Exit Planning Advice By Market

Selling an Animal Behavior Service

The sale of an animal behavior service can be a difficult and trying process. But with a few tips, you can keep your shirt and your sanity in the sale of your business.

It's a fact: Successful business sales take time.

Too often animal behavior service owners sell for a price that is well below market value. With the right strategy, your sale doesn't have to end that way.

Valuation Methods

Multiple valuation methods exist for an animal behavior service. While the income method uses anticipated revenues as a value basis, the asset method focuses on the company's capital, real estate and intellectual assets. Using recent animal behavior service sales as its foundation, the market method factors market conditions into the valuation process. A good appraiser will often use multiple valuation methods to arrive at a reasonable estimate. Sellers should take note of the fact that all three valuation methods reward businesses that takes steps to increase assets and income.

Average Preparation Time

It's critical to properly plan for the sale ofan animal behavior service. Since buyers prefer to see evidence of future cash flow, you'll want to to strategically lock in cash flows and increase profits before you list the business. Next, the business will need to be documented in professional financial statements and manuals that facilitate the ownership transition. Since all of this takes time and effort, a animal behavior service can rarely be ready for the marketplace in less than six months. A more likely scenario is that it will take more than a year to create the conditions necessary to receive the maximum sale price.

Handling Unexpected Outcomes

When you made the decision to sell your animal behavior service, you had a specific set of outcomes in mind. However, no one told the marketplace about your expectations. The outcome of your sale will be determined by market forces - not by your personal circumstances or desires. Sometimes, sellers need to readjust their expectations to accommodate market realties. In the event that the sale fails to meet your expectations, you may want to consider taking the business off the market until you can grow it enough to achieve your desired sale price.

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