The Business Selling Checklist
Our experience, gained from over 1,000 business transactions, indicates that having well documented financial, marketing, and descriptive information significantly improves the probability that your business will sell faster and at a better price.
An important step in the decision to sell your business is determining its fair market value. To accurately and professionally determine that opinion of value, we will need the following documentation (you can be assured that the material provided to us will remain completely confidential):
Information Required for Business Valuation
- Year End Financial Statements, including Tax Returns (up to five years, if available) and your most recent Monthly Financial Statement (Note: If we take your business to market, we will need monthly financial statements for the most recent three years.)
- Equipment List with fair market value estimates are requested (Note: Model and Serial Numbers on each item having a value in excess of $500 may be required at a later date.)
- Copy of Premises Lease, or copy of most recent Real Estate Appraisal, if applicable
- Summary of Existing Financial Agreements (e.g., lines of credit, equipment leases, etc.)
Information Required for Business Presentation Package
Assuming we proceed to market your business, we will prepare a detailed Presentation Package. The following information will be needed to prepare this comprehensive and effective marketing tool:
- Brief History of Business, including dates of key events (e.g., founding date, present ownership succession, new product lines added, etc.)
- Product Information (e.g., sales breakdown by major product line, if available)
- Marketing Information (i.e., who you sell to, how you market your products/services)
- Samples of Promotional Literature
- Employee Data (e.g., total number of employees, list of key employees, wages, benefits, job descriptions, hire date, etc.) Please provide organizational chart, if available.
- List of Key/Prominent Customers (Note: Omit if list is deemed too confidential.)
- List of Primary Competitors (Note: Please describe your competitive advantages, if any.)
- Facility/Product Photographs (Note: We will take photos unless confidentiality is a problem.)
- Diagram/Layout Drawing of Premises
- Other Information (Please provide us with any materials that you feel will help us and/or prospective buyers gain a better understanding of your company and how it does business.)
We share with you the goal of selling your business for the best price and terms. A complete file and a comprehensive marketing package are extremely important to accomplishing this goal!