You’ve worked hard to grow your firm into a profitable endeavor. Now you want to sell it all right and reap the benefits of all those years of hard work.
According to some per say, the most crucial factor is the number of potential customers that are really interested in purchasing your company. Others assert that regardless of amount, the most crucial factor is the caliber of purchasers. However, the right response is that both are crucial. This is the reason:
You have plenty of quantity if 50 people are interested in your business. However, this “quantity” of customers is a waste of time if you are selling a manufacturing firm for $1,000,000 and they can only afford a business that costs less than $300,000, or if they all want a service-based business. Hours will be spent discussing your firm with unqualified purchasers who are not interested in purchasing it.
On the other hand, suppose that only two buyers are interested in your company and that they want to invest at least $1,000,000 in a manufacturing company. Although your buyer “quality” is outstanding, the quantity is insufficient. Generally speaking, you may not expect to sell your firm until at least ten or more qualified buyers have viewed it. Additionally, the sales price is usually higher the more buyers are interested in your company.
To put it briefly, you will sell your firm more quickly and earn more money if you have more qualified buyers investigating it. However, how do you attract customers who are interested in your business in both quantity and quality? The secret is to use a variety of low-cost, efficient advertising strategies.
Word-of-Mouth Advertising
This method of advertising is very spotty and should not be considered a core form of advertising. Due to its nature, your business is exposed to a very limited number of buyers that probably aren’t qualified. As a result, this method of advertising provides neither quantity nor quality, making it very ineffective at helping you sell your business.
Classified Ads in the Local Newspaper
The old-fashioned method of advertising a business for sale was to place a classified ad in one or more newspapers and hope enough qualified buyers would stumble upon it. This method is not very effective because you only have a few short lines of text to tell your entire story and attract interest in your business. This not only reduces the overall quantity of buyers, but you also end up wasting time on a lot of unqualified buyers. As a result, classifieds are not very effective at generating a high quality or quantity of buyers.
Business Brokers
Generally speaking, business brokers are highly skilled and competent in the art of purchasing and disposing of businesses. They are also adept at assisting sellers in selling their company. They will take care of all negotiations with potential purchasers and get your company ready for sale.
By placing your company for sale on their website and using their connections with other brokers, brokers will also help attract buyers’ attention to your enterprise.
However, to get the maximum quality and quantity of buyers interested in your business, it is best to complement a broker’s services with additional advertising efforts. You can do this either in conjunction with the broker’s efforts or on your own.
Online Marketplaces
Advertising on an online business-for-sale marketplace is currently the most efficient way to attract the greatest number and caliber of potential customers. Each month, hundreds of thousands of consumers browse these marketplaces, which can generate an incredible level of interest in your company. Although there are a lot of online marketplaces to pick from, they are not all created equal.
Some offer poor search capabilities, which will result in lower-quality purchasers. Customers can look for what they want more accurately if the website has superior search features. Additionally, you can tell a buyer is highly qualified when they find your company.
Whether or if they assist you in finding a buyer, other business-for-sale marketplaces are only interested in taking your listing fees. These websites impose a monthly listing cost that has no bearing whatsoever on performance. They therefore have no actual motive to send you any qualified purchasers, and they may or may not do so.
The best business-for-sale platforms exclusively charge sellers on a pay-for-performance basis, putting their money where their mouth is. When you offer your company for sale on these websites, it shows up in the search results for buyers looking for a company that fits your requirements. However, you only pay a little fee if the customer clicks on your advertisement and reads the information. Additionally, you can decide how many buyers you want by creating your own budget.
Because they expose you to the greatest number of top-quality customers, performance-based marketplaces are incredibly effective and efficient. However, you do not have to pay if no qualified buyers examine your listing.
Resources
- Find the perfect business to buy or franchise to buy.
- To find a broker to help you buy or sell a business, visit BrokerSource.
- Sell a business or franchise quickly and easily with risk-free performance-based pricing.
