How Can A Business Plan Help You To Sell Your Business?
If you want to sell your business, a business plan can help you to provide information to your prospective buyers. In this situation, a business plan should provide thorough detail about the business’s history, financial data and projections. It should be honest and realistic – both so as not to mislead the buyer, and also to make sure your business is being put in the hands of someone it is suited for.
However, it should also show your business in a good light and help you to sell it by showing off its successes and the opportunities you see in its future. You will need to either write a business plan from scratch or update your current one.
Updating Your Existing Business Plan
It may be an easier task for you to update your existing plan rather than rewriting something from scratch, and a prospective buyer might like to see your original business plan because then they will get a picture of your business right from its humble beginnings to the present day. If you have been updating your plan over the years, it should include your historical financial and sales information so that the buyer can see trends in your finances and make realistic predictions about the future. Your own projections are also likely to have a place in your business plan, so that your buyer can see your business’s potential.
Writing A Business Plan From Scratch
If you don’t already have a business plan, you may need to write one from scratch to help you sell your business to a buyer. Since you’re starting from the beginning with the sole purpose of trying to sell your business, starting with a blank sheet can give you a little more freedom. You can choose which data is important to show the buyer, and structure the content in a way that will be useful for this purpose. You may want to focus on your main successes over the years, any challenges you have overcome, how much your profits have improved during this time, and where you see the business going in the future.
Though it may sound like another task that is going to eat up your time, writing a business plan is a good way to give buyers an overview of your business and help you to sell it to them. A good mix of honesty and positivity can help you to sell your business to the right buyer at the price you want.
If you would like help with writing a business plan to help you sell your business to a buyer, get in touch. Use the form on the right or call cbm on 01604 420 420.