Why you need Washington Business Brokers

What can a Washington Business Broker do for you? Why hire a Business Broker? Aren’t we just going to list your business on BizBuySell? We are going to get into all of these questions and more today.

Want the Exec Summary?

We value your business and set the price correctly to sell.

We maintain confidentiality.

We generate multiple buyer prospects and competition.

We know how to negotiate.

We facilitate the transaction with the appropriate, legal documents, ensuring both parties are protected.

We have a track record, expertise, and systems in place to maximize results.

We work on a success fee – your interests become ours. We go to bat for you.

One last thing – you have a business to run!

Said differently:

You want an independent, objective assessment of the value of your business based on comparable transactions and market activity.

You want your business marketed confidentially and professionally.

You want to generate buyer activity and competition amongst buyers.

You want an expert to vet buyer fit and financial capacity for a deal.

You want transaction expertise to avoid deal pitfalls, maximize net at closing, and ensure a deal happens.

Here’s an excerpt from a well-known business listing platform, BizBuySell:

Using a Business Broker

This is a decision you will need to make as a seller. Will you use a broker to sell or sell the business privately. A broker will likely charge somewhere in the vicinity of a 11% broker fee to sell your business. That can be a large number.

That being said, the decision can weigh heavily on your ability to sell at all, how many buyers you can get in front of, and how much time you need to spend in the process.

Great brokers can be the best investment you ever make in selling your business. Mediocre brokers or worse will likely cost you money. Do your research in choosing the right broker.

Keep in mind they can offer you some privacy in your deal, protect you with NDAs, weed out looky-loos who are never going to buy. They will likely know how to get your deal in front of qualified buyers as they likely have a rolodex (haha, ok smart phone) full of them. They have been through selling a business before and know the pitfalls. A great broker will be able to negotiate well on your behalf. We don’t really have a horse in the race as we are not business brokers, but if we were exiting a business, we would personally choose to list with a broker. We would just make sure to choose the right broker for the job.

The last year you own your business is the most important year in the life of your business.

As you explore the sale process it is critical to keep your revenue, margins, and profitability on track – any indication otherwise provides leverage to prospective buyers. This is where partnering with a Business Broker helps you. You are an expert at your business. We are experts at the process of selling a business.

With a sale of your business it is time to capture the value of all the work, energy, nights and weekends, and resources you poured into it. At Washington Business Brokers we do not “list” businesses. We actually do not sell anyone on selling or buying a business – it is too important of a life decision to be “sold”. Instead we listen, provide options and expertise, and ultimately partner with you to accomplish your goals. 

Are you ready to explore the process of selling your business? In previous posts we have described early considerations when thinking about selling your business, 9 steps to take when you are ready to sell, and what to expect when selling your business.

Want to connect and get your questions answered? Conversations are always confidential and there is no commitment.

Now, let’s go into more detail on what Washington Business Brokers can do for you.

Perform Financial Analysis

We will produce an effective, professional financial analysis of your business that shows an attractive and accurate picture of your earnings. We work with you, and sometimes your accountant, to produce a cash flow analysis (we refer to it as Discretionary Earnings) that will clearly demonstrate the TRUE profitability of your business. The net income line on your tax return is for tax purposes only and does not reflect how much money your business actually makes. We will produce materials that PROVE to the buyer the real cash flow of your business.

Provide a Valuation Range

At Washington Business Brokers we use the financial analysis that we prepare to arrive at an appropriate, market-supported selling price for your business. One that is not too high that it scares the good buyers away and one that gets you fair value for the business that you have invested so much in. Check out Business Valuation 101 and Business Valuation 401 for more on the expertise we bring to this process.

Locate Qualified Buyers that will Compete for the Purchase of Your Business

We’ll help you locate the best buyers for your business – those with the money, experience and desire, that will get a deal done! We continuously promote your business through various means such as internet platforms, email campaigns and more – all at no cost to you. Our goal is to interest as many good buyers simultaneously to the deal, which creates competition for your business and gets you the best possible price for your company. Our database contains the contact information of thousands of buyers from the local area, all of whom directly contacted us in the past regarding a business for sale opportunity. These are real buyers, not just purchased email addresses. We’ll advertise your business (anonymously, such that no one would ever know which business was for sale) on the most popular platforms at our expense and we don’t charge you anything for this service.

Produce Polished and Effective Marketing Materials

An experienced Washington Business Brokers knows how to produce a professional presentation package of your business that gets results! First impressions matter a great deal. Expert care should be put into creating a nice marketing piece in order to gain interest from buyer prospects. We want to INSPIRE buyers to take an interest in your business so they become motivated to look further into the opportunity and eventually make an offer. The marketing materials will show your business in a positive light and justify the asking price. 

Maintain Confidentiality

Rest assured we will handle your business sale confidentially. This is at the core of what we do and how our systems and communications are structured. We help you maintain your ‘secret’ by asking the buyers the right questions and setting up appropriate steps of delivering information. We require ALL buyers sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and Buyer Registration Form before we proceed with providing information because we don’t want to reveal who is for sale until we are sure that the buyer is financially qualified and will keep your sale plans confidential. By this time, we have not only spoken with the buyer, but we have also received the buyer’s registration information, where the buyer has provided personal financial data. We want to know about the buyer’s financial ability to make a deal happen before they learn who you are! We also want to confirm that the buyer is a serious and genuine candidate to acquire your company. We CARE about your confidentiality.

Effective and discreet management of your buyers will always be our first priority. We arrange meetings only when it can be done in such a manner that it will prevent your employees from finding out that your business is for sale. The last thing you want is for an uncontrolled buyer to bother you at your business and potentially let your employees and customers know you are for sale. By controlling the actions of your buyer, we prevent them from becoming an annoyance to you and potentially causing a breach of confidentiality. 

Of course, the public-facing marketing for your business will never reveal to the buyer which company is for sale. We are careful not to reveal anything that would let a buyer find out who is for sale. As the business owner, you will be asked to approve all marketing materials before they are used.

Act as Buffer Between You and the Buyer

A very important function of a Washington Business Broker is to act as a buffer between you and the buyer(s). We’ll assist in communicating the things that are said so that the needs of the parties are more effectively relayed to one another. A broker is able to have frank discussions with the seller acting as a voice of reason in the very emotional process of selling a business. We help you to strategize the best way to handle the buyer negotiations over price and terms of a deal and we communicate your requirements to the buyer in a productive manner that has a better chance of producing a positive result. We also relay requirements and comments from the buyer to you in an honest and candid fashion and we clarify how the differences in viewpoint can be ironed out effectively.

Assist with Negotiation

Washington Business Brokers will be representing YOU during the negotiation of price and terms of a deal. Being represented by an intermediary will give you a tremendous advantage in the necessary negotiating process. We are highly experienced negotiators and can really demonstrate value through this important step in the sales process. We’ll usually have a good idea about what the buyers are thinking, what their negotiating strategy is and can help you get to an acceptable price for your business. We negotiate deals for a living and are familiar with the best strategies to arrive at a successful conclusion.

Let You Focus on Running the Business

We will manage the deal process for you. As the business owner, it is very important for you to continue focusing on the proper management of your business. If an owner doesn’t have a competent broker running their transaction for them, they might get overly distracted by the details of marketing to buyers and pay less attention to running the business once the sale process begins, only to learn that it is taking longer than originally anticipated to sell. If the owner’s lack of attention on running the business profitably causes business performance to suffer, and then a highly motivated buyer is located, negative news about how the business has been doing ‘lately’ can result in a lower valuation or worse, a lost buyer. Starting from our initial meeting with a buyer, to qualification, offer agreement, negotiations, removal of contingencies, purchase and sale agreement and finally the closing, we work the deal every step of the way, and at no additional cost to you. We get paid to succeed in the end so you can be sure that we will run your transaction effectively, leaving the management of your business to you.

Assist Buyers in Obtaining Financing

Often overlooked from a seller’s perspective, an important step in most transactions is helping the buyer obtaining financing to complete the transaction, which helps you get the maximum amount of money at the closing. We work with a number of commercial lenders and other transaction experts to support your buyer and get you your money. We also use other strategies to help the buyer find cash through retirement account savings, another common source of deal funding.

Draft Agreements

We are experienced with the documents needed to make a deal for your business, the purchase and sale agreement and other important details, saving you time and money throughout the sale process. Creating agreements that are well organized that support the transaction adds tangible value to your transaction.

Help Throughout the Deal

It can be a bumpy road to the closing table! Rest assured that Washington Business Brokers is thoroughly familiar with the pitfalls of a business sale and we’ll deal with the lawyers and the accountants and put out all the fires along the way. We know how to solve the problems that will prevent a deal from moving forward. We are accustomed to the needs of the buyer, (which are just as important in order to close a deal), and we’ll work to solve problems as they come up. To make a deal happen, both the seller AND the buyer need to feel like they are winners. We work very hard to obtain that result, usually with creative strategies that get the parties what they each need to finish the deal and get to the closing table. 

Manage the Due Diligence Process

Once your business is under agreement the buyer will perform a thorough due diligence of the legal and financial aspects of your business. We will assist throughout this process by scheduling meetings and helping you provide requested documents. We make sure that the needed information gets to the buyer in an effective way, in order to produce a positive outcome.

That is it for today – more to come in a future post. Please forward or share this content if you find it valuable. As always, thank you for reading! 

At Washington Business Brokers we are experts in valuation, optimizing a business for sale, buyer identification and qualification, negotiation, deal structuring, and closing. Our strategic advisor, Glen Cooper, has sold 500+ businesses in his career and is a nationally recognized author and trainer in selling private businesses.

We do not sell you on selling your business or buying one. Instead, we listen, provide options and expertise, and ultimately partner with you to accomplish your goals.

If you would like to better understand the value of your business or learn more about the process of confidentially selling:

call or text 937.344.8750
email [email protected]
or schedule time for an exploratory, free chat here

Conversations are always confidential and there is no commitment.