Higher Value and a Smoother Sales

Steps to Preparing Your Business for Sale

Higher Value and a Smoother Sales

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, 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.

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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.

Request A Valuation

How to Buy a Business for Sale

The Steps to Buying a Business with First Choice Business Brokers (FCBB)

  1. Once you have determined you want to buy your own business schedule an appointment to meet with a First Choice Business Sales Professional.
  2. During your appointment with your First Choice Business Sales Professional you will be asked a series of questions to help your Business Broker understand better what type of existing businesses for sale they should show you.
  3. Know how much money you are working with. Some business owners will offer terms which means you can leverage the money you have to buy a larger business which will likely bring in a greater income. Be honest with your Business Broker so they know what businesses for sale they should show you. It is OK to receive money from a relative to help buy a business. Be prepared to provide proof of funds. Many Sellers won't disclose confidential details without knowing you are able to complete a transaction by seeing your proof of funds.
  4. Have an open mind when looking at businesses to buy. There are so many different types of businesses for sale that you may not even be aware of. Your FCBB Business Broker will likely introduce you to businesses for sale in industries you have not previously considered. 
  5. Be prepared to sign a confidentiality agreement commonly referred to as a a Non-Disclosure Agreement, or NDA. The NDA protects the Seller against Buyers who take their confidential information and start a competing business using that same confidential information. Business Brokers are required by Sellers to have this agreement signed before providing intimate details about the business for sale.
  6. Once you determine you have an interest in a particular business your FCBB Business Broker will arrange a meeting with the Seller for you to view the business (often before or after the business's hours of operation) and discuss the business further directly with the Seller.
  7. After your meeting with the Seller your FCBB Business Broker will likely ask you if you would like to proceed to the next step in purchasing the business. By this time you may have seen the financials and are prepared to make an offer. If all the books and records have not been made available, you may still place an offer on the business and request that those items you would like to see be produced through the process known as "due diligence".
  8. Writing an offer to purchase a business is not as difficult as you may think when you are working with a FCBB Business Sales Professional. Our experts utilize the most comprehensive proprietary Purchase Agreement in the industry. FCBB Agreements were designed to protect ALL the parties involved in the transaction covering simple items like the assignment of lease (for you to take over the business location) to more complicated issues such as key employee negotiations. You will be asked to give an Earnest Money Deposit (a.k.a. EMD) check typically in the amount of 10% or $10,000, whichever is greater. This check is not deposited with the third party closing entity until the offer is accepted by the Seller.
  9. Your FCBB Business Broker will then present your offer to the Seller. If the Seller accepts your offer then you will move into the due diligence phase where you will have a chance to thoroughly review the items you requested to meet with your approval. If you do not approve of the information provided during the due diligence period, you have the right to withdraw from the transaction and receive your EMD money back.
  10. Once your contingencies have been met and you have approved the due diligence items provided to you by the Seller, you will be asked to sign a release which will take you to the final step of the process which is closing/business transfer. 
  11. A third party entity (escrow/title company or transactional attorney) will prepare the final transfer documents and obtain clearances for taxes etc. so you are receiving the business free and clear of all encumbrances (except those that you may be taking over through your agreement such as a copier, leased phones etc.) . 

Congratulations, you just bought a business!