How to choose a business brokers when selling your business

Choosing the right method and business broker to sell your business.

When you make the decision to sell your business, there are many steps to take and decisions to make before announcing to the world the fact that is your business is for sale.
The first thing you need to consider is whether you will try to sell it yourself or whether you are going to appoint a business agent to do it for you.
If you want to try to do it yourself, you need to think about and ask yourself a few basic questions:

• Do you have the right resources to develop a good marketing strategy?
• Do you have the time to handle enquiries while at the same time working and running your business?
• Do you have the experience and negotiation skills to navigate the sales process?
• Do you have knowledge of the legal requirements to complete a successful sale?
• Do you know where to find the right professionals to assist in preparing the documentation needed?

Do not be fooled into thinking that sales of Real Estate are the same as sales of Business. They are in fact very different.
Sometimes, selling a house can be as easy as putting a “For Sale” board up in front of your house and placing a few adds in your local paper and a couple of websites and wait for people to come and inspect.
How is selling a business different? Well for a start, most vendors don’t want people to know that their business is up for sale.  They are usually extremely worried that the staff will find out and start looking for other jobs before the new owners fire them.
Most vendors don’t want their competitors knowing that they are selling. In fact the only people that they want to know that they are selling are the people that will hopefully want to buy it.

But who are these people and how are you going to find them?

Absolute Business Brokers

This is why selling your business on your own is not such a good idea unless you have already been approached by someone who wants to buy it and he has made you an offer that is too good to refuse.  If that is the case CONGRATULATIONS! You have won the lottery of business sales.  For the rest of the business owners out there who are not so lucky, believe me when I tell you, that selling your business is NOT that easy.  You really do need a professional. Someone whose job and livelihood depend on selling businesses day in day out.
A business broker who will really represent your best interests in the sale of your business and TRY to achieve the best possible result.
Always remember that YOU are always the one in control of the whole process. At the end of the day if you don’t want to sell at the price being offered by the purchaser, you don’t have to accept it. It is up to the business broker to find prospective buyers and try to get the best possible outcome. Your business broker should be working for you, not the purchaser, as you are the one that will be paying his commission.
That is why it is very important to choose the right business broker to act as your representative and to make sure he has the experience and know how to generate the level of interest and to create the best possible exposure for your business.

But how do I know what to look for in making that choice, you may well ask?



Well it is like any other decision in life where you put your trust in another person to do a job for you. To ensure that you find the right one, you need to interview them, just like you do when you are looking for new staff for your business.

• How long have they been in the industry?
• Have they sold businesses like yours before?
• Do they have references from other clients?
• Are they able to tell you what procedures they have in place to make sure that your privacy is protected?

Don’t forget to ask for receipts for any money paid for advertising (this should be a TRUST ACCOUNT receipt) as well as a breakdown of how your money will be spent.
Can they give you an accurate appraisal for your business in the CURRENT market? And I do want to emphasize accurate, as there have been instances where the business price was greatly exaggerated to impress the vendor, so that they can get the listing.
Beware of business brokers who say that they already have people on their database waiting to buy a business like yours. Most often than not it is a ploy used by some to induce you into signing up with them creating a sense of urgency suggesting that if you don’t, you will miss out. If you want to test their honesty, offer to sign up for 7 days Exclusive Authority only. This should be more than enough time for them to produce these people if there are just waiting!!!! You will soon find that they will not accept this arrangement, which means that they were not being entirely honest.

You can contact me either on:
Mobile: 0433 582 533
Email: chris@absolutebb.com.au


Yours Sincerely,
Chris Panagiotidis
Licensed Estate Agent
Senior Business Broker at Absolute Business Brokers




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