Exit Planning Advice By Market

Selling an Antique and Used Architectural Building Materials Business

Does the economy have you down? For exiting owners, the idea of listing their company now can be terrifying. But selling your antique and used architectural building materials business doesn't have to be as daunting as it sounds.

Intimidated by a sluggish economy, business buyers are more cautious than ever.

In a skittish economy, antique and used architectural building materials business sellers can access several strategies to receive fair market value from entrepreneurs who understand the value of a good business investment.

Workforce Concerns

As a business owner, you want to keep you employees informed about your plans; as a seller it's in your best interest to keep your employees in the dark for as long as possible. You're concerned about confidentiality, and rightfully so. But sooner or later, employees will begin to suspect that something is up, especially when you start parading prospective buyers through the business. So at some point you will have to resign yourself to the idea of telling some or all of your employees that you have listed the antique and used architectural building materials business on the market. Maintain a positive tone in your conversations and answer your employees questions as completely as you can without jeopardizing the sale.

Average Timeframes

Hoping for a quick antique and used architectural building materials business sale? You may be disappointed. Although asking price and other factors contribute to sale time, it's difficult to predict how long your business will be on the market before you locate the right buyer. Before you can list your antique and used architectural building materials 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.

Tips for Working with A Business Broker

Business brokers are professional business sellers. Brokerage is particularly common in the antique and used architectural building materials business-for-sale market, where aggressive selling strategies are the norm. Brokerage doesn't replace the seller's requirement to be involved in the sale; it augments the seller's efforts and creates a more seamless sale process. Successfully brokered sales are based on solid relationships between brokers and sellers as well as the strict execution of a common selling strategy.

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