"Uh, could you come back when we're really for sale?"
One shudders to think how this business's owners cope at supermarket checkouts when they're forced to choose between paper and plastic. But there are some owners who can't quite make up their minds about what to do with their businesses. This one's been on the market, then off; now it may be on again. Who knows?
Island Crafts Cataloger
Paradise found
Priced properly from the beginning. The buyer -- from the next island over -- saw a great business opportunity. The flood of other callers saw a great lifestyle purchase.
Las Vegas Commuter Airline
"Love my business, love me"
And then there are the sellers who don't realize that they are their businesses. Not only is this business overpriced (way overpriced), but it's owned by a very hands-on kind of guy. "Buyers think, 'If he goes, there goes the business," says one broker.
(This just in from our experts: Sellers who have a death grip on the business will give prospective buyers more confidence if they make themselves less indispensable. Tip number one: Establish a strong nonshareholder management team or an active board of directors.
Tip number two: Groom an employee who can do what you do.)
Wyoming Dude Ranch
"For sale? Them's fightin' words, pilgrim"
It's not quite the shoot-out at the OK Corral, but as far as the hundreds (and hundreds) of interested parties are concerned, it might as well be. Turns out the majority of the owners wanted to sell, but the minority owner/operator/gaucho didn't. The result? Big-time litigation, pardner.
Illinois Art Gallery
Don't hate the buyer
A prospective buyer was going to employ one of the owners after the sale, but the relationships went awry. Personalities clashed, and the sellers began to think that the business wouldn't be in the best hands. "Goodwill just fell apart," says the broker.
Arizona Bowling Center
They put the "real" in real estate
"If you back out the real estate value here, the price was about right," says broker Darrell Fouts. "You should get a 10% to 11% return on real estate and at least 20% on the business, and you did here. These guys understood that you have to have both to make it work."
