Corpus Christi, Texas Business Brokers | M&A Advisors

Business Broker and M&A Services in Corpus Christi, Texas

Importance of Selling Your Business Discreetly

When business owners sell their business on their own, there are often some details that get overlooked or nuances to the sales process that business owners are unaware of. One of the most important and commonly overlooked details that inexperienced sellers miss is maintaining a confidential sale.

Selling your business is not like selling a car, house, boat, or anything else. It is absolutely essential that your business is sold discreetly. Failure to maintain a confidential sale can have serious consequences and make it extremely difficult to achieve a successful sale. Some of the consequences of having your sale become public knowledge include:

• Customers could learn about your sale and take their business elsewhere.
• Employees could learn about your sales and become less engaged in their work or begin looking for employment elsewhere.
• Suppliers may be unwilling to continue working with you or unwilling to continue offering favorable contract terms.
• Competitors could view your impending sale as a sign of weakness and an opportunity to increase their market share.
• Buyers could become nervous about purchasing a company that is being sold publicly.
• The market value of your company may decrease.
• Your business will become more difficult to sell, elongating the sales process.
• The added pressure of a public sale can make the entire process more stressful.
• If purchasing offers are made public, you will have less leverage when you are negotiating with potential buyers because they will know what other buyers are willing to pay.
• Your sale will attract more low-quality buyers and fewer high-quality buyers, making it difficult to maximize your profits and achieve a successful sale in the long term.

In order to avoid these outcomes and sell your business successfully, your sale must remain discreet, and steps must be taken to ensure complete confidentiality.

How Our Business Brokers Maintain a Confidential Sale

When you sell your business through Morgan & Westfield, our business brokers will ensure that your business is sold confidentially. One of the ways that we do this is through marketing your sale discreetly and working to screen the buyers who respond to our marketing campaign.

When we advertise your business’s sale, we do so utilizing a technique called “confidential marketing.” Your business’s sale will be advertised on several websites that are frequented by your target buyers using only general information.

For example, your ad may describe your business as: “A small business located in the South Texas area, in the tourism industry, with an asking price of $185,000.” This information is specific enough to pique a potential buyer’s interest but still generic enough to maintain your business’s anonymity.

Prospective buyers who are interested in learning more about your business based on the information that is provided in the advertisement will be prompted to contact our brokers at the Corpus Christi, Texas, office of Morgan & Westfield.

As an added tool for maintaining your sale’s confidentiality, our business brokers will also screen all potential buyers who respond to your advertising campaign. Buyers will be interviewed and researched by our business brokers to ensure that only the most qualified buyers are referred to you. At this time, all potential buyers will also be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Only after this contract has been signed will our brokers provide potential buyers with specific information about your company, thereby ensuring that your business’s sale will remain completely confidential.

Steps That You Can Take to Maintain a Confidential Sale

In addition to the steps that our business brokers will take to ensure that your confidentiality is maintained, there are also some precautions that you can take, including:

• Tell no one about your sale until the sale has been closed.
• Require anyone with knowledge of your sale to sign a confidentiality agreement.
• Continue to operate your business as you normally would.
• Do not allow inventory levels to dip below their normal levels, as this may cause some suspicion.
• If you plan to begin delegating your responsibilities to other employees (so it will be easier for another owner to fill your role), then do so gradually. Do not make these changes quickly, as that may cause your employees to become suspicious.
• Continue to renew and maintain all applicable rental agreements, licenses, permits, and supply contracts. (This is also a good idea because some sales take longer than others, and maintaining these items will enable you to continue operating normally.)

Selling Your Business through Morgan & Westfield, Corpus Christi, Texas Office

At the Corpus Christi, Texas office of Morgan & Westfield, our business brokers provide our business brokerage services to business owners throughout the South Texas area. We place a particular emphasis on serving the specific communities of:

Each year, our business brokers facilitate hundreds of successful sales in these communities as well as in many of the neighboring communities that make up this region of South Texas. If you are a business owner in this area and you are considering selling your business, our business brokers are here to help. To learn more about how we can facilitate your business’s sale, contact the Corpus Christi, Texas, office of Morgan & Westfield today.