Business Exits By Industry
Selling a Color Printing Business
There are few things as intimidating as selling a business in a sluggish economy. Fortunately, a color printing business sale isn't as scary as it seems.
You're optimistic about the economy and so are we. Now the challenge is to convert business buyers who may have a more skeptical outlook.
If your exit strategy involves selling a color printing business in this environment, sellers need to make a strong case for buyers to purchase at or near the asking price.
Negotiation Teams
Even if you hire a business broker to facilitate the sale of your color printing business, it's likely that you will be the front line negotiator. Negotiation is a chess game, best played with the resources and backend support of a negotiation team. 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.
Average Preparation Time
There are no effective shortcuts for selling a color printing business. Buyers want to see growth trends, healthy profits and other variables that increase the likelihood of long-term success. Next, the business will need to be documented in professional financial statements and manuals that facilitate the ownership transition. At a minimum, plan on spending six months preparing your color printing business for the marketplace. A more likely scenario is that it will take more than a year to create the conditions necessary to receive the maximum sale price.
Post-Sale Details
The way you exit your color printing business is just as important as the way you sell it. The transition to the new owner, the distribution of sale proceeds and other issues can weigh heavily on sellers. Ideally, these and other post-sale details should be addressed early on. But if you haven't dealt with them yet, it's important to have a frank conversation with the buyer, your broker and other professionals as soon as possible.
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