Optimizing Business Exits

Selling a Religious Goods Store

The decision to sell your religious goods store isn't something that should be taken lightly, especially these days. If a business exit is on the horizon, you'll want to check out our suggestions for staying ahead of the market.

Selling a religious goods store isn't as simple as listing a power tool on eBay. These days, the business-for-sale market is a hostile place for inexperienced and uninformed sellers.

Yet everyday, hundreds of listed religious goods stores manage to pique the interest of qualified buyers. They do it by paying attention to the details that other business sellers overlook.

Closing Strategies

Today's religious goods store buyers expect sellers to offer concessions to persuade them to close the deal. Concessions can consist of non-cash as well as cash incentives. When you've reached your limit on price, consider offering non-cash concessions to encourage a commitment from the buyer. In the current economy, seller financing is becoming common in religious goods store sales. If the prospect is inexperienced or lacks credentials in the industry, you can also offer to stay with the business for a specified period of time to help the new owner get on his feet and introduce him to your network of industry contacts.

Sale Documents

In a religious goods store sale, the Letter of Intent contains the vital elements of the deal between the buyer and the seller . By the time the deal reaches the final contract, many of its features are set in stone. So after consulting with your broker and attorney, make sure you're comfortable with the terms of the Letter of Intent. If not, everything you do to close the sale of your religious goods store may be a waste of time.

What About Market Conditions?

No one plans to sell a religious goods store in a down economy. So far, government intervention and promises that the economy is slowly recovering haven't been enough to alleviate many entrepreneur's fears. Despite the risks, sellers need to be cognizant of the fact that there is a large volume of religious goods stores waiting to be listed until the economy rebounds. When that happens, the buyers' market will become even stronger and have a negative impact on prices. So what's our point? The economy isn't the most important factor in the sale of your business. Instead, you should be focusing on making your religious goods store as attractive as possible so to buyers right now.

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