storytelling

The most interest over the last weeks has been “When Is the Right Time to Sell?
The answer to that question moves amongst how-long-is-a-piece-of-string and who really knows. Nonetheless, there are a few prime clues that I will explore with you over the next number of posts…

Just suppose we have a Buyer who is expressing interest in the Business you’re offering for sale.
Depending what process they’ve gone through to find the business, lets assume to they know the name already.
Apart from what can be found by googling the business, what else do they want to know?

First up, it’s about the business itself. It’s about the story of today and as well as its history and its future.

Information to include is:

  • Date the business commenced
  • Why did the business start?
  • Who started it?
  • What are the key milestones of the business?
  • How was the business set up, compared to today?
  • Where was it started? Has it moved location?
  • What does its future hold?
  • What is possible, that you have not ventured in to?

As Andrew Grant (colleague) mentioned repeatedly recently: “you are not your client”. This too applies to selling a business; you are not the Buyer. Therefore think about the information you’re supplying as a means of having a buyer understand it better and not just a display of your opinions about it.

With most of these, 2-3 sentences are enough.

The buyer is certainly not looking for a thesis on the business. Just enough to satisfy initial questions and should further information be required, it can be addressed at a later date.

Why is this a clue?
Once you have thought through and formulated your responses to the above, document them, as the first of the “start with the end in mind” exercises…

 

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