Jim’s Auto Repair and Tire has been a fixture in a Midwest community for 31 years. Jim is now 64 years old and has agonized about when to retire for the past couple of years. The business has enabled him to live a good life despite the ups and downs of the local economy, put his two children through college and spend more time lately on his hobbies.
There are many factors at play when determining the right time to sell your business. Each business and each owner is unique. The timing of a business sale is critical because putting a business on the block at the wrong time can result in a significantly lower selling price.
“As long as I can remember, ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be my own boss,” was the remark made by new business owner Dallas Griswold when asked what had made him decide to buy his own business. Nothing can better define the entrepreneurial spirit than that simple response, which really tells the whole story.
As an expert in your business, you can play a valuable role in staying engaged and working in partnership with your broker. While some brokers, especially those who sell commercial real estate, go out of their way to keep buyers and sellers from directly interacting, this is rarely the best method to achieve a successful sale of a business in the shortest amount of time.
As a shop owner contemplating the sale of your business, understanding the elements of bank financing is key to ensuring you will maximize the sales price and minimize the process time.
As a tire or automotive service shop owner looking to sell your business, you may be making the process even more challenging by mistakenly disqualifying potential buyers who would actually make great owners.
“Sellability” is a powerful indicator of the value of your business, regardless of whether or not you have any intention or even interest in selling your business today. A high Sellability Score may confirm or surpass the value you have in mind. A lower Sellability Score may point directly to the underlying issues in your business which undermine its value.
