Right now today, there is a shortage of businesses in the Florida Panhandle with $250,000 or more of seller discretionary cash flow (profit). This is particularly true for businesses in the Florida Panhandle with good accounting records with no smoke and mirrors. This will start to change as the boomers decide to sell their businesses and create more of a supply, which will tend to hold down the price of a business coming to market.
This flood of boomers selling their businesses has not started yet, most likely due to them needing time to recover from the recent financial meltdown. The year of 2013 has been a year of gaining back lost ground (sales and profits) for many businesses, and should continue through 2014. With interest rates still relatively low, bank loans available, a shortage of quality businesses on the market, and an optimistic economic outlook, timing is everything. If a business owner has been thinking of selling at some point, it may be worth a conversation with a business broker or intermediary to learn more.
To seize the current opportunity to sell a business while there is still a shortage, it is important to have all the information a potential buyer will want to see, packaged in a logical and professional manner so that once the potential buyer has been qualified, the process can move quickly forward. Time is the enemy once contact has been made with a potential buyer. A serious, qualified buyer will lose interest and move on to other opportunities if there is a pause in the forward momentum.
If you would like a confidential, no-obligation analysis and discussion of what you can be doing now to prepare for when you are ready to put your business on the market, please call (888-893-6661) or e-mail (bobd@dolansales.com). I serve customers nationwide. To learn more about my background and see customer recommendations, visit my LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/dolansales.
© 2013 Dolan Sales, Inc.