I'm considering selling my business, but where do I start?

Let's just have a chat. This can be via a simple phone call, teams/zoom or by e-mail to begin with. 

The starting point here is to get to know you are your business. We have probably sold a business like yours many times before but every business is different and we will want to get to know you and how your business runs.

There are many ways to value a business but the industry standard starting point is to calculate your adjusted net profit (so your net profit with some costs added back) and then apply a sector specific multiple to that. 

Your director will do this for you, without obligation or charge. They will then talk you through how and why they have come to your valuation.

Our advice is if you are considering or wanting to exit your business in the next 3 years, now is the time to start the conversation.

Selling a smaller business can be concluded in a few weeks. More complex, larger businesses like yours will take longer. On average across the industry there is a 12-14 month lead time from commencing marketing to completion. 

Our target timeframe is to find a buyer within the first 3-6 months with the remaining months spent on due diligence checks and solicitors to complete the deal.

It is important to add here there is likely to be a handover period request from a buyer. 

No. Our goal, which is backed by robust measures, is to sell your business with total confidentiality. The first time the public, suppliers, clients or employees should know you are selling is after you have completed the deal. 

The most common reason, is overvaluing. 

As an industry there are brokers who focus on very high listing fees without worrying if they will ever sell your business. Because of that, there is a trend to overvalue and we regularly hear from business owners who have wasted a lot of money and a year without interest. 

It is vital to understand the business so you and I can put yourself in a buyers shoes and get ahead of those questions and have supporting evidence.

We aren't the right broker for everyone, so there is a chance we aren't the right broker for you. 

We tend not to pull our punches in advice. We don't have glass fronted city offices, nor will we take you for long boozy lunches. 

We are a small dedicated experienced team, who simply had a vision on how selling businesses could be a better experience. We have stripped away all the unnecessary noise to just focus on finding you a buyer that meets your expectations.

We are right for you, if you want a hard working, discreet broker, who is akin to your own outsourced selling team.

Most business brokers some offer overlapping processes and systems.

However we are only of a very small handful of brokers in the UK, approved to list on the portals where buyers and M&A teams pay to be a member of. This brings your business in front of serious and experienced buyers from day 1. Listing there, under our branding, gives gravitas to your business and credibility. 

What sets us apart we hope, is our attention to detail, commitment to your privacy, genuine proactive approach and straightforward, straight talking advice.

We do the heavy lifting. We know you are busy running a business. On average to  set up a sale, we will need 1-2 hours of your time spread over a couple of sessions to start the process.

We do focus on businesses with annual revenues of at least £500,000. 

Businesses under this level are typically better served by other brokers. 

In terms of what types of business, we cover the whole business space. We have successfully sold, hotels, manufacturing, healthcare, recruitment and e-commerce businesses to mention a few. 

We have specialists in-house and where needed will bring in industry specific support.

We will work for a minimum of 12 months to find you a buyer as your sole broker. 

You will have a 6 month break clause. 

Unlike most business brokers, you won't sign a sole selling rights contract with us. 

If we don't introduce the buyer to your business, you won't pay us a success fee.

Want to use more than one broker? Absolutely fine.

We don't take any commission from solicitors. 

We will recommend firms to you if you need, based solely on long standing relationships, some lastly nearly 2 decades. 

The same will apply to other 3rd party suppliers.

We are a small discreet business brokerage. We are very fortunate to receive incredible word of mouth recommendations, both from previous clients, previous buyers, solicitors and accountants. 

Yes would could shout louder, but our goal is to provide a great service to committed clients and we save all our budget for outreach to find you buyers, rather than self promotion for us. 

Fair question and we will try to be direct. 

Like most brokers our fees are split in 2 parts. A small contribution to our time and investment to finding a buyer and a success fee, only paid if you complete the deal.

Each business has different needs, so our fees aren't one size fits all. What we can promise is, following an initial chat about what you want and need, we will clearly set out our fees, so you can have a transparent view. 

We also promise to match ANY like for like service that is offered by another broker.