Author Archives: Scott

About Scott

Scott M. Messinger is a former and current business owner that has personally purchased 8 + businesses. Former owner of successful production/manufacturing/distribution business of 20 years that was successfully sold and transitioned. Member of Gateway Business Advisors serving South Carolina Florida and Southeast USA. Member of the Business Broker of Florida Assn. For a FREE current listing of Businesses FOR sale see: www.SellaBusinessAdvisors.com call South Carolina (864) 210-8226 Florida (239) 770-2421

Selling Your Business Not to Donald Trump

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Selling Your Business Not to Donald Trump

selling a business or buying a business

selling a business or buying a business not thru a rearview mirror

Donald Trump has bought many businesses in his career. He has sold many as well.  Most business Owners looking to Sell a Business have not sold a business before.   Likewise the majority of those that buy a business have not bought a business as well.

Like with most statements there are exceptions to the rule.

There are many Strategic Business Buyers that make multiple Business purchases within a year.  Sometimes a business owner had sold a previous business as well.   But from all my experiences involved with business buying and business selling over the last 25 plus years the majority of business sellers are selling a business only once maybe twice in a lifetime.

As a prior business owner and a current business owner and a buyer of multiple businesses, and a Business Broker in South Carolina and Florida I recognize the benefit of hindsight.  We all know in running or growing a business, we make mistakes.  We dont know it all.  But we know more than we did 10, 20 or 30 years ago.   How good can one be when doing things for the first time?  Very often you just don’t know what you don’t know.

Buying or selling a business is not a perfect process.  Things can and will go wrong during the process of buying a business and selling a business.  Things can and will go wrong while running a business.

I have never witness a Perfect Business being sold by a Perfect business Seller to a Perfect Business Buyer.

The goal to buying or selling a business for the 1st or 2nd time in ones life should be to mitigate your situations of “I didnt know that”.   Surround yourself with people that you can trust that have been through the process before.   Ask questions. Seek answers .

Below are some common misconceptions I have come across from both business buyers and Sellers.

  1. Business Seller- ” I want 100% of my Selling price to be paid at closing. I do not want to offer any financing”- To that I say- We All Do.  We all want to be paid completely at closing-” How do I know Buyer will pay me”.   Buyer will say, “what assurances do I get that this business is what I think it is.  “Without looking at sales of businesses over last 5-10 years I would venture to say that 80-90% or more of all business sales involve financing from SBA Lender, Seller, or other 3rd party financing.  -As a business broker  I seek to secure “SBA Lender Prequalification” for a business I am representing to sell.  The quantity of Buyers willing to pay 100% cash for a business is minimal.  The amount of prospective buyers that are willing or in the position to pay a down payment and finance the balance is significantly greater.
  2. Business Buyer- “I’m buying a business, so either the Seller meets all my demands or I walk.”  Normally a business Sale involves some “give and take”.
  3. Business Seller- “Let the Buyer make an offer then I will provide that information.” – Certain information is needed in order to make an offer. Not all request are reasonable- the responsibility of an advisor is to “advise” on what may or may not be a reasonable request.
  4. Business Buyer- I found the right business, but I am going to wait to see if they reduce the price.- Finding the right business is not an easy task. If I find the business I am looking for, I am going to pull the trigger or else deal with the remorse of missing out on this opportunity.  I’ve done that before, and wont again.

So what are some key take-aways when looking at buying or selling a business for the 1st time?

Know what is important to you.  Know your timing.  Seek advice of trusted advisors.  Ask questions. Measure twice, cut once.  Mistakes can and will be made.  Not Doing your best to mitigate those mistakes could be your biggest mistake.

For More information on buying or selling a business, business value points or transition/exit strategy please feel free to contact me Scott Messinger at (864) 210-8226  or (239)770-2421 – Scott@GatewayBusinessAdvisors.com

 

How to Sell a Business – What Matters

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How to Sell a Business – What Matters

How to Sell a Business What Matters

 

Selling a business  can be a difficult process.  Knowing How to Sell a Business and what matters greatly increase your chances of a successful Sale and transition.  Someone may walk in your office one day and offer you 100% cash  at an elevated valuation but that is not very likely at all.  I had owned a business in a very fast growing industry and I was presented with a couple very strong cash offers at fairly lofty valuations but these offers where based on the growth curve of the industry and market conditions overall.  I wasn’t ready to sell my business at that time and several years later when I was ready to sell,  the process of selling  the business and  finding the right buyer and transition for my business  presented a much different challenge.

Ive been involved with the business acquisition  process for over 25 years as a Business Buyer of Multiple businesses, a business Seller, and as a Business Broker assisting others.  I find the following to be important when both Selling a Business and Buying a Business.

  • The quality of the business is important- “We are the highest rated Window Washing business in Jacksonville”
  • The quality of the industry is important – Are you in a growth industry? or a Mature  industry ?    “A rising tide raises all ships”
  • The quality or the overall marketplace we all conduct our business in is important. During our recently experienced recession obtaining money to finance an acquisition was difficult and overall number of business sales were down significantly.
  • The timing of when your business may be best ready to sell and when you as a business owner are ready to sell may not coincide.

 

As you can see some aspects that affect the likelihood of successfully selling your business may reside out of your immediate control.  But knowing more about the process, How to Sell a Business and What Matters, and the current market can only aid in your decision making process.

A Recent survey of fellow business broker professionals involving 100’s of business broker professionals denote  consolidate information regarding Buying a Business in South Carolina, Florida and the entire US as well as Selling a Business in South Carolina, Florida and the US.     Topics in this survey included information regarding who is likely to buy your business,  why will they buy your business and what will they pay for your business.  All businesses have differences yet many businesses share similarities:

Why Will You Sell Your Business?

SellaBusinessAdvisors.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who will Buy your Business?

SellaBusinessAdvisors.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why will they Buy your Business?

SellaBusinessAdvisors.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What will they Pay For Your Business?

whats my business worth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business Sold for Multiples

 

 

 

 

 

The amount that Buyers are paying for Businesses ( as a multiple of earnings or cash flow  has remained fairly constant over the last few years.)

SDE- Sellers Discretionary Earnings

EBITDA – Earnings Before Taxes Interest Depreciation and Amortization

So, Timing, knowing who you may best market your business to, what sort of value expectations  you can expect all affect the likelihood of a successful business sale and transition.  There is a lot to knowing How to Sell a Business but getting ready to sell your business and knowing  when you are ready are  are a couple of the very important 1st steps.

Above data  provided by survey of over 300 business brokers throughout the USA coordinated thru International Business Brokers Assn and M&A Source and Graziadio School of Business.

Looking to Sell a Business in South Carolina Florida or SE USA or looking to Buy a Business in South Carolina Florida or SE USA please contact me Scott M Messinger  at Scott@GatewayBusinessAdvisors.com or directly at   for more info see www. SellaBusinessAdvisors.com

How to Prepare a Business For Sale

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How to prepare Business For Sale

 

How to Prepare a Business For Sale – 5 Steps

I  am a business broker based in South Carolina.  I work with business buyer and business sellers in both South Carolina and  Florida. I also owned my own business of 20 years and sold it.  A business owner interested in selling a business needs to know how to prepare a business for sale.

FACT-  Many businesses that try to sell  do not actually sell.

Looking at the reasons that a business does not sell can be guidance towards measures a current business owner can make to prepare a business for sale. Selling a business has a lot of moving parts.  How can one  increase the likelihood of a successful sale?   The answer can be in preparing  for your business sale.

What are some of the top reasons businesses Don’t Sell?

  • Price
  • Business Performance
  • Business has poor records
  • Business completely dependent on Business Owner
  • other liabilities encumbrances

 

The value of a business is ultimately defined by what a willing capable buyer (s)  is willing to pay for that business.

What could possibly be the best approach to preparing to sell your business is to look at your business as a Business Buyer rather than a Business Seller.   Would you buy your business?  If so how much would you pay for your business?

What steps can a business owner do today to prepare  a business for sale?

How to Prepare a Business For Sale

  1. Have realistic expectations. Stories circulate about “Google buying this business for 10-20x cash flow”.

Sales like this are not the norm.  Businesses with Sales of $5M + sell for a higher multiple of cash flow than businesses with $800k of Sales- Generally.  Try to research what other similar businesses my be selling for or have sold for.  A qualified Business Broker may assist with this step.

  1. Ensure your financials are concise and clean.  Are there any outdated entries on any of your financials. Can you readily reconcile any differences between tax records and Income Statements?    Furthermore a business that is doing better is more likely to sell than a business with declining sales or margins.
  2. Have documented business operational procedures or business practices and procedures. If you already have them, review and update them. Consider if it is time to archive or throw out records from 5- 10-15 years back.
  3. Make big and small steps to have less reliance on you as a business owner. Ask the question- “Does your business rely on you ? Delegate if possible.  Sometimes it’s hard to let go of the idea that “only I can do that”.   I’ve personally experienced a long stretch of illness while owning a business and quickly learned of the many activities that I was doing that could be done by other members of my staff.
  4. Clean up your business. Your office, your trucks, grounds, facilities, equipment, tools and employees appearance can all add value.  Equipment involved with the sale that is well maintained and in order provides to the “Peace of Mind” a business buyer is seeking.  Again envision yourself as  business buyer  and looking at your trucks and most of the tires are bald, and smoke is coming out of the exhaust and they look like hell.  It may only take a few thousand dollars to improve this conditions, but a prospective buyer may mentally devaluate business value by tens of thousands or more.  It may create more doubt and uncertainty about other components of business.

 

Again- not every business that tries to sell actually find a buyer that is a fit.   There are steps you as a business owner can make to increase the likelihood of a successful business sale and transition.

Preparing your business for sale is a very important step in the process of selling your business.  Working with a trusted advisor,  finding prospective business buyer candidates is highly important as well.  Finding the “right” buyer candidate  to transition your business to is the end goal that begins with preparing your business for sale.

For More information on Selling a Business or Buying a  Business contact   Scott Messinger- Business Acquisition and Sales-   Gateway Business Advisors      www. SellaBusinessAdvisors.com

 

 

Current Market for Selling a Business

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Selling a Business

 

 

What is Current Market for  Selling a Business  (or Buying a Business). I’ve been involved with business sales for approximately 25 years.  Fifteen years as a business buyer and Seller during which I acquired 9 businesses and 9 years as a business broker representing business buyers and sellers.

As a business broker working with business Sellers and Buyers in South Carolina and Florida we are afforded access to a lot of market information as it relates to business transactions, what businesses are selling for, and trends.  Sales Data and terms  on these private transactions are not readily available to the general public.

 As a business owner or potential business buyer it is not unusual to “hear about someone that sold his business of $X “.  But often that information is incomplete or erroneous.

Below is some market information showing charts and trends relating to business sales throughout the US.  I believe it can provide some insights to both potential business sellers in South Carolina or Florida as well as Business Buyers.  Also below I’ve highlighted my insights to what I believe some of this information means and what may be worth noting.

A review of over 7000 businesses sold during 2015 show:

 

  • The median asking price grew 12.5 percent from $200,000 in 2014 to $225,000.
  • The median sale price also increased a solid 7.6 percent year-over-year, from $185,000 to $199,000.

 

What is my business worth?

 

 

 

 

 

What Does this graph say about Businesses Sold?

A significant determinant of a business sales price is “Multiple of Cash Flow” or “Multiple of SDE (Sellers Discretionary Earnings).  But this “Multiple” does vary based on business size ( Sales and Cash Flow).  Businesses Sold with Sales of $1M-$5M will generally sell at a different multiple than business sold with Sales of $100k-$1M .  Above graph shows as the cash flow of a business increases the multiple of cash flow also increases .  This graph shows a business with approx. $150k of cash flow sold for 2.5 x that cash flow (CF). Whereas a business with  $1M in cash flow sells for 3.1 times that cash flow (CF).

 

What is Value of my Business

 

 

 

 

 

 

What does above graph say about Business Value  and or Business Selling Price. ?

 

Above Graph depicts that The price of businesses sold ( as a multiple of cash flow ) has remained fairly steady over the last 4 years.  Going forward, I expect this to remain consistent thru 2016.

types of businesses for sale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What type of businesses are being sold?  Above chart shows the types of businesses sold throughout the US in 4th quarter of 2015.

Are you looking to buy a business in South Carolina or Florida?   Are you looking to sell your business.  A business is not bought or sold in a vacuum.  How does your business measure to other like or similar businesses?   No two  businesses are the same, but similarities do exist.  Understanding value or potential value may be one of the more important steps that goes into the process of buying or selling a business.

Thinking about buying or selling a business?  Please feel free to contact me Scott Messinger Business Broker to discuss any questions you may have on the process.  And it is a process.  Also, feel free to search on businesses for sale on my site  at:

www. SellaBusinesssAdvisors.com.  or contact me at Scott@GatewayBusinessAdvisors.com

or call direct at (864) 210-8226 or (239) 770-2421.

 

Fear-Unspoken Emotion when Buying or Selling a Business

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How much is the business worth?  How much can I make if I buy that business?  What is the value of the Inventory?  What is the  rent the business pays?  What is the Revenue per Sales Channel?  What can I sell my business for?  What will it cost me to start a business?

These are all financial question that very often get discussed during the process of buying or selling a business.  So often the perception of buying or selling a business… or starting a new business is all about the financial elements surrounding the transaction.  The emotional and psychological elements in my opinion are under-served and often minimized.

Selling a South Carolina Businessl

I am a business broker based in South Carolina  and in my profession I work with both buyers and sellers and can have rather intimate conversations regarding the goals and  desires of these current or future business owners.  I cant pretend to always know what truly is going thru the mind of someone I represent that is buying a business or someone I represent that is selling their business.  But I can speak of my experiences that I realized personally as I both bought several businesses as a business owner and also sold my business of 20 years.

Should You Ignore Emotions When Buying Or Selling A Business?

The money is a very important component that cant be minimized, but the emotional side should not be minimized as well.  What emotions did I experience as I personally was the buyer and seller of a business?

  • Concern,
  • Trepidation
  • Joy
  • Satisfaction
  • Worry
  • Relief
  • Uncertainty
  • Fear

Is there a book written that states these are the emotions one should realize when going thru the thought process of buying a business, selling a business or starting a business? If so I am not aware of it.  Is it ok to worry 24/7, to have some fear when making the substantial investment of buying a business?

Is it ok to have a certain level  fear when evaluating the decision to sell a business that you may have started and or been owning running for 10, 20, or 30 or more years.   I personally think all these emotions are both acceptable and normal. I feel if there isn’t a certain level of fear then possibly the enormity of the situation may not be fully understood.

When working with business buyers and those selling a business, and also in consulting for several starting a business, I do not attempt to advise that certain emotions are right, wrong, or indifferent.  My approach is to share my experiences and suggest that these emotions may be realized in the process of buying or selling a business.   I have many conversation with business owners that may want to be selling their Business.

The Fear Of Selling Your Business

They want to sell their business but the uncertainty that is so intertwined with the process can create fear,  fear can create in- action.  Business owners may want to sell or exit their business, but their business is a known entity.  The business owner knows what to expect with running his business-relatively.  Selling ones business can create so many unknowns that uncertainty,trepidation, concern worry and fear can result in just taking the path of least resistance which may mean to just keep running your business- even though you may not want to.

But a properly analyzed and thought out approach to buying or selling a business can produce some very desired emotions like relief, joy, and satisfaction.  In my opinion emotions are a big part of the process of buying or selling a business.  But you should not let your emotions get in the way of pursuing your desired goals.