Making the decision to sell a business is an extremely important one but many business owners do not realize just how important it is until it is their business. It is absolutely imperative that you take the time to consider your options before making a decision, regardless of whether you built the business from nothing or bought into it and made it your own. There are plenty of factors to consider but if you decide to sell your business, you should do your research before marketing your business for sale.
There are several tips that could help you when selling your business, and ten of them are outlined below. This information is essential so make sure that you adhere to the following points:
1. Plan Your Exit Strategy – Experts agree that you should always plan ahead when you want to sell the business, and begin to prepare at least three years in advance where possible. This allows you to prepare for the handover, both personally and regarding the business for sale. It will allow you to maximize profit and get your paperwork in order.
2. Prepare The Business – If you want to get a higher price when selling your business, you need to make sure that it is well prepared. Any outstanding issues should be solved, new policies and strategies implemented, and fulfilling training will get you up to 10% more on your business than would otherwise be possible.
3. Disregard Your Own Valuation – You are emotionally involved in your business so any price expectations you place on it would be emotionally affected. As such, you are likely to over inflate the price and no buyer will want to know how much you believe your business is worth. The only valuation that matters is that of a valuation specialist or qualified appraiser.
4. Protect Yourself – Have your attorney draw up a confidentiality agreement with no possible loopholes before you make any disclosures pertaining to the business. This will protect your business no matter what and ensure that you are not stung if any sale falls through.
5. Inform Your Shareholders – Shareholders and other individuals with an interest in the business, such as board members, could actually stop any sale of your business going through. Advising them in advance and taking steps to ensure that their influence is ultimately muted is essential. Failing to do so may leave you with your business in your name along with a huge bill for costs incurred by brokers, accountants, and attorneys.
6. Prepare Your Conditions – Many business owners wait until a bid is made on their businesses before preparing their own terms and this can hold up a potential sale. It may even be the cause for a sale falling through. Preparing your written terms and conditions before you put your business on the market will inform buyers before they place a bid. You will then be able to negotiate.
7. Consider Your Retirement – Selling a business may only be the start of your retirement but it could lead to problems in your personal life. You need to consider what you will do following the sale of your business for your own peace of mind and general health. Do not neglect this point. Although it may not sound important now, it will be following the sale.
8. Do Not Give Priority To Price – You should never look at the sale of your business in immediate financial terms. The bids offered may be distinguished as the highest monetary bid and the lower ones, but accepting the former may mean you lose out. Lower bids may have clauses by which you earn a percentage of profits for so many years or even retain shares, As such, the cash amount should be placed behind the content of the bid terms when you consider them.
9. Full Disclosure – No matter what the weaknesses are for your business, you should always make a full disclosure, including warranties, about the state of your business. Be sure to include “to the best of your knowledge” in your contracts, and qualify all disclosure made so you and your buyer know exactly where you stand.
10. Choose The Deal – Approving a deal structure is of paramount importance when selling your business. You need to ensure that you are completely happy with every aspect of the deal. For example, you may want to retain a certain aspect of technology from your business for your future interests so this should be qualified in the terms. You may also wish to keep certain business interests out of the sale. Whatever your decision, you should always act in your own best interests so only offer the deal that you feel comfortable with.
About the Author:
GlobalBX provides a FREE business for sale exchange connecting business buyers, sellers and lenders. Search over 32,000 businesses for sale and franchise opportunities. Sell a business for free with no listing fees and zero commissions. We have all the top franchises as well as franchise resales. Find franchise reviews and get free franchise information. You can also contact over 300 lenders directly and get a business loan.
Category: Online Business
Before you get involved with a franchise and commit to a future within a specific brand or business, there are essential elements of the law that you need to know. That law is determined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which requires franchisors to present all potential franchisees with a specific document offering disclosures at least ten days before a contract is signed or money changes hands. That agreement is known as the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC). It is designed to help potential franchisees decide whether an opportunity is the right investment for them and, as such, contains a total of 23 sections.
The Franchisor and its Predecessors and Affiliates – This is the first section and provides specific information about the franchisor. This includes the location, the products / services available, and the experience of personnel working for the company.
Business Experience – This is the second section and it provides you with employment histories for all of the franchise brokers, board members, executives, officers, and management. This is to demonstrate their experience and provides specific information for the previous five years.
Litigation – This is the third section and provides information about any and all litigation that any of the officers, board members, management and executives, as well as the franchisor itself, have previously been involved in. Your attorney should fully investigate any issues arising here.
Bankruptcy – This is the fourth section and is similar to litigation in that it will detail bankruptcy issues instead of litigation proceedings.
Fees – The fifth section informs you of any upfront fees and charges that are applicable to you, including any initial franchising fee that must be paid.
Ongoing Fees – The sixth section details all costs, fees, and payments that are required to be paid following those in section five. This may be royalties, advertising, maintenance, construction, and even staffing costs.
Initial Investment – The seventh section details how much you will need to plough into the business to get it off the ground. These figures are essential for applying for financing and compiling your business plan. Of course, the figures here are typical rather than actual and more of an investment may be required.
Restrictions on Sources of Products and Services – The eighth section is complex on paper but is easy to understand as it details the goods that you are obligated to purchase or lease from the franchisor or its partners. There are often details like the quantities of goods you have to purchase, so you will have an insight into the running of the business.
Franchisee’s Obligations – The ninth section details your own personal obligations relating to the business and may or may not include policies, sale figures, training, and the site itself.
Financing – The tenth section will detail an outline of financial plans and arrangements that are available to you as a franchisee.
Franchisor’s Obligations – This eleventh section will take some reading as it is easily the longest area of the UFOC. It is also extremely important because it details the franchisor’s obligations to you. It includes various information and all of it is vital to your interests. Pay particular attention to the part outlining the advertising policy.
Territory – The twelfth section of the UFOC details your legal territorial obligations and rights. It outlines whether you have exclusivity or whether you will or may have to share a location with your competition.
Trademarks – The thirteenth section outlines the trademark rights held and whom they actually belong to. It also includes legal details of how the protection works, and thus how and when you will be able to use it.
Patents, Copyrights and Proprietary Information – Further to the above section, the fourteenth section covers ownership of patents and copyrights, and the conditions under which you may use them.
Obligation to Participate in the Actual Operation of The Franchise Business – This may sound complex, but the fifteenth section basically outlines whether you have to be involved in the business personally and the extent of your involvement.
Restrictions on What The Franchisee May Sell – Section sixteen outlines the products you will sell if you invest in the franchise, and gives ideas of further products that you may be able to sell at a later date.
Renewal, Termination, Transfer and Dispute Resolution – Section seventeen is there to protect the franchisor and franchisee because it tells you how and why you may be terminated as well as determining your rights. Should a conflict occur, it would also inform you of how to proceed with a complaint or issue.
Public Figures – The eighteenth section highlights the celebrities or public personas that will be involved in any marketing campaigns, as well as the way in which he or she will receive compensation.
Earnings Claims – The nineteenth section of the UFOC is an important one because it details typical profits, sales, and information about other franchisees. This is not required so it may not be there, but if it is not then do some research to satisfy your suspicions because you need to know these figures.
List of Outlets – Section twenty of the UFOC details statistics about the system that the franchisor employs, including the number of outlets and the location details of at least 100 of them. There will also be information about closures and contract terminations over the past three years.
Financial Statements – Category twenty-one of the UFOC relates to the franchisor’s financial background and the full statements of accounts for the previous three years. It also includes the current balance sheet. All of the above has to be certified by an accountant to maintain their validity. Your own accountant should examine them for you.
Contracts And Agreements – Section twenty-two is exactly what it says it is, so be sure to consult with your attorney to ensure that they are in your best interests.
Acknowledgment of Receipt by Respective Franchisee – The final section is literally an acknowledgement that you received the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular and is of no other consequence.
Although the Federal Trade Commission requires that all of the above be sent to you in the form of a Uniform Franchising Offering Circular (UFOC), they will not have reviewed or approved the information within the document. As such, it is your responsibility to check its accuracy via your attorney and make sure that the franchise business is really in your best interests.
About the Author:
GlobalBX provides a FREE business for sale exchange connecting business buyers, sellers and lenders. Search over 32,000 businesses for sale and franchise opportunities. Sell a business for free with no listing fees and zero commissions. We have all the top franchises as well as franchise resales. Find franchise reviews and get free franchise information. You can also contact over 300 lenders directly and get a business loan.
You have two big decisions to make when deliberating over whether to use a franchise opportunity to set up a business. If you have already determined that a franchise may be the way to go for you then you have to choose the right one, but how can you do that?
First, you have to analyze yourself in depth to ensure that you have the personal skills, wants, and needs. You have to know exactly what you are capable of and the extent of your business aspirations. Brainstorming is a handy tool to use in this situation and it is essential that you do so before investigating current franchise opportunities that are available. Starting with industry analysis is the best route because you can then match your skill set to the industry requirements. As such, you can then narrow down your options to a few select industries before assessing whether those franchise options would work in your local geographic area. Only then can you begin to contact the franchisors and create a business plan.
When contacting franchisors about possible opportunities, always ask them to send you franchise information. If they are to be trusted then this should be available at no cost. When you receive the information, be sure to read it extremely carefully, paying attention to every detail. Do not take anything at face value and research every detail given in depth. After all, this is your future and no stone should be left unturned. You can use trade magazines, Internet profiles, professional journals, and annual reports. You should also contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and local authorities to make sure that there are no issues with the franchisor. You should extensively look into the reputation, financial health, growth, management, and day to day running of the business because it will be passed onto you as a franchisee.
When you have digested all of the above information and you are happy with it, ask for details of existing franchisees. It is essential to speak to them because they can give you an accurate viewpoint of how the franchisor runs the business, what the management is like to deal with, insider secrets, how the business is faring, and so on. Any good franchisor will be more than happy to provide this information whereas others may be reticent. Franchisees provide critical information so again only pursue franchises that are accessible. Only then should you assemble a legal team and accountant to answer any legal and financial questions you may have. They will also be able to find any holes that you have yet to discover, thus protecting your own interests.
About the Author:
GlobalBX provides a FREE business for sale exchange connecting business buyers, sellers and lenders. Search over 32,000 businesses for sale and franchise opportunities. Sell a business for free with no listing fees and zero commissions. We have all the top franchises as well as franchise resales. Find franchise reviews and get free franchise information. You can also contact over 300 lenders directly and get a business loan.
Driving traffic to your website is only one side of the coin; once you’ve got visitors there you then need to get them onto your list! Having a sign-up box on your website detailing your ‘free taste’ in exchange for their name/email address is one way that you can do this, but deciding WHERE to place your all-important sign-up box for maximum impact is also just as important.
Depending on whether your page is a sales page, an information page, or some other type of web page will determine the strategy you use for enticing your web site visitors to sign up to your list.
I’d like to share three different, but very effective, sign-up page strategies with you.
1. At The Top Of Every Web Page
Your sign-up box should appear at the top of every single webpage on your website – the top right-hand corner has been researched to be the most effective place to put this.
Why?
Because you never know where someone will enter your website from. As your site grows and more pages get added, it will be getting picked up by the search engines for different terms or key phrases – and they might be phrases that aren’t on your home page, but on one of your other pages instead.
Someone could enter your website and leave via the same page (in other words they don’t stop to look around), and if you haven’t got a sign-up box on that page, you’ve got no chance of getting their name and email address – and they won’t know you offer a ‘free taste’.
2. Using Exit Grabber Software
Another sign-up strategy that I’m currently using is Exit Grabber software. This is a clever piece of software that knows when a visitor is about to leave my website and only pops up just before they leave.
The popup box reminds a visitor not to leave without first grabbing their free report.
3. Adding A PS To A Sales Page
Internet marketers have done their research and the conclusion is that a lot of visitors to your sales page are going to scroll straight down to the bottom of your sales page first to read your PS’s!
So, if the first two strategies aren’t suitable for a particular page on your website or one of your sales pages, be sure to include a PS that tells your visitor what your ‘free taste’ is. And rather than include the sign-up box in the PS, provide a hyperlink that takes them to your sign-up page.
All three sign-up page strategies offer something slightly different, depending on your particular web page, and are very effective for getting your web site visitors to sign up to your list.
So once you’ve got traffic coming to your website ensure that you’re capturing your visitor’s information by implementing at least one of the three different strategies I’ve shared with you today.
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Micro Blog Niches
Blogtrepreneur: Today I’d like to talk to you about a technique for generating more search engine traffic. This is something I stumbled on in my own blogging and I am shocked at how well it works. Obviously it isn’t fool-proof, but if it is done right, you will see a huge amount of supplemental traffic coming to your blog. For lack of a better term, I’m going to call it “blogging with micro niches.”
Most bloggers have identified at least one niche in their industry and have based their blog on it. For example, simply blogging about “Business” would be difficult to develop and focus in-depth content unless you further defined it as “Online Business” or “Home Based Business” or “Women Owned Business.” Each of these niches provides you with a substantial enough subject that you can write every day—yet it limits your topics and gives your blog clarity. Blog readers are often drawn to niche blogs that speak to them personally, and are more likely to subscribe to these blogs as well as recommend them to other people.
Bringing in Blog Traffic With Micro Niches [Blogtrepreneur]