• Selling a Business

• Mergers and Divestments

• Exit strategies

Selling a business? You’ve come to the right place.

Business Sales QLD is a site dedicated to helping business owners make what can be a very daunting process a little easier. Our aim is to be the most informative website for potential business sellers- after all you’ve put years of hard work into building your business.

The information on this site is put together by some of Queensland’s leading business experts so you can get all the facts in one place.

We are regularly updating our business news section as well our recent sales data so please come back and visit on a regular basis.

If you have any questions at all about selling a business and want to speak to an expert in the field, enter your contact details and we will arrange for a certified practicing business broker to give you a call within 48 hours.

There is worrying trend that I am seeing in a lot of business owners who are looking to sell at the moment- THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEIR BUSINESS IS WORTH”

When a seller wants to sell and I show them comparable businesses that have sold and run them through several valuation methods- I usually get one of two reactions. There are some people are pleasantly surprised at the value of their business and put their to market. However often there are potential sellers who are disappointed with the price they are given and this results in them putting off a sale and staying in their business for a few years longer to get it to the stage where they can sell. Unfortunately their enthusiasm and drive in the business usually has dried up and these last few years are a real slog.

Unfortunately there is not a one-size fits all approach when it comes to valuing a business. There are many different theories on how to value a business and many of them are not correct or may not be applicable to your industry.  If you’re after an indication on what price it may be worth, take the time to go and see a business broker and have them run through similar sales and the likely sale price for your business. Make sure that you understand the method used to price your business and keep tabs on what businesses are on the market in your industry.

Even if your 2-3 years away from selling, I encourage you to have an appraisal done on your business so you know roughly what your would get.  There are 2 reasons why I recommend this-

1) So you can plan your future with some confidence know what you will walk away with when you do exit.

2) So if your business isn’t worth what your want, you can take some action and put a plan into place to get it there while your still motivated and enjoying your business.

Take the time to get it right now- it could mean many thousands of dollars in your pocket when you do exit.

If you are interested in knowing what your business may be worth, please feel free to send me an email and I will be happy to see you in my office for a half hour at no charge to yourself. If you are a few years away from selling, I will also show you some way you can maximize your sale price.

Written by Michael Yared

One of the first questions that I am asked by perspective sellers when they are looking to sell their business is “Do you market to buyers overseas who are looking to immigrate to Australia?”. While there are a number of immigrants looking for their perfect business opportunity, in my experience they move to Australia first, and look for their business second.

If someone wants to come to Australia and purchase a business, there is a three phase process involved. The first step comprises of a provisional visa which allows a person and their family to move to Australia for a 4 year period to start or purchase a business. After meeting several criteria with their business purchase they are able to apply for permanent residency in Australia. The benefit of this system is that it allows someone become settled, know their financial position, and then have 4 long years to find the right opportunity.

Buying a business can be the riskiest purchase that people can make. Like most people that were outlaying big money on a business, you would want to see where the business is located, its plant and equipment, the marketing it does, what its competitors are doing and the demographics of the area amongst many other things. This sort of investigation can only be done by being in the area where the business is located and doing your homework. Fortunately for people immigrating here, the system that the government currently has in place makes it easy for people to be well and truly settled in the country first before having to find a business.

We commonly hear of sellers spending thousands of dollars to market their business to target international buyers often with very disappointing results. If you were lucky enough to find a buyer, it would then take months to be approved with the right visa’s to get into the country.  While occasionally we do have some enquiry from overseas buyers through the internet, few of these are genuine and most don’t have the resources to purchase a business.

It’s no coincidence more businesses change hands through local business brokers than through any other source. When selling a business economics 101 does come into play- supply and demand. You will achieve more demand from marketing your business locally than you ever will overseas. Marketing your business locally makes sense- More buyers, faster sale and higher price.

Written by Michael Yared

Australian Business Broker of the Year 2011

to find out more about Michael…. visit his website www.michaelyared.com.au

When selling your business, achieving the highest possible price is probably fairly high on the list of most vendors. In order to do this, one the most important things that you can do is to market the business opportunity extensively.

Basic economics in come into any business sale- supply and demand. The more people that know about your business being for sale, the greater the chance of finding someone who is willing to pay the highest possible price.  Therefore by getting the word out there, you are more likely to create stronger demand and will be a long way in front of competing businesses that are looking to sell.

The other important factor to consider in marketing your business opportunity is timing. The first sixty days of a new business being advertised is when it is going to have the highest amount of buyers looking at it. After those six weeks enquiry drops right away and only new buyers coming into the market will see it.

The secret to achieving the highest possible price for a business sale is to use those six weeks to your advantage by running a strong campaign over that time. As a rule of thumb it could be said that the quicker the sale occurs, the closer to the asking price you will receive.

Don’t make the mistake that so many sellers do and just run the one weeks adds and then cut back. Look at the worlds largest companies such as coke and apple, when they launch a new product. They just don’t run one or two ads and hope for the best. A mass campaign is planned over several weeks designed to get as many people to see it as possible and selling a business is no different.

Before you spend your first advertising dollar decide on your target market, find out where they are most likely to see your advertisement and put together a campaign that is most likely to reach them.

An experience business broker will be able to help you plan a cost effective marketing plan that will reach you target audience.