with a copy of your property lease and any other financial documents, such as your inventory, your accounts payable, and your accounts receivable.



Step 4: De-personalize your business. This may mean removing your name from menu items such as “Mary’s Meat Loaf” or “Harry’s Hot Dogs”.

When sellers are so involved with the business, a buyer’s concern is that business may go when the seller does. This step may even include removing many personal items from business elements.


Step 5: Remove items (clutter and junk) that are no longer needed or used in the business. (Buyers are impressed with clean and clutter-free businesses). We have seen that organized business tend to sell faster and for higher amounts than businesses that are disorganized and in disarray.


Step 6: Contact a professional Business Broker who can provide a valuation for your business. The Business Broker will offer a Market Price Analysis based upon a realistic price to help you determine if this is the right time to sell your business.


Step 7: Make certain that the Business Broker has sufficient information and documentation when marketing your business to buyers so that he or she may adequately provide details.

Step 8: Plan to be available to meet with buyers brought to you by your Business Broker and be prepared for difficult questions from qualified buyers.


Step 9: Plan to work as a team with your Business Broker to position your business to its best possible advantage.


Step 10: The most important step. Be honest about your business. Once a buyer discovers that something is not as you described, the buyer will worry about the possibility of other statements not being true and will move on to the next business.