5 Creative ways to sell your business for market or above market value quickly

Most business owners things that selling a business is a fast process and that the company doesn't need to be prepared for sale. And that is not true. To sell your business for great price and terms, you need to prepare it, and it usually takes two years (to have at least two years of polished accounts for sale), it can be done quicker, but you need to make your business ready. That's why I believe every owner should run their business like they would keep it forever but could sell it tomorrow. To build an option strategy to sell your business any time you need or want. (To learn how to do this: check out this course where we go deeper on how to prepare your business for sale). But a lot of times, owners don't have this luxury of waiting anymore. 

Something happens; you might get sick, your spouse might get sick, you are bored and want to leave, or your business is in trouble; there are many "not so great" scenarios. Speaking with business owners wanting to sell daily, I hear "yesterday was already late" many times. 

So what to do about it? 

In this article, I share five creative ways how to create a win-win deal for you and the buyer, sell your business for market (or above market) value quickly, without weeks or months of due diligence, to learn that the company is not great and the buyer wants a huge discount. 

Should you like any of these ideas and want to get an offer (and your business is at least 500 000 in revenue) - schedule a free call, and we will give you an offer in a week from getting the necessary pieces of information from you. 

Five strategies

1.Sell for 1usd + keep equity to get upside (only for distressed businesses - skip this one if your business is profitable)

This is right, if your business has a tough time and you might think the only way is to close it down for you, you don't have time to find the money or/and you feel you can not fix it, but someone might and if they do, there is a nice upside, but you want to have a piece of it. 

If your business is losing money, is technically insolvent, has loads of debt, etc., the value is probably 0. It's the terrible and flustrating end of the business ownerships, but sometimes it happens. What to do with it? You might want to find a skilled turnaround expert/investor, sell them your business for 1USD (or a small amount), and walk away. Do you think there is still some upside that you want to be a part of? You can sell only some part of the business and keep some equity in the business. If the business fails, you didn't lose anything, and your partner can take care of all the issues (so you can be stress-free and start something new). But if the turnaround is successful, you can sell your equity later and get some money back from the business without hustle, stress, etc. 

Is this your situation? We do deals like that all the time - schedule a call, and let's do it together.

2. Give terms and get your price quickly

There is an old deal-making saying, "you dictate a price - I dictate the terms. If you dictate the terms - I dictate the price." It doesn't have to be the truth, but let's use this principle to get what you want quickly, move on and sell your business. 

Business is beautiful because there are a lot of moving parts. So there is a lot of options on how to structure the deal, so it's a win-win for you and the buyer as well. 

You know why you want to sell your business. Let's have a quick look for business buyer motivation:

• Wants to buy for a price that is a market multiple of profits

• Wants to know as much information as possible about the business

• Wants to have the best return on his investment

• Want to use as little of his own cash as possible

The last one is probably the most important. If you offer a deal when the buyer needs to put 0 dollars out of his pocket, you will have a line of buyers and not struggle to sell. So let's see how you can do it without compromising your return and sell your business fast. 

Some of them are:

• Provide seller financing (be a bank, receive interest, and have a cash flow)

• Earn-out (some hidden potential that makes you feel the business is more valuable than everybody else thinks? Do it as an earn-out to get a piece of this upside without breaking the deal.)

• Keep some equity (sell only 90,80,70% of the business for the same price - you will get more from the business, and the seller will not need to spend more money = win-win)

• Another financing options

• And much more...

So you can structure the deal for the buyer so that they will have a great deal, possibly a 0 money down deal, and that way, you can charge interest, dictate price, etc. And you can sell your business in a week if you want to.

Are you looking to sell quickly? Then, schedule a call, and let's find a deal that best suits you. 

3. Keep the real estate to get income - sell the business to have the income stress free

Do you own the real estate inside the business that you feel is more valuable than the business itself? Then, you can sell (hand over - can combine it with strategy 1 or 2) the company quickly, keep the real estate, and lease it to a new owner. You will get rid of the burden of running/owning the business while still having an income from renting the real estate. This strategy is excellent for retirement sales for businesses like assisted living facilities, businesses with factory, etc. 

Like this? Schedule a call and get an offer

4. Carve-out

Do you have a group of companies, and some of the subsidiaries are underperforming? Maybe your other businesses need to pay the bills for these once etc.? Just Carve it out using the strategies (1,2, or possibly 3) and get rid of it. You can get the value back to your balance sheet by selling it with seller financing, and sometimes you can also take back the losses against the gains from other businesses in the group and save on taxes.

Looking to carve out underperforming business in your group? Schedule a call and get an offer

5. Use Public Markets

This strategy is for well-run companies with over 1M USD in EBIT. You can sell your business or take it public and get the public shares or public bonds for your business. We have a group holding that brings companies that way, or if you have 3M USD in EBIT +, you can do it on your own and have your own public group. If you want to leave the management, we can take it over (you can be a board member if you like to, but not work day-to-day anymore). You will get quick liquidity for a great value, unlock many upsides, and see your business go to the next level. 

If you have a company like that and want to explore this option. Schedule a call now, and let's find out the best way for your business.

We will dig much deeper and prepare a free ebook for all of you in the near future.

And if you want to do something with your business quickly, schedule a call now to get an offer now.