Niche Exit Planning Tactics

Selling a Women's Crisis Intervention Services Business

We hear it all the time: 'This economy is a hostile environment for a business sale.' However, women's crisis intervention services businesses haven't heard the news and are reporting steady action on the business-for-sale market.

Economic data is scary stuff for small business owners. But quarterly data dumps don't impact women's crisis intervention services business sales nearly as much as sale strategy.

If you're looking for a reason to wait to put your business on the market, you'll find it. Selling a women's crisis intervention services business isn't easy, but we believe sellers can achieve their goals in any economic environment.

Pros & Cons of a Sale to an Employee

Although it may seem easier to sell your women's crisis intervention services business to an employee, this approach also has some pitfalls. A key employee may seem like a natural sales prospect. Since the worker already knows the ins and outs of the business, due diligence should be a breeze, not to mention the fact that you won't have to wait months or years for the right buyer to emerge on the open marketplace. Yet most employees lack the means to buy their employer's business at or near the asking price. Seller financing is one way to get around the capital deficit of an employee-based women's crisis intervention services business sale, as long as you are willing to vet the employee's credit worthiness the same as any other buyer.

Average Timeframes

Hoping for a quick women's crisis intervention services business sale? You may be disappointed. 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. Before you can list your women's crisis intervention services business, you'll need to invest as much as a year in preparing it for prospective buyers. 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.

Brokerage Benefits

A good broker can offer several benefits to business sellers. First-rate brokers are extremely skilled at communicating your company's strengths to prospective buyers. More importantly, brokers have the ability to identify serious buyers and maintain confidentiality throughout the sale process. Brokerage isn't cheap. But even though you can spend as much as 10% of the sale price on a good broker, you'll likely achieve decent ROI through an improved final sale price.

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