The Benefits of an M&A Adviser
You, the business owner, are a risk taker that is accustomed to getting things done on
Read FurtherA deal is not done until all the t’s are crossed and the i’s dotted. You wouldn’t want to reveal any information that could potentially hurt the business should a deal fall apart at any stage. Even when you’re in the process of vetting buyers and taking offers, you have to ensure continuity for the business.
A potential sale shouldn’t impact the day-to-day operations. Employee morale must remain high, customers must be catered to as they always have been and the business should engage with all of its vendors and suppliers as it always has. Regardless of how close you might be to sealing the deal, on the s
urface it should appear business as usual.
Always ensure that you are in control of the narrative. Even rumors about the potential sale of your business can have devastating consequences, such as:
One of the best and easiest ways to go about this is to work with an intermediary. These service providers help people sell their businesses. An intermediary can handle everything from assessing your business to advertising it for sale, screening buyers, conducting due diligence and more.
Your intermediary will generally list your business for sale with a blind ad. The ad only describes the business opportunity to interested buyers without revealing any information that could expose the identity of your business. It will provide general information about the industry, revenue, cash flow, location, etc.
Good intermediaries should have a wide array of tools to identify and connect with potential buyers, so that their process can be much more comprehensive than you can execute on your own.
All interested buyers will contact the intermediary for more information. It then starts the process of qualifying leads to ensure that only serious buyers are provided more detailed information. That’s usually also done without sharing any information that could break confidentiality.
Before the intermediary shares information that can identify the business, they’ll first have the potential buyer sign an iron clad non-disclosure agreement. This is done to limit the risk of the buyer revealing confidential information to others or even disclosing that the business is being sold. If they do, you’ll have the right to sue them for breaching the non- disclosure agreement.
To many, it might appear tempting to try and sell their business themselves. Those business owners often don’t comprehend what consequences the lack of confidentiality can create.
By working with an intermediary, you can have the peace of mind that the entire process is being handled professionally with the utmost regard for confidentiality. So even if the deal falls through at any point, the risk of it negatively impacting the health of the business is greatly minimized.
Prior to purchasing IBEX, Chuck Harvey spent 35 years as CEO, CFO and consultant to the Fortune 500, Middle Market, Mainstreet and in the Start-up community, including spending time at PepsiCo & Price Waterhouse Coopers. During that time, Chuck oversaw three dozen buy-side / sell-side transactions on three continents, including a $35M sale of a Texas digital photography pioneer to a $1 Billion Japanese conglomerate.
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Photographer: Oregon Department
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“Texas Real Estate Commission Information About Brokerage Service”,
“Texas Real Estate Commission Consumer Protection Notice.”