What happens after the buyer receives a confidential information memorandum (CIM) about a business? When meeting with a potential buyer, keep in mind the Golden Rule: Treat others how you want to be treated.

Revenue, SDE, and EBITDA can significantly impact a buyer’s decision on whether to pursue a particular opportunity, let alone purchase that business. Most buyers are searching for a business with the lowest possible multiple.

If you’re near Google, go ahead and search for “businesses for sale.” What you’ll get in return in a fraction of a second is a myriad of web portals that exclusively list opportunities for prospective owners of small and mid-sized businesses.

The steps that follow are necessary to consider only if the initial marketing campaigns to sell your business aren’t generating adequate results. So, if they’re not coming to you, you may need to go to them.

With a targeted campaign, we reach out directly to potential corporate buyers — many M&A advisors call this a private auction. This involves compiling a list of potential corporate buyers and then contacting them directly through emails, letters, and phone calls. Corporate buyers can also be targeted through select trade publications.

You must figure out the most efficient way to contact your targeted market. Do you hunt them down directly? Or, is it more effective to advertise your business for sale in the form of targeted media that reaches those who are actively looking for businesses to buy?

This article will address in detail the questions that are central to determining your suitor’s financial wherewithal, their sincerity, their motivations, and more, to wit.

Just as buyers perform due diligence on you and your business, performing due diligence on buyers is also paramount. One of the most time-consuming yet critical first steps in the sale process is screening potential buyers. The importance of screening buyers cannot be overstated.

If confidentiality is still a concern, however, there are some steps that you, as the seller, can take to help prevent highly sensitive information from getting into the wrong hands (i.e., a competitor) at the wrong time (i.e., early in the process, before you’re satisfied that they are serious buyers).

Buyers are like everyone else — they’re busy and are likely considering multiple alternatives to acquiring your business. A buyer may initially appear interested and may later change their mind after considering another business.

How long does a buyer keep looking for a business before they decide to either pull the trigger or give up their search — or, to use a technical phrase, “fish or cut bait”?

This guide covers the most common issues that arise in drafting and negotiating a confidentiality agreement in the sale of a business and includes a detailed list of clauses with commentary.

A mistake in the NDA can shut down critical options later. This article explores the key elements and clauses of a properly drafted NDA that helps control your sensitive information.

A signed non-disclosure agreement (NDA) helps prevent information leaks, but what other tools are available to you? Discover a dozen strategies to help keep the sale of your business a secret.