We Need to Sell Our Company

Selling a Youth Organization, Center, or Club

A lot can go wrong during the sale of a youth organization, center, or club in today's economy. We'll tell you how to keep your sale and your future plans on track.

You won't find any magic formulas for selling a youth organization, center, or club, especially while the market is struggling to overcome the perceptions created by a down economy.

There are still plenty of youth organization, center, or club buyers looking for opportunities that present well in the marketplace.

Working with Appraisers

Next to your broker, a skilled appraiser is the person most capable of adding value to the price of your youth organization, center, or club. By hiring an appraiser to conduct a thorough appraisal of tangible and non-tangible assets prior to listing, you get a measure of the true worth of your business. Although the appraised value of your business may not be the same as the sales price, you gain valuable insight that can be used to your advantage during negotiations. Even though you may disagree with the appraiser's value estimates, it's important to give your appraiser the information and independence he needs to present an objective opinion. To ensure accuracy, ask your broker to provide references for appraisers with industry experience.

Advertising Your Sale

Successful youth organization, center, or club sales begin with a carefully planned advertising and promotional strategies. But if you think advertising your youth organization, center, or club will be the same as running a product promotion, think again. Multiple factors complicate business-for-sale advertising, not the least of which is the fact that you don't want your competition to know that your company is on the market. A highly publicized sale creates vulnerabilities that can be exploited by your competitors. Business brokers are skilled at publicizing youth organization, center, or club sales while maintaining the confidentiality that is critical to your business.

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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