

Business owners decide it’s time to sell for many reasons. It could be a desire to cash in on your investment and retire, to move on to a different phase of your professional life, or just because a great opportunity presents itself.
After all, you’ve put your blood sweat, and tears into this endeavor for years. You deserve to get top dollar for all your hard work.
Or do you?
While many factors help determine the value of a business, your opinion isn’t one of them. But, opinions do matter. Specifically, the opinions of your prospective buyer.
As with every purchase, the final decision is as much an emotional decision as a practical one. If you can convince a buyer’s heart that purchasing your business is the right thing to do, their head will require less convincing, and they’re less likely to insist on a lowball offer.
Most reputable resources on selling a business state these basic factors that go into the value of your business:
They’ll make wise, common-sense recommendations, like:
Then, they’re going to discuss various valuation strategies and formulas to determine a figure to put in their sales ad:
These are legitimate, practical ways of determining what a business should be worth to a buyer. Nothing is wrong with these factors and formulas. They do a great job of appealing to a buyer’s head. But, if you’re looking to maximize your business sale profits, you should consider more:
Many emotional factors affect the value of your business They impact how the buyer feels about what your company is worth, and these important factors don’t get nearly enough attention:
Since these factors increase the value of your business, trying to sell a business deficient in any of these areas would result in a lower valuation. Rather than encouraging a prospective buyers, boosting their confidence, and getting them excited, these emotional triggers would have the opposite effect.
If there’s room for improvement, take the time to do so before putting your company on the market. And, if your business excels in any of these areas, make a point of letting prospective buyers know about it.
You should begin taking positive steps at least a year before you plan to sell because ignoring these factors until closer to the sale can leave you scrambling for time. By applying these tips for a year or more, you should have plenty of time to establish them as integral parts of the business.
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Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.