Selling Your Business?

Selling your business can be a daunting task. Don't fret. Here are some steps you can take to make selling your business a smoother and easier process.

Step1
Have an exit plan in place that prepares you for the sale of your company long before you need to. Early planning is important, expect the sale to take an average of 6 to 9 months to complete.

Step2
Work with experts to determine an optimal value for your business and ways to enhance its value over time. Choose a professional with sales and negotiation experience as your liaison. This person can then manage the advertising, bidding process and negotiations involved in a sale. Consider hiring a broker to sell your small business, which can save you time and give you anonymity while the sale is pending. The broker may also have better negotiating skills.

Step3
Develop a sales strategy and decide which options works best for you. For example, you could sell everything for one price; offer to work through several months of transition; or sell part of your business now and keep the remaining part for a future sale in order to defer taxes.

Step4
Know the tax implications! Refer to the Internal Revenue Service for more information or contact your personal CPA.