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Tips on How to Sell Your Business from Top Miami Business Broker

David Currea is a business broker with more than a decade of experience selling businesses in Miami-Dade. If interested in selling a business in the Miami area or looking for a business valuation, feel free to reach him at (305) 331-9918 or [email protected]. He speaks both English and Spanish fluently. For helpful advice when selling a business, please see his advice below.

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Throughout my years of working as a business broker here in South Florida, I’ve learned a substantial amount about the the process of selling businesses – including how to sell for the highest price, and how to sell the quickest and with the least amount of hassle.

Heed the following advice, and you’ll be in good shape when selling your business:

Get Your Financials In Order Before Listing Your Business For Sale

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Down here we often joke about being on “Miami time” when running late – but in the case of selling businesses, keeping a buyer waiting for too long is not the best idea, especially when they’re motivated and ready to go. 

Make a buyer wait too long and you run the risk of them losing interest, moving onto other businesses, or no longer taking your business seriously. As they say, “time kills all deals”, and unfortunately, this quite often proves to be true, especially with all the options that buyers have.

A good business broker will work with you and your accountant to gather all the necessary info a buyer would need to see when evaluating your business, and get everything in order before going out to market.

You Should Have at Least Three Years of Financials That Reflect Your Business’s Real Operation

how to prepare business for sale

Ideally, you will have tax returns for the last three years where you declared every dollar, and didn’t list any personal expenses as business expenses… ideally…

However, as business brokers we regularly see tax returns with “creative accounting” in order to avoid paying excessive taxes… We understand it just comes with the territory, and do not pass judgement.

A good business broker will know how to recast your financials by determining the “addbacks”, such as personal / non-business expenses and one-time, non-recurring expenses. These are “added back” to the bottom line so a prospective buyer will have a better understanding of the real profit they would be seeing as the owner of the business.

Other ways of verifying the performance of the business are:

  • Profit & loss statements
  • Bank statements
  • Verifiable invoices to customers for cash payments
  • Any other internal financial record-keeping system you may have in place

Your business broker will help guide the way on this.

Note: All financial information is kept completely confidential, and buyers must sign an NDA, present a proof of funds and provide a bio / background in order to qualify to receive details on a business.

Setting the Right Price for Your Business Is of Paramount Importance

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After recasting your financials, a business broker will figure out the real profit your business makes, either in the form of EBITDA or SDE.

Using this figure, they will find comparable businesses that have sold in your industry, within the same financial parameters, and get a good idea of what businesses like yours are selling for. This generally provides brokers with a range of what buyers are willing to pay for a business such as yours.

The broker will then go out to market on the higher end of this range.

You want to be realistic with your asking price. Some business owners believe their business is worth millions when it in reality it’s worth hundreds of thousands… just as an example. In many cases businesses are actually worth millions, and if a broker can justify that price point, they will!

Sell for too high, and buyers don’t take your opportunity seriously, and you may lose out on the initial rush of buyers that bring some of the best opportunities… sell for too low, and you’ll be leaving money on the table!

Once again, let the business broker guide the way on this – but in the end, you are the one that will sign off if you’re in agreement the price.

Do Not Look at the Buyer as an Adversary – Deals Where Buyers and Sellers Work Together Have the Best Chance of Closing

Miami business broker

Both the buy and sell-side of a deal can sometimes take stubborn, “standoffish” attitudes towards each other. This adversarial attitude is the best way to ensure that a deal won’t happen (and it happens quite often!).

Putting yourself in the buyer’s shoes will help you better understand their position. Generally, buyers – just like sellers – are trying to move forward carefully, and make sure they don’t make mistakes. But they too need to be fair.

This is where a good business broker comes in and helps both sides come together on sticking points. If both sides can cooperate and keep an open mind, a solution to almost any issue presented can be found that will keep the deal moving towards the closing table.

Reasons for Hiring a Business Broker to Help Sell Your Business

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If looking to sell your business, you want a licensed real estate agent who specializes in the sale of businesses (a business broker, sometimes known as a business intermediary) – not a residential or even commercial real estate agent – to help you with the sale. Business brokers – as opposed to most real estate agents – specialize in and understand the very unique areas of:

  • Business valuations
  • Interpreting and working with financials
  • The importance of confidentiality in business sales
  • The unique business sales process
  • The need to qualify buyers financially and skill-wise
  • Marketing channels for selling businesses
  • Financing contacts
  • Access to legal documents such as NDAs and business purchase contracts

If in the state of Florida, check that the business broker is a member of the Business Brokers of Florida (BBF) association. Members of the BBF must demonstrate their expertise and ability in business brokerage, and adhere to a strict code of ethics. They are the best in the business of selling businesses, and you would want nobody else representing you on the sale of yours!

About the Author – David Currea, Miami Business Broker, Licensed Real Estate Agent and BBF Member

Miami Business brokersDavid Currea is a BBF member, licensed real estate agent and part of Capital Business Solutions’ team of Miami business brokers. David has been selling businesses since 2008, and has brokered transactions ranging from tens of thousands of dollars up into the millions. If in Miami-Dade and considering selling your business, you can reach David for more information at (305) 331-9918 or [email protected].

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