Find Your Perfect Business Buyer

There are numerous routes for how to sell your small business. Here's how to determine which route is best for you.

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The first step to a successful business sale is to understand your motivations and then to prioritize them before you even put your business on the market. Once you have prioritized your motivations, it’s time to choose your route. There are numerous options for how to sell your small business and each one will vary in how effectively they appease your pre-sale wants and needs. Follow these steps to determine which route works best for you:

Step 1. Find the sale approaches that best match with your sale motivations.

By this step in the business sale process, you should have determined which aspects of the transition are most important to you. Whether your top motivation is selling immediately, receiving the highest price possible or staying involved post-sale, you’re next goal should be to find which sales approach best matches those needs.

The following chart will help you align those motivations with various sale approaches. Begin on the left side of the chart, focusing on the entry that reflects your top priority. Checkmarks indicate which sale approaches are most apt to achieve your desired outcome.

SALE APPROACHES	SELLER MOTIVATIONS

Sell to an existing partner
Sell partially to a new co-owner or partner
Sell all or partially to a supplier, competitor or other business
Sell to an outside individual
Transition to next-generation family
Sell to key employee
Sell to employees
Liquidate

Step 2. Understand what's involved with each sale approach

Once you determine which sale approaches align best with your sale objectives, you're ready to zero in on the approach that seems to fit your business and personal situation best.

Mike Handelsman is group general manager for BizBuySell.com and BizQuest.com, the Internet's largest and most heavily trafficked business-for-sale marketplaces. @BizBuySell