Selling your business is a major decision. Chances are that you may not have sold a business before and do not know what is involved in selling your business. It is natural to have questions such as:

• How much is my business worth?
• How long will it take to sell?
• Is this the right time to sell?
• How can I do it discreetly so I do not lose customers or employees?
• How do I prepare my business to sell quickly and make it more desirable?

We have answers to these questions. As specialists in selling businesses, let us help you and make the process easier.

What Makes a Business More Sellable?

If you are not quite ready to sell your business but are looking to sell it down the road, you may want to know how to make your lab (or any business for that matter), more valuable and salable. You could focus on improving some of the following (as per the Value Builder System)

1. Revenue/Profits is one of the critical matrices that a typical buyer looks at. Very few want turnaround businesses, although there are exceptions.
2. Growth Potential—Can the buyer grow the business, perhaps with new products or services or better marketing?
3. Embracing the “Swiss Structure”: Be independent and not overly dependent on a key employee, vendor, or customer. Develop options.
4. Cash Flow Strength – Is your business consistently cash flow positive – so you don’t have to borrow money from time to time by keeping gross margins high and getting paid faster?
5. Recurring Revenue – Every buyer loves recurring revenue, which keeps coming without significant additional costs of acquiring or retaining new clients. This could be, for example, long-term, auto-renewing contracts.
6. Be Unique and Different—Can you offer something, e.g., a proprietary or unique service or product that no one or very few other labs offer? This would make it attractive to buyers because it creates a barrier for others to copy you.
7. Customer Satisfaction—Ultimately, customers make or break your business, and so high customer satisfaction makes buyers more comfortable.
8. Strong Management Team—Is your business too dependent on you? Will it fall apart after it is sold? Many buyers are not going to be owner-operators but investor buyers, and they like businesses that will run smoothly without the owner.

Benchmark Your Business – Free Value Builder Score

How does your business fare on these fronts? If you are curious, there is a simple 20-minute questionnaire that will give you a “Value Builder” score, showing you where you are strong and which areas you need to improve upon.