Selling Your Business

photo_biz13The AZBBA comprises the largest single group of professional business brokers and intermediaries in the state of Arizona. Our members cooperate to offer for sale more privately held businesses on this website than can be found in any other marketing and advertising medium available in Arizona. Seller’s not only reach a large pool of buyers from all over the country who search the AZBBA website, but also enjoy a full-range of highly qualified professionals as a collective resource who search for businesses on behalf of their pre-qualified buyers.

AZBBA Brokers have the resources, skills, and expertise to find qualified buyers and market your business effectively. Even if you’re not ready to sell your business today, AZBBA brokers will provide you with valuable guidance about preparing your business for sale tomorrow.

Anyone who has sold a business by themselves will tell you a story about a tedious, stressful and lengthy process that required exorbitant amounts of time while keeping them away from running their business. The distraction caused by the lack of focus on the day-to-day essentials of managing the enterprise can compromise the value of the business.

So what benefits do sellers gain by using an AZBBA business broker? In short, an experienced and professional business broker reduces the risk, to the owner, that the financial and operational performance of the business will erode during the sale process. Further the broker will ultimately maximize the selling price through the process of procuring the largest possible pool of qualified buyers while maintaining confidentiality during the due diligence and disclosure stages.

There are many reasons why sellers use business brokers, of course. In a recent poll by Tom West, former President of the International Business Brokers Association, sellers of small and midsize businesses gave 62 reasons why they hired business transfer intermediaries (i.e., business brokers and advisors who specialize in deal-making on behalf of sellers). According to the poll, conducted in the USA and Canada (plus a few contributors from around the world), the following are the top reasons:

  • Brokers know how to sell businesses; most sellers don’t
  • Seller doesn’t want to be distracted from running business
  • Confidentiality preservation and knowledge of what/when to show buyers
  • Access broker’s database of potential buyers and investors
  • Maximize price buyers will pay for the business
  • Owner does not know how to find buyers
  • Prepare owner to sell and prepare business for sale
  • Broker understands and can depersonalize negotiations
  • Explain and hand hold seller throughout selling process
  • Owner afraid of trying to sell “by-owner”
  • Help buyer obtain financing

An experienced business broker can help guide you through the complicated process of selling your business and adds tremendous value by:

  1. Maintaining confidentiality and business continuity,

  2. Reaching potential buyers

  3. Marketing effectively

  4. Valuing the business

  5. Qualifying prospective buyers

  6. Closing the Deal – all as part of the broker’s obligation to represent you, the seller.