This is the third and final part of the Strategic Marketing Plans series. Part 1 of the series discussed the need to identify the types of potential buyers for a business, while Part 2 addressed the specific methods used to target and attract buyers. This article focuses on the importance of "timing" in relation to the Strategic Marketing Plan for the sale of a business.
As stated earlier in this series, the way to obtain the highest price upon selling your business is to attract the greatest number of potential buyers. Common sense suggests one further thing, that the potential buyers for a business should be targeted simultaneously, whenever possible. Negotiating with two or three (or more) buyers is better than negotiating with just one. This is nothing more than the law of supply and demand as it applies to the sale of a business.
This concept is so simple that is often overlooked, particularly when businesses are marketed for sale by their owners. It is one’s natural tendency to negotiate with a buyer (usually the first to show interest) at the expense of actively continuing the search for additional prospects. This is because searching for buyers takes time and effort. Nevertheless, failing to continue the search for buyers is a grave mistake when it comes to achieving the highest price for selling your business, because attracting the greatest number of potential buyers at once increases the likelihood of obtaining the highest price upon selling a business.
For these reasons, timing is extremely important. After having identified the types of potential buyers for a business and the best methods to attract them, all of these methods must be aggressively pursued across multiple marketing channels, simultaneously.
The ultimate goal is to bring the most buyers possible to the negotiating table, at the same time. When this goal is accomplished, a business owner has the best likelihood of obtaining the highest price for his business. This is true regardless of whether one is selling a restaurant, which has been our example in this series, or any other business.
Ascend Business Brokers, Massachusetts business brokers, assists owners in selling their businesses.
