December 13th, 2007 quantum
It is important for business sellers to provide certain important information to prospective business buyers. As mentioned in a previous blog post, this is done for them to get a comprehensive overview of the seller’s business. Thus, proper preparation is necessary for the best presentation of your business and is required in order to provide meaningful insight to prospective purchasers. To accomplish this, the business must be properly packaged with all applicable records and facts organized and documented in the most strategic way to maximize potential value. This ensures a presentation of our client’s business in the best light, while providing the purchaser with a solid audit trail to corroborate the seller’s representations of value. In this post, we examine the need for the seller to provide the business with certain legal and marketing information.
The legal information provided will enable the buyer to ensure that the business is operating in compliance with laws governing the particular industry.
The marketing information provided will allow the buyer to assess existing marketing/advertising efforts of the seller and determine additional avenues to pursue ion order to further grow the business.
Therefore, the following legal and marketing checklist items, if applicable, should be provided by the seller to the buyer:
Marketing Information:
- Sales catalogs, brochures, fliers, etc.
- Advertising examples
- Overview of web site
- Product specification sheets
- Marketing plans
Legal Information:
- If incorporated, copy of Articles of Incorporation
- If incorporated, copy of By-laws
- If incorporated, copy of organizational Minutes
- If Limited Liability Company, copy of Operating Agreement and LLC organizational Minutes
- If partnership, a copy of the partnership agreement
- A copy of any joint-venture agreements
- A copy of any fictitious business name filings
- A copy of any sales and use permits
- A copy of any real estate deeds and/or leases for real property available as part of the sale of the business
- Any zoning approvals
- Any state or federal licenses
- Any franchise agreement if the business offered for sale is a franchise
- A copy of the complaint for any pending litigation
- Copies of all documentation related to the ownership of intellectual property including the establishment of all copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade names and patents.
Including the above mentioned information in your checklist will enable the buyer to assess your business and decide it viability as a valuable business opportunity.
Keep visiting Quantum™ Blog for more updates.
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December 1st, 2007 quantum
In a previous Blog Post titled, ‘Checklist for Business Sellers (Part 1 of 6), a list of 6 categories provided for organizing the information and documentation which is important for an organized presentation of your business. In the current blog, the first category of the checklist i.e, ‘Business Overview’ is further categorized into key topic headings for organizing your data concerning the business.
Business Overview:
- Description of the business
- Personal profile/resume of the business owner/manager
- Reason for the desired sale of the business (try to allay any suspicion that you are trying to unload a business with hidden problems)
- The business products and/or services (include photographs, if appropriate)
- A description of the primary business markets
- A listing of the primary customers of the business
- A listing of the primary suppliers of the business
- Any major or primary customer testimonials
- Any significant items evidencing industry recognition (i.e., awards, reviews, favorable media attention or comments, citations, etc.)
- A schedule of key-employee personnel (including short personal biographies) with an organizational chart. Important note: A competent manager can be a very strong selling point. If your business is large enough to have an experienced manager, other than yourself, who can stay with the business, emphasize this individual’s talents and potential. Having highly experienced people on staff communicates to the buyer that the future success of the business isn’t dependent on you as the owner
- A schedule of owned and leased assets, including photographs if appropriate
- Provide the primary locations of the business
- Provide copies of contracts with employees and independent contractors
Quantum™ Business Solution Network will guide and assist you in compiling relevant information for your business and create a detailed profile or prospectus.
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November 13th, 2007 quantum
At Quantum, this is the first step in the sales process. During this stage we typically conduct a client interview, determine sale objectives and obtain pertinent information. We then assemble financial and general information on all aspects of your business.
Proper preparation is necessary for the best presentation of your business and is required in order to provide meaningful insight to prospective purchasers.
The business must be properly packaged with all applicable records and facts organized and documented in the most strategic way to maximize potential value. This ensures a presentation of the seller’s business in the best light, while providing the purchaser with a solid audit trail to corroborate the seller’s representations of value.
The checklist includes items that will help a seller in preparing a business for sale. The checklist items, if applicable, should be assembled into a book, appropriately bound and tabbed for easy reference. This checklist enables the seller to formulate an organized presentation and an opportunity to provide the buyer with a concise and a complete overview of the business.
The checklist generally contains the following categories of information:
1. Business Overview:
2. Marketing Information
3. Legal Information
4. Financial History
5. Financial and Business Forecast
6.Miscellaneous
Detailed information about each point mentioned above shall be provided in subsequent blog posts.
Visit Quantum™ Blog for more information on business transactions.
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November 6th, 2007 quantum
Preparing a business for sale is the first step in the sales process. Business Brokers guide the sellers in the preparing their businesses by conducting interviews and obtaining pertinent information. Brokers assemble financial and general information on all aspects of your business.
Proper preparation is necessary for the best presentation of your business and is required in order to provide meaningful insight to prospective purchasers. While preparing the business for sale brokers engage in Asset Analysis and Structuring, where review and analyze of the assets you hold within your business is conducted and also legal structures you might consider using to better protect those assets and possibly enhance their value are suggested. In fact, you may even be unaware that you hold many of these assets. The appropriate structuring and accounting for those assets is likely to greatly enhance the value of your business.
The business must be properly packaged with all applicable records and facts organized and documented in the most strategic way to maximize potential value. This ensures a presentation of the seller’s business in the best light, while providing the purchaser with a solid audit trail to corroborate the seller’s representations of value.
Employing professional business brokerage assistance for preparation of a business for sale can prove beneficial for you to acquire a suitable business opportunity.
We at Quantum™ Business Solution Network, help you to acquire a lucrative business opportunity by guiding you at every step of a sale process.
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November 1st, 2007 quantum
One of the many facets of Client Interview includes information about effective ways for achieving success with the new business purchase. Business brokers make the business buyers aware of certain key-factors which when incorporated in the general strategy of the buyer to run a business, guarantee profitable results.
In a Client Interview apart from gaining pertinent information about the buyer’s background, experience, management skills or financial status, comprehensive and extensive knowledge about making the prospective deal in a successful business purchase opportunity is also imparted. Whether it is determining acquisitions or objectives of a buyer or making them know about the required documentation, business brokers determine the business opportunities that are best suited for the client’s skills and professional abilities. By explaining buyers the procedure of extracting maximum profit from the new business purchase, brokers help the buyers in gaining some relevant foresight into successful ownership of the business in future. This is done so as to prepare the buyer for smooth running of the business, he or she acquires or purchases in due course of time.
Following are some of the tips that help in attaining success for your new business purchase:
* Become intimate with the product(s) or service(s) of your new business and sell the benefits they deliver. Study the competition
* Manage the business in an honest manner
* Always remain committed to whatever you promise
* Apprise your customers or clients of negative news immediately and provide an effective solution
* Follow up on every detail in order to earn the client’s or customer’s ongoing respect.
Inclusion of the above mentioned points in your business running strategy, helps you become a successful business owner of a profitable business.
QBSNet, helps you find a business opportunity best suited for your interests and skills. Visit our website and know more about our business brokerage services.
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October 22nd, 2007 quantum
Pre-qualification of each business opportunity involves communicating with each seller and/or the seller’s representative, obtaining and reviewing pertinent business information and records and performing a preliminary evaluation to determine whether the business represents a valuable opportunity and meets the client’s purchase criteria as outlined during the client interview.
Screening and Reviewing:
It is very essential to review the company’s profile and thereafter, more detailed records and information to ensure that there will be a solid audit trail to corroborate the seller’s representations of value. Throughout this process legal guidance with accounting and tax expertise enables the business brokers to respond to a variety of buyer questions and concerns and participate and manage the transaction aimed toward streamlining the process of consummating a purchase.
For example, Business Brokers will analyze the gross profit percentage from year to year and examine whether any expenses have been substantially reduced from year to year to make the business look better for sale (i.e. a reduction of advertising, promotion or marketing expenses or employees could have been released). If depreciation declines dramatically from one year to the next, it might be an indication that equipment has come to the end of its useful life – if so, when and at what cost, will it have to be replaced.
These two procedures will help a buyer to take an informed decision about a business acquisition.
Visit Quantum™ Blog for more information on business transactions.
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October 19th, 2007 quantum
In order to effectively represent a buyer in a purchase transaction, the business broker should thoroughly interview and evaluate the buyer in order to completely understand his or her purchase criteria. The broker needs to have a clear understanding of the buyer’s needs and expectations from the business opportunities to be pursued. The client interview thus becomes the primary step in the purchase process.
Initially fundamental information about the buyer is gathered by the business broker. This includes background, experience, education, management skills and financial requirements of the buyer Thus, the client interview enables the broker to judge the professional interests and industrial expertise of the buyer and hence seek a business opportunity that best suits the client’s skills and capacities. Throughout this process, the broker should enlighten the buyer about the nuances of the business purchase transaction.
The business brokers will often probe about the buyer’s past employment and the aspects of the position enjoyed most by the client. This is important information because with this knowledge, a business broker could best present business opportunities that include similar components to the past employment in order ensure to the buyer’s compatibility with business opportunity presented. A buyer is made aware of the capital intensity of a new business, so that he is prepared to finance unexpected and mandatory capital expenditures, especially if the prospective business involves equipment.
During the client interview the buyer is often informed about the documentation and paper-work he has to be ready with when approaching a business opportunity for purchase. The buyer has to maintain an organized file that should include important facets such as a accounting and financial section, owner questions section, sales section, marketing/advertising section, industry information section, licenses/permits/filings section, legal section, due diligence etc.
For a buyer, the client interview presents an opportunity to gain a certain comfort level from the business broker concerning what lies ahead and how to best be prepared. Information and guidance provided to the buyer in the client interview promotes success down the road by ensuring extreme diligence in understanding the products and/or services offered by each business considered and the competition in the marketplace.
In sum, the client interview sets the stage for each step of the business purchase process that follows. We, at Quantum™ Business Solutions Network, strive to ensure this process is executed in a manner most beneficial to our clients.
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October 17th, 2007 quantum
Conducting extensive research and identifying specific business opportunities is perhaps the most crucial first step that you can take as a business buyer.
There are many channels which can be utilized to locate and identify qualified business opportunities. QBSNet’s marketing consultants have developed a comprehensive marketing network of accountants, attorneys, bankers and other leads aimed toward locating qualified businesses that fit your established criterion. We also maintain our own database of qualified business opportunities.
Once we begin a search for qualified business opportunities on your behalf, we will notify you by email that we have identified certain business opportunities that meet your search criteria. This will typically occur by requesting that you log into our database of qualified business opportunities.
You will be requested to review the summaries of each business opportunity selected on your behalf which contain basic information relating to each business opportunity including, the Business Type, the Business Location, the List Price, the Net Cash Flow To Owner (Net Cash Flow is arrived at by starting with net (before tax) profit and then adding back any payments made to the owner, interest and any depreciation of assets) and Quantum Comments (our input why we believe the particular business represents a valuable opportunity).
If any particular business opportunity is appealing to you, select “Click Here For More Information On This Business Listing” and you will have immediate access to more detailed information concerning that business listing.
After reviewing the detailed record of information available through our database, if you wish to continue to pursue any particular business opportunity, click “Interested” and a Quantum™ Business Solutions Network Consultant will be notified to contact the owner of that business (or the owner’s representative) in order to obtain additional information concerning that listing.
The new and advanced qualified business locating and identifying network is a fast and elaborative way of searching a business opportunity that appropriately suits the criteria provided by a business buyer to us. This not only makes the procedure for searching a qualified business listing more easy but also reliable and result-oriented.
Conducting extensive search and identification of specific Business Opportunities, will present the buyer with a variety of business listings to choose from.
Visit our website www.QBSNet.com and get expert advice on recognizing suitable business opportunities.
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October 2nd, 2007 quantum
After our affiliation with a leading regional Law firm Myers Dawes Andreas & Sherman, LLP, to provide both Business Brokerage and Legal services under a single roof, the move to introduce complimentary legal services was to follow naturally. The inclusion of discounted legal services would mean that you can have access to expert assistance on the legalities that are involved in a business transaction without having to hire a separate attorney or legal officer.
Provision of Legal services for different qualified services shall enable the client to save $20,000 or more depending upon the value of business purchased or sold. The announcement was recently covered in a Press Release, from which the following excerpts are taken:
“The program of providing complimentary legal services for qualified listings to our clients would help them save $20,000 or more, depending upon the value of business purchased or sold. We have introduced this discount program to combat the problems that our clients encountered when they selected a particular business opportunity. Legal complexities and intricacies are an integral part of any business selling or business buying process and unless you have qualified legal help available at hand, you run a very high risk of faltering”
This consequently saves their time and resources from being spent unnecessarily, ‘running from one firm to other’, by eliminating a duplication of costs and the coordination of professionals to ensure a smooth transaction”.
“This idea of combining the legal expertise of MDAS with the already established accounting, business and marketing experience of Quantum™, will give Quantum™ a definite edge and will allow us to offer one of a kind comprehensive business brokerage service under a single umbrella”.
You can read the complete press release at the following URLs:
http://www.prleap.com/pr/95683/
http://www.qbsnet.com/southern-california-discounted-legal-services-los-angeles.php
Visit our website - www.qbsnet.com to find out about the other lucrative business brokerage services that might suit your business or professional requirements.
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September 24th, 2007 quantum
Many times buyers will encounter the issue of whether to include the unearned deposits in their deals or not. Moreover, a change in ownership can often impact the quality of work provided or services rendered. These issues can add complexity to a transaction. Below, we have tried to shed some light on the issue. The following scenario offers a way to proceed under a particular set of facts.
“If someone wants to purchase a bakery and the seller has accepted deposits from customers for future work that would occur after COE, what should be stipulate in the offer? As in the case of a specialty cake like a wedding cake, the person who originally contracted with the seller would be distraught to learn that there is a new owner and all cake designers have their own style, however standard. Should a buyer ask the seller to contact all people they have contracted with to notify them of the sale or would a publishing of notice of sale in the paper as required by escrow be sufficient? Another issue is that a 4-week escrow period is not much time to contact a bride and tell her that the person who was going to do her cake will no longer be doing it (doesn’t give bride much time to find another baker). Doing this might arise legal issues. A seller wanted to keep the deposits, have the buyer collect the remaining balance then make the cakes.”
The solution to the problem is given below:
Answer:
The deposits represent an asset of the business which should be transferred to the buyer. In the event that no services have been rendered through COE toward making the cakes, then the seller would not be entitled to any portion thereof. In the offer, we would suggest that you negotiate for a Management Assistance – Training period which would cover the period of time during which it would take to fulfill all of the pending wedding cake orders. In the event, the Seller was available for guidance, etc., we would further suggest not alerting the customers of any change of ownership and seek the Seller’s design and input advice as necessary for each cake.
For more of such expert advice, keep visiting our Quantum™ Blog.
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