Just as people will form judgments and ideas about you as a person based on first impressions, the same holds true for your company.  It is always best to put your “best foot forward,” and this is true whether we’re talking about your personal life or business.  Periodically, it is prudent for every company to step back and evaluate its initial point of communication with customers and clients.

In today’s digitally interconnected world, it is critical that customers and clients feel as though they are not just being listened to; they really want to be heard.  Emails must be responded to promptly.  This is true regardless of whether the email is from a customer requesting more information about your goods or services, or if it’s a message with a question or complaint.  If your company is unresponsive, this fact can quickly spread on social media.

Of course, customers and clients still pick up their phones and make calls.  While many people’s first impressions of your business are increasingly likely to be via your website, there is no denying the importance of the phone call experience.  When callers reach your business, it is vital that they receive a professional and warm reception.  Whether the point of contact is a live person or a message, the experience should be a trouble-free and low stress experience. 

Far too many businesses overlook this variable, but you can be quite certain that not all of their competitors are doing so.  If you have a navigation system, it should be easy to navigate.  If possible, there should be an option to talk to an operator so that callers don’t get lost within a labyrinthian phone maze filled with dead ends.  Callers might not remember a positive phone experience, but you can bet that they will remember a stressful one.

When a team member greets a caller, the response should be pleasant and should include some version of “How may I help you?”  Every operator should know company basics, such as your times of operation and the key names of your personnel.  They should also demonstrate a willingness to help.  Your team members should understand that their job depends on the success of the company and that they are on the frontlines of maintaining a positive business-customer relationship.  Professionalism is a must, and team members should never lose sight of this fact.

Finally, your key management executives should invest the time to experience your company’s sphere of communication.  What is it like to call your company and interact with team members?  What improvements could be made? 

In this very digital era, it is important to remember that there is still no replacement for human interaction.  When a caller reaches out to your company for information or assistance, it is best to use technology judiciously.  Try to opt for the human touch when possible.  While the person answering the phones at your business might not be the highest paid person on your payroll, always remember that their job is an essential part of your company’s image.

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At some point, every business owner will need to think about selling his or her business. This means you’ll need to be ready to overcome a range of obstacles, as the process of selling a business can be both confusing and time-consuming. This is especially true for those who have not gone through the process before. Let’s turn our attention to some of the key reasons why deals can fall apart.

Psychological Factors 

Buyers, like sellers, enter the process with a variety of preconceived notions about how the process should work, as well as what they consider to be “a great deal.” The psychological factors involved in selling a business shouldn’t be overlooked. 

Sellers need to understand the specific wants and desires of the buyer as well as their own psychology. 

Even serious buyers may have highly unrealistic expectations regarding various aspects of a business, ranging from its price to its opportunities for future growth. In some cases, they may stall due to the fact they are not quite ready to buy a business and see no urgency in the matter. 

Buyers can also be influenced by outside parties, whether advisors or friends and family. In short, sellers may discover that, for all practical purposes, buyers may actually be several people who are forming a collective opinion on issues regarding the business.

Seller Psychology

A seller’s own psychology can play a huge role in whether or not a business is successfully sold. Many sellers enter into the process without a full understanding of what is involved. This factor, of course, underscores the tremendous importance of working with professionals months, if not years, before you actually place your business on the market. These professionals should include an M&A Advisor or Business Broker. 

Another major obstacle is that many sellers have unrealistic expectations about both price and the time frame in which their business can be sold. Sellers should enter the selling process with their eyes open and realistic expectations in place. Be sure to establish a fair price. It’s also important to understand that it may take a year or longer before a buyer is found.

Acts of Fate

Sellers should remember that there are many “acts of fate” that can disrupt a deal. A deal may seem like everything is moving along without problems, only to discover at the last minute that the buyer isn’t able to secure the needed funds as expected. 

It is important for all parties involved to realize that until a deal is finalized, problems can still arise. In fact, they can arise from unexpected directions. But it is difficult to anticipate and spot every potential disruption. The complexity of selling a business is one of the main reasons why so many business owners opt to work with a brokerage professional. 

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Finalizing a deal is usually a complex process, and there is a good deal of room for error, misunderstandings, miscalculations, and good old-fashioned wild cards.  That is why it is critical to carefully think through the deal process well in advance.  In this article, we’re going to explore the top ten steps you can take to avoid wrecking a good deal.

1. Confidentiality – At the top of our “how not to wreck a deal list” is confidentiality.  It is vital that everyone involved in the deal takes steps to avoid a breach.  Experienced business brokers are experts at maintaining confidentiality.
2. Flexibility  – The second tip on our list is to be flexible. A lack of flexibility can absolutely destroy a deal. You shouldn’t go into a deal expecting to have all of your terms met.
3. Be Open to Negotiations – Just as it is critical to be flexible, it is also important to embrace the concept of negotiation.  Sellers are used to being their own bosses, but when it comes to successfully selling a business, no factor is quite as important as a willingness to negotiate.
4. Advance Preparation – Next on our list of musts to avoid wrecking a deal is to prepare for the sale well in advance.  Sellers will want to make sure that they have several years of records as well as legal and accounting documentation ready and well-prepared.  You can be 100% certain that any serious buyer will want to see your records and take a look at your financials.
5. A Reasonable Selling Price – An inflated price will decrease the number of buyers that take a serious look at a business.  Additionally, an unreasonable price may make a seller look uninformed.  Business brokers and M&A advisors are experts at handling valuations.  One of the single best ways to boost your chances of finalizing a sale is to establish a fair and justifiable price for your business.
6. Maintain Operations – Far too often sellers lose track of the day-to-day operations once their business goes on the market.  It is absolutely vital that sellers continue operating their business as though it may never sell.  The bottom line is that it can take months, or even years to sell.  The last thing any seller wants is for their business to lose value when they are in the process of trying to sell.
7. Keep up the Momentum – A lack of momentum can kill a deal.  Working with a business broker or M&A advisor is an easy way to make sure you maintain momentum throughout the process.
8. Consider Your Buyer’s Needs – Serious buyers will need a variety of information from sellers in order to obtain financing.  You can expect buyers to need appraisals of assets, information on environmental regulations, and more.  Sellers should have this kind of key information ready and waiting.
9. Encourage Competition – Another great way to avoid wrecking a deal is to achieve leverage via buyer competition.  In general, it is a good idea to create a competitive situation – one in which prospective buyers know that there is more than one interested party.  Brokerage industry professionals understand the delicacies of presenting this information.
10.  Seller Participation – Finally, sellers must stay involved in the entire process, and that includes being willing to assist during the transition. Showing a willingness to help during the transition period will help to foster goodwill and trust.

There are many reasons why a deal could potentially fall apart.  You may not be able to control every single variable, but by following the ten key tips outlined in this article, you will be well on your way to increasing your chances of successfully completing a deal.

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The simple fact is that selling your business is likely to be the single most important financial decision you’ll ever make.  With this important fact in mind, it is essential that you prepare far in advance.  Let’s dive in and take a look at some of the key items you’ll want to check off your list before placing your business on the market.

Think About Legalities

When it comes to selling a business, legal issues should be at the forefront of your thoughts; after all, selling your business does involve the creation and execution of a complex and detailed legal agreement.  There are many times in life where it is possible to cut corners, but hiring a good lawyer or law firm is not one of those times.  Moreover, you’ll want to settle all litigation, environmental issues or other issues that could potentially derail a sale.

Deal with Serious Buyers

Working with a good business broker or M&A advisor is an essential part of the selling process, as these professionals will help you to weed out “window shoppers” as well as prospective buyers who are simply not a good fit for your business.  Any serious buyer should be willing to submit a Letter of Intent.  Everyone should be on the same page as far as price and terms as well as what assets and liabilities are to be assumed.  This second point reinforces the first point.  It is essential to have an experienced lawyer helping you through various aspects of the sales process.

Be Flexible on Price

You should also be prepared to accept a lower price than you might ideally want.  There are many reasons that this may occur, ranging from a lack of management depth and a lack of geographical distribution to a dependence on a limited number of clients.  Reliance on a small number of customers and/or clients can give potential buyers pause, as it could raise concerns regarding the stability of your business.  Addressing these issues years before placing your business on the market can help you best achieve the price point you desire.  This is yet another reason to work with a business broker in advance.

Improving Your Chances for Success

In terms of achieving the price that you want for your business, there are other steps you can take.  Increasing the visibility and profile of your business is always a savvy move.  Consider attending trade shows, boost your online profile via stepping up your social media game and explore creating a coherent public relations program.

Finally, selling a business is often a waiting game.  You have to be psychologically prepared to wait a considerable period of time before your business is sold.  The fact is that most businesses do indeed sit on the shelf for a considerable period of time before they are sold.

Preparation, patience and good organization will dramatically increase your chances of selling your business and achieving an appropriate price.  The sooner you begin organizing your business and working with experienced professionals, the greater the chances of success will be.

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Companies of all sizes frequently fail to handle customer complaints appropriately.  In the digital era, where complaints can be seen by hundreds, thousands or go viral to millions, it is essential that customer complaints, especially serious ones or ones backed by considerable emotion, are treated seriously and dealt with in a timely manner.

If you are failing to provide good customer service, this should be corrected.  After all, offering decent customer service is neither costly nor overly complicated.  At its core, good customer service can be reduced down to listening to the customer, letting the customer know that his or her complaint has been acknowledged and cataloged, and then working to remedy the situation if possible. 

A good positive attitude and staying calm when dealing with irritated or dissatisfied customers can go a long way towards keeping a customer happy and halting them from expressing their feelings in an online public forum.  Let’s look at five tips for dealing with customer complaints in an effective manner.

Tip #1 – Take a Proactive Stance 

A good attitude and a proactive stance can go a very long way towards diffusing an unhappy or angry customer.  A disappointed customer wants to know that he or she is being heard and that steps are being taken to remedy their situation.  Clearly communicating that you are working to fix the situation and doing so in a positive manner will diffuse most negative customer scenarios.

Tip #2 – Take Quick Action to Fix the Problem

Once a customer is calm and is feeling a little better about your company, there is still more work to do.  When you state that a problem will be addressed, it is essential that the problem is indeed addressed.  This is vitally important for the reputation of your company.  A failure to follow up on a promise to fix a situation could actually backfire and leave customers feeling as though they were initially manipulated.

Tip #3 – Always Stay Calm

If a customer is unhappy enough to write an email or post a negative review online, then they are obviously displeased.  However, if a customer is angry enough to pick up the phone and call, you can be fairly certain that the customer in question is rather upset.  This anger may boil over on the phone call. That’s why customer service people need to be ready to deal with that anger in a calm and collected fashion.  Customer service team members or salespeople should never match the anger of a customer.  Instead, they should focus on demonstrating that they are committed to fixing the problem.  It may benefit you to invest in employee training so that employees are ready to deal with angry or disappointed customers when the time arrives.

Tip #4 – Look for Customer Dissatisfaction Problem Patterns

If the same complaints and issues come up again and again, then it is very likely that there is a larger problem that must be addressed.  Numerous customer complaints from different customers shouldn’t be treated as a “headache.”  Instead, it should be viewed as a great opportunity to improve your goods and/or services.  Once you have detected a negative customer service pattern, be sure that you and your team move quickly to remedy the problem.  Your business will be stronger for doing so in the long run.

Tip #5 – Track Your Success

It is important to never assume that you have successfully addressed customer service issues until customers have, in fact, verified that the situation is resolved.  For this reason, it is wise to follow up with customers and ask for feedback via either questionnaires in the mail, email follow ups, or even phone calls.

Customer complaints that are not appropriately addressed can fester and become larger problems.  The time, effort, and money you invest in boosting the quality of your customer service team will yield significant positive results for the long-term.

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There is a considerable difference between determining the value of a privately-held company and a publicly-held company. Topping the list of considerable differences is the fact that privately-held companies do not have audited financial statements. Let’s look at how the owners of privately held companies should proceed in establishing a reasonable price for their company.

An audited financial statement is a costly endeavor. In order to avoid the cost, many companies simply don’t go public. Of course, it should be noted that publicly held companies, as the name indicates, reveal much more about their finances than their privately held counterparts do. Privately held companies are often seen as being more mysterious whereas publicly held companies are considered more “open.”

Business owners looking to sell their business will, of course, want to address the fact that their company lacks the public information associated with publicly held companies. Providing prospective buyers with as much verified information about your business as possible is one of the fastest and easiest ways to overcome buyers’ concerns. A smart move for any business owner is to work closely with their accountant to go over the numbers and create an easy-to-understand presentation for prospective buyers. This should serve to allay many of their concerns. 

Working with your accountant is only the first step in providing prospective buyers with the information they need to feel comfortable. The second step is to work with an outside appraiser or other expert who can determine the value of your business. After that, you’ll want to decide on what your market price will be, as well as your “wish price,” or the price that you would ideally want. Third, you must know your “rock bottom” lowest price. You, as the owner, need to have this information as it will greatly facilitate and streamline all negotiations. 

When buyers are reviewing materials and working to determine what price they are willing to pay, they will look at a wide range of factors including: 

• Product diversity 
• The size of your customer base 
• Potential competitors in the area 
• Competitors on the horizon 
• Potential disruptions to your business, such as supplier problems
• The stability of your earnings 
• The stability of the market 
• Need for capital 

Different buyers may place differing levels of emphasis on certain areas, but you can be certain that the aforementioned areas will be examined with care. The process is undoubtedly rather complex. This complexity underscores the need for professional assistance.

Ultimately, the market will determine the sale price of your business. For business owners, the first and most important step is to work closely with professionals such as accountants, appraisers, Business Brokers and M&A Advisors to establish the price of your privately held business. You can count on brokerage professionals to properly organize the facts and numbers that support that price.

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When it comes to buying or selling a business, there is no replacement for a solid confidentiality agreement.  One of the key ways that business brokers and M&A advisors are able to help buyers and sellers alike is through their extensive knowledge of confidentiality agreements and how best to implement them.  In this article, we will provide you with an overview of what you should expect out of your confidentiality agreements.

A confidentiality agreement is a legal agreement that essentially forbids both buyers and sellers, as well as related parties such as agents, from disclosing information regarding the transition.  It is a best practice to have a confidentiality agreement in place before discussing the business in any way and especially before divulging key information on the operation of the business or trade secrets. 

While a confidentiality agreement can be used to keep the fact that a business is for sale private, that is only a small aspect of what modern confidentiality agreements generally seek to accomplish.  Confidentiality agreements are used to ensure that a prospective buyer doesn’t use any proprietary data, knowledge or trade secrets to benefit themselves or other parties.

When creating a confidentiality agreement, it is important to keep several variables in mind, such as what information will be excluded and what information will be disclosed, the term of the confidentiality agreement, the remedy for breach, and the manner in which confidential information will be used and handled. 

Any effective confidentiality agreement will contain a variety of key points.  Sellers will want their confidentiality agreement to cover a fairly wide array of territory.  For example, the confidentiality agreement will state that the potential buyer will not attempt to hire away employees.  In general, this and many other details, will have a termination date.

The specifics of how confidentiality is to be maintained should also be included in the confidentiality agreement.  Parties should agree to hold conversations in private; this point has become increasingly important due to the use of mobile phones and in particular the use of mobile phones in out-of-office locations.  Additionally, it is prudent to specify that principal names should not be used in outside discussions and that a code name should be developed for the name of the proposed merger or acquisition. 

Safeguarding documents is another area that should receive considerable attention.  Digital files should be password protected.  All paperwork should be kept in a safe location and locked away for maximum privacy when not in use.

In their enthusiasm to find a buyer for their business, many sellers have overlooked the confidentiality agreement stage of the process.  Most have regretted doing so.  A confidentiality agreement can help protect your business’s key information from being exploited during the sales process.  Any experienced and capable business broker or M&A advisor will strongly recommend that buyers and sellers always depend on confidentiality agreements to establish information disclosure perimeters.

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There can be no doubt that selling your business stands as one of the most complex and important decisions you’ll likely ever make. It is quite often the case that a business represents decades, or even a lifetime, of dedicated work. In this article, we’ll examine some of the key steps that you should take when it comes time to sell.

One of the most important steps that any seller can take is to begin the sales process far in advance of the date that he or she plans to put the business on the market. Working with an experienced business broker or M&A advisor (and doing so preferably years in advance) is one of the single best ways to ensure that you’ll be ready to sell your business when the time comes. It will also help you to avoid the numerous pitfalls that potentially await.

A good brokerage professional can also help identify weaknesses in your business and help you address those issues; however, this is only the beginning. Your broker can help you with everything from strategy and negotiations, maintaining confidentiality and establishing the market value of your business, to connecting you with other seasoned professionals, such as accountants and lawyers.

A third key point that all sellers should consider is their own psychology. It is vital that all sellers remain flexible in their approach to selling their business and also remain respectful of prospective buyers. It is important that you put yourself in the shoes of your buyer and try to think of what they will need to feel confident in their decision. 

The right seller psychology is also absolutely essential. Sellers should not attempt to rush or force a sale or overprice their business. In short, you need to keep “your head in the game” and as much as possible, keep your emotions out of the process. 

Sellers also need to realize that the statistics strongly indicate that seller financing is likely. Only 75% of sellers ultimately receive their asking price, and businesses that are listed as “all cash” generally don’t sell. Reasonable sales terms will greatly increase the chances of successfully selling a business. It is common that sellers fail to realize just how much interest they can generate by financing the sale of their business. A reasonable down payment is also another way to improve the odds of selling a business. Being willing to offer financing makes a clear statement to a prospective buyer that you believe in the business and its ability to generate revenue. From a buyer’s perspective an “all cash” demand can be a red flag.

At the end of the day, an open mind and steady temperament will increase your chances of selling. You may want to sell your business and completely move on to new things. But the reality of selling a business is such that “walking away” may not be feasible. Transitioning your business into the hands of a new owner is usually more of an ongoing process than a “sign on the dotted line and receive a check” type of situation. Understanding this fact, and working closely with a business broker or M&A advisor in advance of selling your business, will help to streamline the sales process and greatly improve your chances of a successful outcome.

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