Niche Market Exit Planning Tips

Selling a Bid Information Services Business

Don't believe anyone who tells you it's easy to sell a bid information services business. A lot of things need to happen before you can successfully exit your business. But with a few tips, you can keep your shirt and your sanity in the sale of your business.

Waiting for better economic times to sell your company? That's a common anthem in the small business community.

Most bid information services businesses are good business opportunities, a fact that is not going unnoticed by today's discerning buyers.

Leveraging Industry Connections

Today's bid information services business buyers can be found in a variety of locations. Online business-for-sale databases like BizBuySell.com offer convenient resources for sellers interested in promoting their business to a broad prospect base. More focused prospects are typically found within industry networks. The downside of industry networks is that it leaves your company vulnerable to exploitation by competitors. Even though you can expand your prospect base by shouting it from the rooftops, it's probably wise to limit the release of information to the people you trust in the industry.

What About Market Conditions?

At first glance, today's market would seem to be a hostile place for bid information services business sellers. So far, government intervention and promises that the economy is slowly recovering haven't been enough to alleviate many entrepreneur's fears. However, many business sellers don't realize that a full economic rebound can have devastating consequences, particularly if sellers who have waited to list their businesses suddenly create a glut in the business-for-sale marketplace. So what's our point? The economy isn't the most important factor in the sale of your business. Instead, you should be focusing on making your bid information services business as attractive as possible so to buyers right now.

Identifying Serious Buyers

Unfortunately, many of the prospects you will encounter aren't serious buyers. As a seller, it's important to separate the tire kickers from the serious buyers as soon as possible. Each tire kicker is an investment of time and energy that could be poured into finding a more qualified prospect. Your business broker can offer insights about how to quickly spot tire kickers. As a rule, they limit the amount of information that is provided in the initial stages of an engagement, waiting to reveal the juiciest details of the business until the prospect has been thoroughly vetted. Smart sellers may require prospects to provide background and financial information fairly early in the process as a way of verifying the financial capacity to close the deal.

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