Six Benefits of Working With a Broker to Sell Your Business

So, it’s time to sell your business.

For years, you’ve worked tirelessly to build something you’re proud of. But now, whether you’re ready for the next step in your career or you’re looking forward to retirement, you’re considering selling the company you’ve invested so much in.

What comes next? Is this a process you can venture through on your own?

At Sunbelt, we might be a little bit biased because we know how qualified and accomplished our team of experts is. But in our experience, it’s always better to work with a broker when you’re selling a business, especially if it’s your first time making a sale. So how can a broker help you?

Here are just a few of the most impactful and noticeable benefits of working with a business broker to sell your business:

An Objective, Expert View

In most cases, a seller has never done this before, and selling their current company will be the only time they go through this process in their lives.

But for our advisors, this transaction will be one of many experiences.

Because of those experiences, we can look beyond the basic baseline financials, digging into your management team, sales, customers, vendors, assets, projections and so much more to use the full picture of your company to demonstrate its value.

It’s inevitable that you’ll have a connection to the company that you’re selling — so leave it to us to be an impartial and objective partner, helping you see things you may have missed and address areas that need improvement.

A Broader Network and Exposure

You’re ready to sell your company. Great! But who’s going to buy it?

Except in the rarest of cases, the person selling a company is unlikely to have a gigantic network of potential buyers on hand. That means you’ll need to work hard to find those leads and build a list of prospective buyers.

But working with a broker means you’ll already have that kind of resource available. We can access a database of pre-qualified buyers we know are actively seeking opportunities, which means we don’t have to start from square one.

And on the other hand, if you’d prefer to undertake the process flying a bit under the radar, a broker can help you maintain anonymity and ensure that they protect your brand while we work on the sale.

Effective Time Management

Selling a business can be a time-intensive process, and the checklist of things that need to be done can be a daunting one.

In addition to preparing existing documents, statements and more, you’ll need to find potential buyers, screen those buyers, pre-qualify buyers and much more. And, critically, you’ll need to do all of this while maintaining the current operations of your business so that your numbers don’t show a downturn.

All of that is time-consuming, and if you’re not a veteran of the process, it can be easy to get bogged down in how long it takes. A broker, however, can help you navigate through those processes, identifying where to spend your time and helping as another set of hands.

A Better Understanding of Value

You know how much your business is worth to you — but how much is it worth to someone else?

Working with a professional on a valuation of your business is one of the most important things you can do. It’s something you should already be doing before a sale, but is even more critical when you know a sale is coming.

Without that objective perspective, you’ll be going into the sales process blind, and the profits you’ve worked so hard to reach can be lost if you’re not fully aware of what you have.

Sunbelt advisors can help you get a better feel for the value of what you’ve built, which can open your eyes and inform your thoughts.

A Helping Organizational Hand

When you’re running a business, there’s plenty to keep organized.

But when you’re preparing to sell a business, there’s even more to keep organized.

From tax documents and projections to staff information and profits and losses, you will have plenty to gather, organize and share with prospective buyers. And all that paperwork and organization can be daunting without the proper help.

Our team can help you create an itemized list of expenses, assets, employees and more, capturing historical revenue and projections and painting a picture of what a new owner will be purchasing. Often, that kind of organization can make all the difference in the buying process.

Guidance Through Negotiations

When you’ve navigated through the process, met with a buyer and are ready to talk details, the negotiation can be key.

You want to get the full value for the company that you’ve worked so hard to build. Your buyer wants to get good value for their well-earned money. How can you reach a point that makes sense for both of you?

That’s where Sunbelt advisors come in. We’re experienced in negotiation, and understand how to find a win-win outcome that leaves both parties feeling validated, happy and excited for the future, smoothing out details and paving the way for a final purchase.

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