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Established Canadian businesses - For Sale by Owner - in Canada

 

 
T i p s   &   A r t i c l e s
on Selling Your Business

"We Help You Sell Your Business"

 

- CHOOSE -

• 0. Selling your Business during the COVID-19 Crisis.  
 
• 1. Should I sell my business ?   Take this Quiz ....
 
• 2. Get Ready to Sell Your Business.  
 
• 3. 3 Key Considerations to Create an Effective Business-for-Sale Ad.  
 
• 4. The importance of photos in effective advertising.  
 
• 5. The Ad Title that Sells the Business.  
 
• 6. How to Choose Effective Categories for your Listing.  
 
• 7. Selling your business: ASSET sale or SHARE sale ?  
 
• 8. Some Hints for you When Selling your Business.  
 
• 9. How to Respond to Buyer Inquiries .  
 
• 10. Qualifying Buyers: Separating the sharks from the keepers.  
 
• 11. Ten things I should know when negotiating !  
 
• 12. Will I Get Top Dollar When I Sell My Business ?  
 
• 13. Prepare your Business for your Ultimate Customer.  
 
• 14. Is Your Business a Pain, or a Pleasure ?  
 
• 15. What Drives Owners to Sell & Buyers to Buy ?  
 
• 16. Frequently Asked Questions - by Jim Clark  
 
• 17. An Overview of the Business Selling Process.  
 
• 18. Recasting - a key to building value to the seller.  
 
• 19. What the Profit & Loss Statement Doesn't Tell You.  
 
• 20. How Do Buyers Determine Value when Considering a Business Purchase ?  
 
• 21. Why does Confidentiality Matter when Buying or Selling a Business ?  
 
• 22. Should You Buy an Existing Franchise?  5 Questions to Ask  
 
• 23. Succession Planning is central to selling success  
 

 
 DISCLAIMER 
 
These articles are for general information purposes only and do not constitute legal, accounting or other professional advice.  Important financial and legal decisions should be made only after seeking appropriate professional advice based on your specific situation.
 Should I sell my business ?   Take this quiz ....
  • Answer each question with a 0 to 5 .....
      0 = strongly Disagree with the statement !
      5 = strongly Agree with the statement !
< Write down the Question no. and your vote for each question >
  1. I have a clear idea of what I want to do with my life after I sell my business.

  2.  
  3. If the sale price is acceptable, I am willing to take half of the sale price in cash and loan the buyer the other half for up to five years.

  4.  
  5. Overall, I would say that myself and my business are both in pretty good shape.

  6.  
  7. I have 10-20 hours per week that I can dedicate to working on selling the business.

  8.  
  9. There are no big impending tax or legal problems that I'm worried about in my business.

  10.  
  11. Without me around, my business isn't worth nearly as much.

  12.  
  13. Sales and/or profits have been stagnant or declining recently.

  14.  
  15. I have a specific minimum price that I will sell for, and not a single penny less.

  16.  
  17. I feel very uncomfortable giving out a lot of financial details about my business.

  18.  
  19. I'm worried about new competition and/or changes in laws pertaining to my business.

 
How to score:
Questions 1 through 5:  - Add the points for these questions.
Questions 6 through 10: - Subtract the points for your answers here.
  (The Highest possible score is 25 points.)
 
 
What your score means:
15 or higher - You and your business are on the road to being ready to sell.
12 to 14 points - Probably ready to sell, with some fine-tuning required.
11 or lower - Some overhauling is needed to get ready for sale.
 
 
Your answers may shed light on your attitudes and the business sale readiness:   ( Compare Answer numbers with Questions above. )
  1. Are you sure you want to sell?   What's next in your career?   Some business owners realize that they don't have an exit plan late in the selling process and back out after wasting a lot of time and money.

  2.  
  3. Most business sales (there are a few exceptions but not many) require the seller to "carry paper" for some percentage of the sale price.   If you're not ready to consider this likelihood, you may not have realistic expectations.   And if someone tells you they can sell your business for 100% cash, that's an indication you should not trust them.

  4.  
  5. Are you in a position where you must sell due to illness or poor business performance?   Or do you want to sell?   If you are in a "must sell" situation, you may have to accept a lower price in order to sell the business quickly.

  6.  
  7. Selling a business takes a great deal of time and effort.   Just keeping the place clean for the parade of potential buyers and meetings with buyers eats up a lot of time.

  8.  
  9. If your business has significant legal or tax problems a potential buyer will find out about them, and you're opening yourself up to even bigger problems if you manage to hide them until after the sale.   These problems probably won't scare the right kind of buyers away but they may lower the selling price.

  10.  
  11. If the business is heavily dependent upon you and special abilities or relationships you have with customers, the business will be more difficult to sell.   And don't kid yourself that Uncle Harry will still be the company's biggest customer after his favorite nephew has cashed in.

  12.  
  13. Declining sales or profits are an indication of trouble, no matter how you answered the other questions.   Again, these problems probably won't scare the right kind of buyers away but they may lower the selling price.

  14.  
  15. It's OK to have a price in mind as long as it is realistic.   Perform a valuation (or have one performed) on your business as a reality check on the selling price.

  16.  
  17. If you decide to put your business on the market, every aspect of your financial statements and business operations will be examined in microscopic detail.   It's important that you feel OK about giving out this information to qualified buyers.   Hesitancy to release information is often interpreted by buyers as trying to hide something.

  18.  
  19. If you're a storekeeper losing sleep worrying about the new Wal-Mart going up across the street, selling may or may not be the answer to your problem.

 
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BusinessSellCanada is not responsible for the accuracy
of the information shown in any of the:  "Business
For Sale" listings.  The Buyer should contact the
Seller/Agent directly and verify the accuracy of
all information to his/her own satisfaction.


Ichthus - Christ