The Selling Process

The approach to the selling process with a business can be as unique and varied as the number of Business Advisory Firms and Brokerages across the spectrum.  When selecting a Business Advisory Firm to sell your business it is important to select one with a team of highly trained and experienced professionals that will manage your business transaction as a Trusted Advisor with ethics and integrity above all else.  Following are some of the key factors in the process that you can expect to be carried out in a highly professional manner when working with the team at Intemedior Business Advisors, LLC:

Comprehensive Business Analysis

The first step in the process is to perform a comprehensive analysis and assessment of your business including readiness to sell. Based on the results of this step, together, we determine how and when your business should enter the marketplace.  Our comprehensive analysis will take a detailed look at operations, finance, market potential and trends to ensure there is a strong collective with understanding about your business and how it can best be positioned.

Preliminary Business Valuation

Business Valuation in the marketing process of a business can be best summed up as “Most Probably Selling Price”. We work closely with our clients to look at predicting how the market may respond to a business offering in terms of possible deal structure, terms and price. What’s important at this stage in the process is to have an open/honest assessment about value based on the results of your Comprehensive Business Analysis in order to determine if market response will be consistent with your expectations as a Business Owner.  If the two don’t match up – then it is important to work together to determine the steps necessary to get market response more closely aligned with the expectations you have with an acceptable deal.

Professional Marketing Approach

As a Business Owner, you have invested a tremendous of time and effort to create a successful business. We recognize this fact and the importance of producing a top-quality approach and set of deliverables to marketing your life’s work.  Through a team based approach with our Business Owners, we gather all the necessary information and details about your business. Then, our team of professionals use a comprehensive process creating a variety of deliverables to market your business to interested and qualified Buyers.  In addition, we make sure that your business is provided the correct level of exposure in the open market on a confidential basis to attract the best suitors.

Maintaining Confidentiality

Business Owners are rightfully concerned about the issue of confidentiality when putting their company up for sale. While they don’t want anyone to know the company is for sale, they want the highest value in the shortest amount of time – which becomes the paradox. Every inquiry made on a business for sale is protected by the execution of a confidentiality agreement. And, while this agreement does not mean a violation of confidently won’t occur, it does put all parties on notice with the importance of confidentiality and the severity and potential ramification of a breach.

Lead/Workflow Management

As mentioned elsewhere on this site, the number of inquiries that must be fielded on a business actively on the market can be staggering. It’s important to have an Advisory Firm that utilizes state of the art systems and workflows to efficiently manage inquiries while accurately tracking the deployment of deliverables for the purpose of confidentiality and timely disclosure to potential Buyers. It is critical to have systems and processes in place that reduce or eliminate lost leads which can be costly to both a Business Owner and the Advisory Firm.  Intemedior Business Advisors utilizes a state of the art system with judicious use of workflow automation workflow where possible to assure fast and efficient response to interested parties to strike while the iron is hot on behalf of our clientele.

Market Competition

We’ve worked hard together getting this far in the process and at this stage of the selling process, while there are no guarantees with how the market will respond to a business offering, it is our goal to stimulate a situation where Buyers are competing to acquire your business.  We achieve this with use of a variety of marketing techniques that reach out across the marketplace to general Buyers, strategic industry players and private equity sectors in parallel so that the best of the best candidates in each sector rise to the surface. Creating market competition is a careful dance with potential candidates as without proper and careful positioning, interested Buyers could just as easily be lost.  You can count on our Advisors to create the right level of interest in the marketplace to stimulate offers, while not scaring off what could be the best Buyer for your business.

Negotiating Offers

At this point in the process, it is extremely important to take a value based approach in negotiating the best overall offer on your business when the best candidates rise to the top.  Sometimes, the best price does not necessarily equate to the best overall offer on your business.  Our highly trained and experienced Advisors will guide you through the process of negotiating the best combination of price, terms and structure that creates the best deal for you.  In the case of multiple offers, we work closely with you to analyze sometimes disparate offers in order to align all interested parties so an apples-to-apples decision can be made with whom to move forward with negotiations.

Due Diligence

As a Business Owner, you have now entered the most intense part of the process in selling your business.  Due diligence on the part of a Buyer that has made an acceptable offer, is their time to ensure that all disclosure regarding your business to date, is credible and defensible.  It is important to have a Business Advisor leading your team to help keep things on track as delays in the process can be a deal killer.  Intemedior Business Advisor’s team works closely with to help both parties keep the process on track, identifying gaps in the process and professional team needed to get the deal done – then keeping everyone involved in the process, fully informed with the where things are at and when course correction is necessary.

Closing – Time to Celebrate!

The hard work is done – financing complete, and it’s time to go to the closing table. With proper time and attention paid to the necessary details during the due diligence process, meeting at the closing table should be a time for all concerned to celebrate a job well done.