The valuation is a major factor that influences the overall selling price of the property. Business appraisals are based upon a multitude of criteria and indisputable records such as comparables, projections, discount rates, EBITDA multiples, and more.

While the appraiser may have all the information he or she needs, the business elements might be overlooked. That’s why it’s extremely helpful for business appraisers to first grasp the purpose of an appraisal prior to getting started. Unfortunately, the appraiser is often unaware of additional considerations that may enhance or even devalue a business’ overall worth.

Is There Unwritten Value?

Business owners generally agree that prospective buyers are mostly looking for quality in depth of management, market share, and profitability. Though undoubtedly more subjective than documentation, figures, and calculations alone, information regarding key business elements such as market, operations, post-acquisition, value drivers, and fundamentals is highly valued to potential buyers.

Here are some questions to consider regarding a couple of these crucial elements:

Is there an abundance of market competition?

Does pricing reasonably align with the demographic?

Are the company goals consistent with advancing technology?

Are there various and/or global means of reach and distribution?

Does the business have more potential beyond a niche?

What’s the company’s competitive advantage?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of its competitors?

Is there a great deal of alternative technologies?

Are there various vendors?

Is the company’s location convenient to its target audience?

Increased Success & Valuation

Successful businesses thrive due to company-wide values and consistent customer-centric efforts. In his book The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business, Brian Tracy summarizes this as “a company-wide focus on marketing, sales and revenue generation. The most important energies of the most talented people in the company must be centered on the customer. The failures to focus single-mindedly on sales are the number one causes of business failures, which are triggered by a drop-off in sales.”

Tracy continues by pointing out that trends may be the most pivotal consideration and bottom-line contributor to any given company’s success and, therefore, valuation. For 2017, projected trends include the increased use of video marketing, crowdfunding as a source of product validation, nutrition and fitness tracking products, the use of e-commerce, and the acquisition and training of remote employees.

Understanding Trends

Start-up companies are likely practicing as many current trends as possible within their limited funding in an attempt to establish market share, while mature companies are hiring millennials to keep their business hip to those same trends in an effort to protect their existing share. Business owners would benefit from studying and ultimately executing these current trends, as well as from acknowledging the successes and mistakes of their competitors.

Tracy suggests that daily conversations that encompass problem-solving, decision-making, and team collaboration are pivotal factors in making a company successful. And those performing all of these necessities? As Tracy reiterates, top companies have the best people.

Copyright: Business Brokerage Press, Inc.

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The National Foundation for Women Business Owners (NFWBO) identifies trends relating to the small business climate for women. New studies examining the role of female entrepreneurs by the NFWBO have yielded some surprising and eye-opening results.

A joint IBM, NFWBO study of the top fifty women business owners as well as 10 additional “up-and-coming” business owners reached several interesting conclusions. The women in the study covered a diverse array of industry categories including 27% in manufacturing, 25% in retail and 10% in real estate. 46% of the women inherited a business and over 50% started their own businesses, with 34% starting businesses themselves and another 17% starting businesses with others.

A Preference for Flexibility

One key part of the study centered on the fact that women business owners, in general, appear to prefer smaller operations. Among the 8 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., a full 75% are one person operations. Through ownership of these businesses women achieve a high level of flexibility in their work schedules. It is believed that this flexibility improves the odds of women keeping their home lives satisfying and rewarding.

Overall, millions of women are ignoring the notion that small businesses do not equate with success. While NFWBO research indicates that fewer than 1% of small women owned businesses generate over a $1 million in sales, there is no doubt that women are showing their strength in numbers.

Tackling Loan Issues

One major obstacle women business owners have faced comes in the form of bank loan inequities. Recently, for the first-time women owned business are experiencing access to business loans on par with male owners; this may be due in part to the increasing number of women in high bank positions as well as banks now seeing the previously untapped potential of women-owned businesses. The NFWBO has also discovered that women tend to direct loans towards business growth.

Internationally Owned Businesses

On an international scale, the NFWBO studies have shown that women business owners often come from similar backgrounds and express the same concerns regarding business issues. Today, female business owners represent between one-quarter and one-third of the world’s independent business owners and have become increasingly vocal as evidenced by female participation at an international conference in Paris sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

A Trend Towards Progress

To date, many obstacles have been overcome. Simply stated, the future looks very bright for women-owned businesses around the globe.

Copyright: Business Brokerage Press, Inc.

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We’ve outlined below a few unexpected aspects of the business sale process that can pop up. Sometimes they severely impact the turnaround time of a sale. But if you can understand these potential issues better, you will be better prepared to try to circumvent them.

1. Do You Have Time on Your Side?

It’s helpful to use an intermediary who will assist with the filtering of prospects vs. “suspects.” However, the inclusion of yet another party, in addition to both the business seller and potential buyers, increases the amount of time required to navigate the process.

Sellers are typically unaware of the time and documentation needed to compile the required Offering Memorandum. Once completed, the seller must provide both the intermediary and potential buyer more time to review and propose meetings and pricing. In the interim, owners are faced with the challenge of keeping their business thriving.

2. Trying to Do Too Much

It’s not surprising when a company owner is also its founder that individual is typically used to making all of the decisions. That’s why business owners in the midst of selling will soon find themselves challenged with the desire to fully be a part of both the selling process and the running of the business.

Delegation to someone else, such as the Sales Manager, can be truly invaluable. Think of your top people as extremely valuable resources. They may have first-hand knowledge regarding additional concerns such as competition and potentially interested acquirers. Bringing in trusted employees to be part of the sales process can be tremendously beneficial.

3. Delays Due to Stockholders

When mid-sized, privately held companies are supported by minority stockholders, these individuals must be included in the selling process—however small their share may be. The business owner will need to firstly obtain their approval to sell by using the sale price and terms as influencers. Of course, issues such as competing interests, pricing disagreements, and even inter-family concerns may cause conflict and further delay the process.

4. Money Issues

Once sellers decide upon a price that they would like to see, it is sometimes difficult for them to accept or even consider anything less. After all, a business owner likely created the company and may have a strong emotional attachment.

Another factor that often interferes with a successful sale occurs when sellers instantly turn down offers because they don’t meet with their desired asking price.

That’s when the intermediary can often come in to salvage the deal. A business broker often serves as a negotiator. He or she can work out a deal that is structured in a manner that works for both sides.

Copyright: Business Brokerage Press, Inc.

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Far too many customers have grown to expect poor customer service. Whether its rude employees and customer support or impersonal robotic phone system responses, customers are often shocked when they receive pleasant customer service. In such a climate, it is clear that businesses that simply treat customers well are taking advantage of a huge opportunity.

If you’ve ever personally called a credit card or cable company looking for help, then you already know that it can be something of a depressing and even Kafkaesque experience, leaving you feeling drained. More than likely you don’t feel too positive about any automated experience that bounces you around from one hold menu to the next. Summed up another way, hold music is never a fun or rewarding experience.

Communication is Always Changing

In the “old days” a telephone call was often a customer’s first experience with a business. Now, the game has, of course, changed, with most customers first experience being via the business’s website. While we can’t predict with 100% accuracy how businesses with be communicating with their customers in the future, we do know one fact for certain. The human touch will likely be valued for a long time to come.

Your Website is a Valuable Tool

The initial point of communication with a client, whether it is via telephone or your website, is of critical importance. If a customer has trouble finding key information about your business, such as your location, hours of operation or an easy to understand menu of what goods or services are offered, then they will take their business elsewhere. Consumers don’t generally wait for businesses to get their “act together.” They simply move on.

Simply stated, you want your business’s website to be very user-friendly, streamlined and intuitive as possible. Keep in mind that you understand your business and what it offers, which means you may not be the best judge in spotting flaws in your website presentation. For this reason, it is best to test your website designs with many different potential users who have little or no information about your business and what goods and services you provide.

In the end, every single client is valuable. For every client you lose represents both a potential loss of revenue and revenue being placed in the pocket of your competitor. Don’t let customers slip away simply because there wasn’t a friendly voice answering the phone or your website lacked clarity.

Copyright: Business Brokerage Press, Inc.

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Buying a business requires a good deal of capital or lender resources. The bottom line is that a large percentage of buyers don’t have the necessary capital or lender resources to pay cash and that is where seller financing comes into play. The fact is that seller financing is quite common. In this article, we will take a deeper look at some of the key points to remember.

Is Seller Financing a Good Idea?

Many buyers feel that a seller’s reluctance to provide seller financing is a “red flag.” The notion is that if a business is truly as good as the seller claims it to be, then providing financing shouldn’t be a “scary” proposition. The truth is that this notion does carry some weight in reality. The primary reason that many sellers are reluctant to provide seller financing is that they are concerned that the buyer will be unsuccessful. This, of course, means that if the buyer fails to make payments, that the seller could be forced to take the business back or even forfeit the balance of the note.

However, it is important for sellers to look at the facts. Sellers who sell for all cash receive approximately 70% of the asking price; however, sellers receive approximately 86% of the asking price when they offer terms!

Seller Financing has a Range of Benefits

Here are a few of the most important benefits associated with seller financing: the seller receives a considerably higher price, sellers can get a much higher interest rate from a buyer than they can receive from a financial institution, the interest on a seller-financed deal will add significantly to the actual selling price, there are tax benefits to seller financing versus an all-cash sale and, finally, financing the sale serves as a vote of confidence in the buyer.

Clearly there are no guarantees that the buyer will be successful in operating the business. Yet, it is key that sellers remember that in most situations the buyers are putting a large percentage of their personal wealth into the purchase of the business. In other words, in most situations, the buyer is heavily invested even if financing is involved.

Business brokers excel in helping buyers and sellers discover creative ways to finance the sale of a business. Your broker can recommend a range of payment options and plans that can, in the end, often make the difference between a successful sale and failure.

Copyright: Business Brokerage Press, Inc.

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Burnout is a strange phenomenon in that often a business owner doesn’t know that he or she is experiencing it until it is too late. Owners who feel beleaguered and over stressed frequently want to sell their business and move on. However, buyers are not so eager to accept burnout as a believable reason for why an owner wants to sell.

It is the responsibility of every business owner to be on guard against potential burnout. After all, it is better to “cash in” than to burnout. In this article, we will examine a few of the key warning signs that you may be on the verge of burning out.

Sign 1: There is No Joy in Owning Your Business

Once upon a time, you were likely excited about your business. But if those days are long gone, then it might be time to move on. Owning a business is hard work and eventually it can take a toll. If you find each day to be boring, then it is probably time to sell, move on and start a new chapter in your life.

Sign 2: You Feel Exhausted

Just as feeling no joy is a potential sign of burnout, the same holds true for feeling exhausted. If you feel exhausted all the time, then it is unlikely that you can run your business effectively over the long haul. In short, it may be time to consider selling.

Keep in mind that if your business is doing well, growing and expanding, then there will be more demands on your time, not less. If you feel exhausted a large percentage of the time and your business is expanding and seems poised to expand even more rapidly in the future, then cashing in may be your best bet.

Sign 3: You Feel Overwhelmed Almost on a Daily Basis

Business owners who frequently feel overwhelmed are likely teetering on the edge of burnout; this can be particularly true for business owners who are operating a “one-man show.” Operating a small business, especially one where you are doing most of the work, can be both mentally and physically exhausting.

There is certainly something to be said for being proactive and tackling burn out before it tackles you. In this way, you’ll be able to sell your business on your own terms. The last thing you want is to try and sell your business after you no longer have the energy to keep sales going in the right direction.

Working with an experienced business broker is one of the easiest and quickest ways to get your business ready to sell. Don’t let burnout put the fate of your business in a vulnerable position.

Copyright: Business Brokerage Press, Inc.

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You may hear the word “goodwill” thrown around a lot, but what does it really mean? When it comes to selling a business, the term refers to all the effort that the seller put into a business over the year. Goodwill can be thought of as the difference between the various tangible assets that a business has and the overall purchase price.

The M&A Dictionary defines goodwill in the following way, “An intangible fixed asset that is carried as an asset on the balance sheet, such as a recognizable company or product name or strong reputation. When one company pays more than the net book value for another, the former is typically paying for goodwill. Goodwill is often viewed as an approximation of the value of a company’s brand names, reputation, or long-term relationships that cannot otherwise be represented financially.”

Goodwill vs. Going-Concern

Now, it is important not to confuse goodwill value with “going-concern value,” as the two are definitely not the same. Going-concern value is typically defined by experts, as the fact that the business will continue to operate in a manner that is consistent with its intended purpose as opposed to failing or being liquidated. For most business owners, goodwill is seen as good service, products and reputation, all of which, of course, matters greatly.

Below is a list of some of the items that can be listed under the term “goodwill.” As you will notice, the list is surprisingly diverse.

42 Examples of Goodwill Items

• Phantom Assets
• Local Economy
• Industry Ratios
• Custom-Built Factory
• Management
• Loyal Customer Base
• Supplier List
• Reputation
• Delivery Systems
• Location
• Experienced Design Staff
• Growing Industry
• Recession Resistant Industry
• Low Employee Turnover
• Skilled Employees
• Trade Secrets
• Licenses
• Mailing List
• Royalty Agreements
• Tooling
• Technologically Advanced Equipment
• Advertising Campaigns
• Advertising Materials
• Backlog
• Computer Databases
• Computer Designs
• Contracts
• Copyrights
• Credit Files
• Distributorships
• Engineering Drawings
• Favorable Financing
• Franchises
• Government Programs
• Know-How
• Training Procedures
• Proprietary Designs
• Systems and Procedures
• Trademarks
• Employee Manual
• Location
• Name Recognition

As you can tell, goodwill, as it pertains to a business, is not an easily defined term. It is also very important to keep in mind that what goodwill is and how it is represented on a company’s financial statements are two different things.

Here is an example: a company sells for $2 million dollars but has only $1 million in tangible assets. The balance of $1 million dollars was considered goodwill and goodwill can be amortized by the acquirer over a 15-year period. All of this was especially impactful on public companies as an acquisition could negatively impact earnings which, in turn, negatively impacted stock price, so public companies were often reluctant to acquire firms in which goodwill was a large part of the purchase price. On the flip side of the coin, purchasers of non-public firms received a tax break due to amortization.

The Federal Accounting Standards Board (FASB) created new rules and standards pertaining to goodwill and those rules and standards were implemented on July 1, 2001. Upon the implementation of these rules and standards, goodwill may not have to be written off, unless the goodwill is carried at a value that is in excess of its real value. Now, the standards require companies to have intangible assets, which include goodwill, valued by an outside expert on an annual basis. These new rules work to define the difference between goodwill and other intangible assets as well as how they are to be treated in terms of accounting and tax reporting.

Before you buy a business or put a business up for sale, it is a good idea to talk to the professionals. The bottom line is that goodwill can still represent all the hard work a seller put into a business; however, that hard work must be accounted for differently than in years past and with more detail.

Copyright: Business Brokerage Press, Inc.

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The time, effort and money you invest in keeping your employees happy is well worth it for your bottom line. Oftentimes business owners fail to consider the fact that unhappy employees can, and do, negatively impact every aspect of their operation.

Your employees are your front line in dealing with your customers. If your employees are not pleased, don’t kid yourself, it shows. Unhappy employees not only negatively impact the overall experience of your clients but can also make customers worry that something is wrong with your business. Whether fair or not, many customers may believe that a lack of employee happiness reflects on you as a business owner.

Some owners believe that their employees should share their dedication to the business; this is the wrong approach. At the end of the day, the business belongs to the owner(s) and not the employees. Business owners should refrain from becoming irritated or angry because employees do not match their own levels of enthusiasm. Instead, business owners should strive to help employees become as invested as possible. But at the same time, they need to always remember that employees realize that they don’t own the business.

Every business is different, and what it takes to create happy employees, of course, varies. Determining the best way to facilitate employee happiness is a prudent step. Take the time to evaluate your business and the role of your employees in it. At first, this may sound like quite the challenge, but determining what can help foster employee happiness is as easy as placing yourself in the shoes of your employees.

What would make you happier if you were an employee? Massive pay increases may not be in the cards. But still there are low cost or even free “upgrades” that you can implement. Periodically rewarding employees for a job well done with gift certificates or half-days off can go a very long way in building employee morale. When it comes time for you to potentially sell your business, you want a prospective buyer to see a lot of happy and enthusiastic employees. After all, isn’t this what you would want to see if you were buying a business?

Also consider requesting anonymous employee feedback. If you are having trouble figuring out how to solicit this feedback, you can hire a third-party company to assist you. When you read feedback from your staff, you will most likely be shocked and surprised what you learn.

Ultimately, there is no replacement for respect and kindness. Many business owners worry about employees taking advantage of them and may take an overly harsh attitude towards employees as a result. As long as employees realize that you have high standards and expect employees to uphold those standards if they want to keep their jobs, you shouldn’t have any significant problems. Employees know when they are valued and appreciated. They will, in turn, pass on this feeling of appreciation and value to your customers.

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How the purchase of a business will be structured is something that must be dealt with early on in the selling process. The simple fact is that the financing of the sale of a business is too important to treat as an afterthought. The final structure of any sale will be the result of the negotiations between buyer and seller.

In order for the sale to be completed in a satisfactory manner, it is vital that the seller answers six key questions:

1. What is your lowest “rock bottom” price? It is important for sellers to know what is the lowest price they are willing to accept before they begin negotiations. Far too often, sellers have not determined what price is their “lowest price” and this can literally cause negotiations to fall apart.
2. What are the tax consequences of the sale? Just as sellers often don’t know what their lowest price is, it is also true that sellers often don’t think about the tax consequences of the sale.
3. Interest rates are no small matter. It is important to determine what is an acceptable interest rate in the event of a seller-financed sale.
4. Have unsecured creditors been paid off? Does the seller plan on paying for a portion of the closing costs?
5. Will the buyer have to assume any long-term or secured debt?
6. Will the business be able to service the debt and still give a return that is acceptable to a buyer?

Studies have indicated that there is a direct relationship between more favorable terms and a higher price. In particular, one study revealed that offering favorable terms could increase the total selling price by as much as 30 percent!

Business brokers are experts in what it takes to successfully buy and sell businesses, and this is exactly the kind of insight and information that they have at their disposal. Experienced brokers are able to use their knowledge of everything from current market conditions and financing strategies to the knowledge of previous sales and a given geographic region to help facilitate successful deals.

Usually, selling a business is one of the most important things that a business owner does in his or her professional lifetime. Business brokers understand this fact, and they understand the importance of making certain that the deal is structured correctly. The facts are that the way in which a sale is structured could mean the difference between success and failure.

Structuring a deal in such a way where it is the best possible deal for both the buyer and seller, helps to ensure that a deal is successfully concluded. Working with a business broker is one of the best way to ensure that a business will be sold.

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