Why Bother Hiring An Investment Banker? Check Out These Reason Why You Can Sell Your Company Yourself!
- You have never sold a business before.
- You are familiar with valuation multiples, market valuations, the variety of terms buyers propose, as well as buyer negotiation strategies.
- You have the time, energy, and desire to work, at what will amount to a 2nd, or even 3rd job over a six to twelve month time period.
- You have the patience, let alone the time, to juggle numerous inquiries, answer the same stupid question 20 times, and regularly field tedious conference calls.
- You are experienced in preparing the marketing materials required to cast your company in the best light.
- You have the resources to develop a buyer list made up of the “right” buyers (typically 50 -100 qualified buyers) needed in order to generate an appropriate level of interest.
- Deep into the exhausting months long due diligence process, you will be able to emotionally detach from the buyer calling your baby “ugly” and focus on successfully closing the deal.
- Since you have never done this before, buyers will understand and will be kind.
With levity set aside, these are the realities business owners face when going it alone. However, with good intentions, and not aware of many of the aforementioned issues, some business owners decide to sell their company themselves.
Why not? Who is better than themselves to sell the company since they know it better than anyone else? Additionally, the prospective buyer, who has been contacting them for several months seems to know the industry, understands the company and seems like a “good guy”. And lastly, they think of all the money they will save not paying a Banker!
Unfortunately, many business owners who have decided to go it alone, realize all too late in either their post transaction remorse, or worse yet, after their deal implodes and they have no deal, that there is a whole lot more to creating a successful transaction than they anticipated. In addition, most industry data supports that an Investment Banker led deal garners greater value and better terms for a seller, and greatly increases the likelihood of a deal closing.
Since most business owners only have one chance to get this “right”, it seems worth a business owner’s time to consider utilizing professionals who do this for a living.
This is exactly what we have done for our Clients for many years. Let us know when you would like to talk. We always tell business owners it’s never too early to start discussing this important topic.
