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Selling a Child Care Information and Referral Services Business

The sale of your child care information and referral services business is the culmination of this stage of your entrepreneurial journey. Although most business owners expect a storybook ending, it will take the careful application of sound selling principles to bring your sale to a successful conclusion.

Today's child care information and referral services business buyers tend to be more skeptical than most about the nation's economic outlook.

Growth-minded entrepreneurs also find an appealing child care information and referral services business hard to pass up. So for child care information and referral services business sellers, today's market is all about convincing buyers that the numbers make their companies worth the asking price.

Selling Time

It's rarely possible to sell a child care information and referral services business in a month or two. Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules about the length of time your business will be on the market. Pricing plays a role in sale length, but there are no guarantees that a fairly priced business will sell quickly. To adequately prepare your business listing, plan on spending six months to a year prior to listing. Even though it's conceivable that an attractive opportunity could sell in weeks, an immediate flood of offers could indicate that the business is underpriced.

Leveraging External Resources

Rarely, if ever, do owners sell a child care information and referral services business without outside assistance. Brokers can be an important resource for your sale, especially if you are unfamiliar with the business-for-sale marketplace. We also suggest hiring an attorney, an appraiser, and an accountant early in the process. The early recruitment of external resources reduces your risk and results in a more predictable final outcome.

Negotiation Teams

It's not unusual for child care information and referral services business sellers to feel overwhelmed when they negotiate the sale of their business. But although you will responsible for negotiating terms with buyers, you should never approach negotiations without support. A negotiation team comprised of trusted advisors and senior business leaders is essential in helping you devise a winning negotiation strategy. More importantly, a negotiation team can serve as a sounding board -- an objective presence that prohibits your personal emotions from clouding your judgment or sabotaging your efforts to negotiate a successful deal.

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