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When selling a California business, owners should use our salability checklist to determine whether the effort will be successful. Ten factors must be considered to properly prepare a business for sale. Three of the factors account for more than 50% probability of achieving success in selling!

Selling a business online, while often effective for finding the right buyer, is a strategy sellers need to execute correctly in order to be successful. That means avoiding the six common mistakes made by sellers. Peter Siegel, BizBen Founder talks about what it takes to effectively sell a business.

To be successful in buying a small business you must be able to look objectively at the company and determine whether or not it is a business that will be able to grow into the future. The key to long term survival is when a business is able to change and grow along with the needs of their consumer.

In dealing with business sales, often times the Seller or the Buyer will ask about the use of an escrow company. The seller may say, Why can't the buyer just pay me cash or give me a cashier's check? This blog post covers why utilizing an escrow service is so important in selling a small business.

You have various options for selling your business. You can advertise it on specialized websites, post ads on social media, spread the word among your network, or reach out to local chambers of commerce. As you can see, there are plenty of avenues for selling your business yourself.

In my experience working with the "right banks and financial institutions" repayment ability sometimes overrules collateral pledged by someone needing financing for a business purchase or a down payment. Peter Siegel, MBA - BizBen's ProBuy, ProSell Lead Facilitator explores this important topic.

Financing a business purchase has become more difficult in the past couple of years. But buyers and sellers of small and mid-sized businesses are finding other ways to raise the money needed to complete their transactions. Peter Siegel, MBA with BizBen discusses these ideas with BizBen Blog readers.

Many times when buying a business there are reasons why buying stock or buying assets is the better business decision. We explore these options on the BizBen Blog Post of which option may be better depending on the circumstances of the buyer (and seller) involved in the transaction taking place.

If you are planning to offer your small business for sale, you ought to learn about your chances of succeeding. The probability of making a sale depends largely on which of seven seller types describes you. Use this self-test to find out what kind of seller you are and determine if you'll succeed.

Some entrepreneurs believe it's better to start a business from scratch rather than buy an existing enterprise. While this may be good advice in some cases, usually it's not the best strategy. Here are five tips to help a buyer make the right decision from Peter Siegel, MBA On BizBen.

In the realm of commercial real estate investments, the gas station with property stands out as a unique and potentially lucrative opportunity. Beyond merely selling fuel, gas stations have evolved into multifaceted businesses, offering convenience stores, car services, and more.

First, we must define, who are the Millennials? The exact years are up for debate, but Millennials were born during approximately between 1981-1986, which today would be between 22 and 37 years of age. Joe Ranieri looks at what these buyers are looking for and what qualities they seek in businesses.

Approaching business owners directly to see if they want to sell can sometimes work well for business buyers searching to buy a small business. Another way is to broadcast your search criteria via the BizBen ProBuy Program to all brokers, agents, and intermediaries who are selling a small business.

What the seller of an interesting business will accept, what his "hot buttons" are, what they are willing to negotiate about; these are all facts that come to light when an offer is made. Peter Siegel, MBA the Director of the BizBen.com discusses some practical advice for business buyers.

A couple newer brokers asked me today what thy thought the escrow process costs and if there is a large variation amongst escrow or closing companies when it comes to closing fees? Multiple ProIntermediaries and ProAdvisors discuss this topic on a BizBen Discussion.

Can a seller of a small business back out of an ongoing escrow? Probably, yes, it all depends how far along the escrow is, which will dictate how messy things will get for both owner & buyer. Joe Ranieri (Southern California Business Broker) gives his feedback with others on this BizBen Discussion.

When considering buying a business that is losing money one has to be very careful. There are reasons that the business could be losing money that aren't fatal or extremely difficult to fix and there are other reasons that should send you running in the other direction. Peter Siegel, MBA explains.

For those who don't know, a non-compete agreement is a contract between a buyer and seller of a business, which after the sale, prohibits the seller from engaging in direct competition with the business they previously sold. Joe Ranieri (Business Broker) adds this topic to a BizBen Discussion Post.

A huge part of any exit strategy is properly planning for that moment in time when employees find out the business is for sale or, preferably, has been sold. Your workers have been kept in the dark for as long as possible. Some won't be a bit surprised. Others may be devastated.

Was just asked the question from a business owner what the "typical commission" amount is for a broker and if upfront fees are common? Thought this might be a great Discussion topic on BizBen for both business owner/sellers and potentially for business buyers (buyer representation).

What are the Pros & Cons of selling a business yourself? I get asked this question all the time and would like to share with other Intermediaries on BizBen all the angles of business owners taking the initiative and selling their own business.

Many business buyers complain to me about business intermediaries not getting any financial information about the business they may be interested in purchasing. There are multiple reasons for this but I agree that financial information should be readily be available to interested buyers upfront.

What qualities should you look for in a escrow and bulk sale service when buying/selling a business? I often get asked this question by other brokers and business sellers. See what I tell others and what other BizBen Advisors have to say on this topic in this Discussion.

A buyer who I have been consulting with on the BizBen ProBuy Program is looking to buy a liquor store (and possible other "cash" oriented businesses). They asked me how they should verify cash being generated by the business and how to go about conducting due diligence etc.

When selling a small to mid-sized business, owners should have their paperwork and financial information ready to go! They should also have a short business plan of past history, current operations, and potential for the future. In this BizBen Discussion several advisors and intermediaries weigh in.

Every business broker knows that a listing taken is not a listing sold, in fact the ratio of listed vs. sold could be discouraging if you really thought about it. Joe Ranieri (Orange County Business Broker) discusses what you should do if you finally have to close the doors and call it quits.

Negotiating the terms of a business deal is a delicate process, where one wrong move can cost you the business that you wanted to purchase. Peter Siegel, MBA (BizBen ProBuy Program) discusses the ins and outs of negotiations, and how to work well with the seller to get a deal done.

Many factors determine whether inventory is included in the asking price. Among them are: the standard for that particular industry or type of business, the quality and age of the inventory, whether the inventory levels are cyclical, whether the inventory is the normal amount, etc. BizBen Discussion