Confront your emotions
For many business owners, the greatest challenge of selling their business is confronting their emotions. It’s not surprising that given the passion inherent in the make-up of most successful entrepreneurs, the sale of their business can result in emotional distress and turmoil. Unfortunately however, selling your business is a process that can be severely hampered by emotion-driven decision making.
So what can be done do manage emotions during the sale of your business?
Seek professional advice
It’s important to surround yourself with professional advisors who can guide you throughout the execution of your business sale. At a minimum, this should include your accountant, lawyer and M&A advisor. These professional advisors can assist you to make informed, rational decisions throughout what is often a challenging and emotional process.
Many business owners will also engage the services of a counsellor during the sale process also to assist them with keeping things in perspective and planning for what will often be a remarkable change to their day-to-day lives.
Make plans
Just as business owners make business plans, a business owner considering the sale of their business should make a ‘business sale plan’. This document should outline clearly:
(i) Their reasons for selling their business;
(ii) Their requirements from the sale (I.e. proceeds from the sale, ongoing consultancy role in business, etc);
(iii) Their desired timeframes to complete the sale of their business, and;
(iv) The best approach to achieve their desired outcome.
When a plan is constructed prior to commencing the business sales process, it can act as a constant reminder of the reasons why the sale is being completed, and guide a business owner through times that may be emotionally challenging.
Understand that it won’t be easy
The process of selling a business is generally challenging, time consuming and stressful. All business owners considering the sale of their business are wise to come to terms with this prior to committing to the sale of their business.
Find Out More
Quinn M&A’s expert team of business sales advisors can assist you to prepare for and execute the sale of your business. Contact Quinn M&A today on +612 9223 9166 or submit an Express Enquiry to arrange a confidential no cost consultation with one of our Directors.
