Advice on Selling a Business - Deciding when to Sell

If the owner wishes to sell a business 'immediately' (or ‘yesterday’ as clients sometimes put it!), he should allow a minimum of 9 months from engaging his business brokers to achieving a completed business sale.

If the owner is able to plan ahead, we welcome approaches anything up to 5 years ahead of the chosen sale date as we can help enhance the value of businesses through an Exit Strategy.  There are 2 main objectives: to enable the business owner to ‘groom’ the business ahead of the sale making it more attractive to buyers and to enable the owner to plan their personal finances, tax position etc. Known Buyer ‘hot buttons’, which are typically components of the Exit Strategy include:

• Building a management structure capable of taking over from the owner.
• Developing a business planning process setting out a clear business strategy, a sustainable market position and credible forecasts.
• Ensuring that statutory information and marketing collateral is up to date, processes documented, accreditations in place etc

Quote from History: ‘I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.’ Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

In summary, Anderson Shaw will advise owners selling a business that the process takes a minimum of 9 months from engaging business brokers. Whether owners wish to sell ‘yesterday’ or in 5 years time or are not sure which, we are always ready to advise, on a no-commitment basis, about how we can help.