Preparing to sell a business.

You should put a plan in place immediately after deciding to sell a business. This plan should highlight your strategy for getting the business in shape to allow it to reach a good, but realistic asking price. Include the following tasks in your plan:

• Get tough with outstanding accounts and try to improve your working capital. You need to show buyers that your business is in a strong financial position and that the future of the business is sound.
• Reduce operating expenses by removing unnecessary expenses. Trim away the waste and show that cost are being properly managed to ensure the business remains profitable.
• Resolve any in-house issues that you have with staff and try to get a strong management team in place to show that the business doesnt need you to prosper.
• Try negotiating better terms with your suppliers or decrease the credit period given to your customers. This should ensure your cash flow improves and shows your business is healthy.
• Try to avoid any big capital expenditures which could increase liabilities or reduce working capital.
• Try to focus on the activities within your organisation which are likely to improve the value of your business. Try to secure more business or contracts that will improve the businesses prospects for the future. Widening your customer base always means more security for future trading.

The great thing is that if you dont manage to sell the business after working on the above issues, your business will still be in great shape.