Friday, January 06, 2006

Preparing To Sell Your Business

In order to successfully sell your business, keep in mind the following tips:
*Business owners should position their business for resale beginning with the day they purchase the business. They should think about building long-term value, in addition to making money in the short term. Maintaining detailed tracking of financial records, permits, licenses, equipment and inventory is important throughout the entire life of the business, but it is especially critical when you are trying to sell your business.
*Business owners will benefit from better offers if they keep up their inventory, maintenance, advertising and customer-service levels.*Refocus your perspective from saving taxes to building profits. While it's generally accepted practice to allocate revenues to a wide range of fringe benefits to lower taxes, the aim of reduced profitability doesn't help when a sales is contemplated.
*Rethink the way assets on the balance sheet look. Sell off unproductive real estate. That way you'll realize additional cash even before the sale of the business.
For more information and tips on selling your business, check out the Business Owners' Toolkit.