Selling a Business, What to Look for in a Buyer:


Thinking about selling a business?
Let our experts guide you through the process.

Selling your business can be very a rewarding process. However, it can also be quite challenging. In the wrong hands, things can go awry quickly, costing you valuable time and money. At George & Company our team has an excellent reputation built from years of experience.  We have the expertise to guide you successfully, every step of the way. We can help you with selling a business and the wide array of services related to getting you the best price for your business.


  • Listing your business
  • Qualifying potential buyers
  • Appraisal/valuation services
  • Offers, IOIs and LOIs


  • Range values & Industry Value Dynamics
  • Negotiating the deal
  • Buyer Finance options
  • Deal structure


  • Negotiating the best selling price
  • Taxation issues
  • Due diligence
  • Coordination of tax, legal and estate experts


  • Mine sweeping to keep the deal on track
  • Pre-close process
  • Closing
  • Post-close issues



Is It Time to Sell?

After investing countless hours, dollars and sweat in growing your company, it is time to start thinking about the next phase of your life. You have assembled resources and strategized to make your product or service superior to the competition. No doubt you have drawn on your experience and relationships to achieve this goal and that is how you have made your mark. That same dynamic is in place at George & Company. Doing what we do best in our competitive mergers and acquisitions market, we draw on our experience, talent, relationships and plain hard work to best help you find the right buyer for selling a business. Would you trust its sale to anyone other than the best?


   Learn if it’s really time to sell by asking yourself the questions in this article.


What to Look for in a Buyer

Selling a business is a process that is often made even more difficult when you cannot seem to find the right buyer. Finding the right buyer is more than just finding someone who will pay the right price. As someone who is selling a business, you might think that the buyer who is offering the highest price is the best person. However, what is more important is to find someone who is the most qualified to buy your business. Whether you are selling a business for a merger or an acquisition, you want to be sure you know your buyer’s history and intentions behind purchasing it. Ensuring that a buyer exhibits due diligence is essential to creating a good deal between the seller and buyer.


   Learn about the different types of buyers for your business in this article.


Find the Value of Your Company: Business Valuation

Selling a business is far different from selling a house or other tangible asset where there exists comparable sales information sufficient to support a value. Unlike real estate, it is not unusual for 50% or more of an operating business’s value to be based on intangible assets such as goodwill, intellectual property, licenses, location, etc. Business valuation is a complex process. Part art and part science, it relies on elaborate business metrics and intangible factors that only come with experience. At George & Company we have that experience – and we can put it to work for you.


There are several reasons for valuing a business. As well as the buying and selling process, business valuation is an important tool for estate and tax purposes, divorce settlements, and for raising capital. We can help with all of these situations. Our company offers a variety different professional business appraisal services. Our appraisal services can cost from $1000 to $10,000 and more, depending on the size and complexity of the business to be valued.


   Learn about the different types of valuations on our Business Valuation page.


Strategic Options Analysis

A prudent step in deciding if now is the right time to sell your business is to have a Strategic Options Analysis (SOA) performed by George & Company. An SOA, a proprietary tool of the George & Company team, combines the elements of a business appraisal, a financing template to determine the amount of cash a lender will give, trends of the business, economy and the industry you are in. The SOA starts with a recast of your financial statements, adding back non-recurring and perquisite expenses.  This is a critical exercise in selling a business because buyers and lenders expect that the tax returns be prepared to minimize taxes. SOA’s also examine the company’s history, management makeup, working capital needs, business selling market, past sales of similar companies, client concentrations, vendor relationships, and countless other critical factors that will comprise your business’s value.


Having an SOA prepared allows business sellers and other decision makers to make an informed judgment. Maybe the market is red hot for selling your business or maybe the SOA will highlight things that if done will enhance the company’s value down the road. When we say, “Trust the Experts” we are proud that George & Company and its affiliates have appraised and sold thousands of businesses for nearly thirty years.  Our team is as long tenured as any you’ll find in New England or around the US.  We find it’s valuable to have knowledge of what it feels like to be sitting on both sides of the closing table. Selling your business can cause emotions to run high. It’s not just about the money. Read more about it here.


Seller’s Checklist

Want to learn more about what you need to do as a seller to get your business ready to sell? Take a look at this PDF to get started. This is intended as a brief guideline only. Some of the items may not be applicable to your business transaction. If in doubt, consult your business broker, lawyer, accountant, wealth adviser, or other professional.


Looking for expert guidance in selling your business?

Our team can guide you, every step of the way.


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