Selling your business? How do you keep it confidential?

While letting as many people as possible know about selling your business might seem like the best way to expose your company to more buyers, it can harm a business. It is important to list your business confidentially and to know what information is safe to disclose and when you can disclose it. It is one of several benefits of hiring a business broker over a real estate broker when selling a business.

 Obviously, you will not want employees or customers to know you are selling your business, questions will arise about change of owner ship by both sides. Customers may be concerned about how ownership will affect quality of services or products. Employees will wonder if question their security, benefits, etc, with ownership change. Competitors could take advantage of knowing your business is for sale by reaching out to you customers.

 Your broker will vet buyers and have them sign a Confidentiality Agreement to protect your information and the sale confidential. Selling can be a long and stressful at times and as a business owner you will not have the time to deal with all the buyers, which many are not qualified to do an acquisition.

 A broker has processes in place for how and when to disclose information about a business for sale in the process of finding buyers. They act as a wall between the business owner who is selling and potential buyers. This makes it much easier to continue to run your business while they do the work of selling it, and to avoid extra stress or fear of making a costly mistakes. Business brokers are also experts at finding value in businesses of all industries and sizes and how to negotiate a deal structure that will work for both buyer and seller. In today’s market deal structure is very important when selling a business. Sellers and buyers need to be open to options and deal structure when buying or selling.

 If you have been thinking about selling a company you own in Michigan, consider the importance of doing it confidentially. If you have questions about the sale process, rely on a Certified Business Intermediary like Mike Limbers CEO of MTL Consultants/DBA Transworld Business Advisors is here to help you figure out if selling is right for you. 

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