{"id":561073,"date":"2014-10-08T09:27:40","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T13:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vrbbd.wpengine.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/selling-business-how-long-does-it-take\/"},"modified":"2022-01-31T12:43:57","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T17:43:57","slug":"selling-business-how-long-does-it-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/selling-business-how-long-does-it-take\/","title":{"rendered":"Selling a Business: How Long Does It Take?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A recent survey revealed\u00a0that the average time between listing and sale was 9 months.<\/p>\n<p align=\"\u201djustify;\u201d\">Why does it take so long to sell a business?\u00a0 Price and terms are the biggest reasons.\u00a0 Not over-pricing the business at the beginning of the sales process is a big plus, as well as structuring the transaction to include a reasonable down payment with the seller carrying the balance.\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">Having all of the necessary information right from the beginning can also greatly reduce the time period from listing to closing.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"\u201djustify;\u201d\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">Being prepared for the information a buyer may want to review or having the answers available for the questions a buyer may want answered is also\u00a0key.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Here is the basic information that a prospective acquirer will want to review:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Copies of the financials for the past three years.<\/li>\n<li>A copy of the lease and any assignments of the lease from previous sales.<\/li>\n<li>A list of the fixtures and equipment that will be included in the sale. <em>Note: If something is not included, it is best to remove it prior to the sale or at least have a list of items not included.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>A copy of the franchise agreement if applicable or any agreements with suppliers or vendors.<\/li>\n<li>Copies of any other documentation pertaining to the business.<\/li>\n<li>Supporting documents for patents, copyrights, trademarks, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Sales brochures, press releases, advertisements, menus or other sales materials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition, here are some of the questions that buyers may have.\u00a0 A prepared seller should have ready answers as well as the information to support them.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is the seller willing to train a new owner at no charge?<\/li>\n<li>Are there any zoning or local restrictions that would impact the business?<\/li>\n<li>Is there any pending litigation?<\/li>\n<li>Are any license issues involved?<\/li>\n<li>Are there any federal or state requirements, or environmental OSHA issues that could affect the business?<\/li>\n<li>What about the employee situation? Are there key employees?<\/li>\n<li>Are there any copyrights, secret recipes, mailing lists, etc?<\/li>\n<li>What about major suppliers or vendors?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A prepared seller is a willing seller, and having the answers to the above questions can significantly reduce the time it takes to sell a business.\u00a0 Using the services of a professional business broker can also greatly reduce the time period.\u00a0 They are knowledgeable about the current market, how to market a business and how to best\u00a0advise a seller on price and terms.\u00a0 They can also recommend professional advisors, if a seller doesn\u2019t have them already.\u00a0 Using advisors who are transaction-experienced can also shorten the time it takes to close the sale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent survey revealed\u00a0that the average time between listing and sale was 9 months. Why does it take so long to sell a business?\u00a0 Price and terms are the biggest reasons.\u00a0 Not over-pricing the business at the beginning of the sales process is a big plus, as well as structuring the transaction to include a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-selling-a-business"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561073\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}