{"id":1169,"date":"2016-08-01T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T15:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/?p=1169"},"modified":"2023-09-20T18:51:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T18:51:12","slug":"five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/","title":{"rendered":"Five More Deal Killers to Avoid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Selling a business is an obstacle course of preparing your business for sale, finding a buyer, negotiating and making it through the closing without a hitch.\u00a0But you can make selling your business easier if you avoid more deal killer mistakes.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Not being up front about problems with the business<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Most buyers will do their due dilegence and will find out about problems. And if they hear about them from a third party and not you, they may wonder what else you are hiding. Moral of the story \u2013 Be honest and up front about everything.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 2.\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Stretching the truth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A smart buyer will see through your hype when financial statements and contracts don\u2019t live up to the story. In fact, this will give the buyer a legal excuse for defaulting on loan payments if the business fails and they can prove your misrepresented the facts.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong>Taking to long to respond to questions or offers<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Reply immediately, especially in our rapid-fire email world. By making a buyer wait longer than a day, may drive them away.<\/li>\n<li>Also, maintain deadlines. If you promise information on financials, etc., keep your word and get them to a buyer in a timely manner.<\/li>\n<li>This is an important reason to hire a business broker to sell your business \u2013 it gives you time to run your business while the broker takes care of paperwork and buyer questions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong>Waiting too long to qualify a buyer<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If a buyer is interested, make sure they fill out a non-disclosure form and a confidentiality agreement. That way they can look at your listing. In most cases a buyer won\u2019t mind signing these documents. If they do, they probably aren\u2019t qualified to buy afterall.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><strong>Refusing to negotiate<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Buyers see the asking price as a starting point for negotiations, so expect some give and take. Most sale prices end up around 80 percent of the asking price.<\/p>\n<p>General rule: if the buyer is qualified both financially and business wise, keep talking.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, don\u2019t let numbers alone kill a deal. Talk with an accountant or business brokers to evaluate offers. If the tax implications favor you with a lower offer, it might be better to move than wait for a higher offer.<\/p>\n<p><em>More information on this topic can be found in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Selling-Business-Dummies-Barbara-Findlay\/dp\/0470381892\">\u201cSelling Your Business for Dummies,\u201d<\/a> by Barbara Findlay Schenk and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/franchise\/about\/\">John Davies<\/a>, CEO of Sunbelt Business Brokers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Selling a business is an obstacle course of preparing your business for sale, finding a buyer, negotiating and making it through the closing without a hitch.\u00a0But you can make selling your business easier if you avoid more deal killer mistakes. Not being up front about problems with the business Most buyers will do their due [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":11650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,31,2,28],"tags":[42,38,43,44,25,27,45],"class_list":["post-1169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exit-strategies","category-news","category-selling-a-business","category-uncategorized","tag-barbar-findlay-schenk","tag-deal-killers","tag-john-davies","tag-negotiate","tag-patti-wenzel","tag-sunbelt-business-brokers","tag-truth"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Five More Deal Killers to Avoid - Sunbelt of Milwaukee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five More Deal Killers to Avoid - Sunbelt of Milwaukee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sunbelt of Milwaukee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-01T15:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-20T18:51:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2017\/11\/sunbelt-news-cover.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sbmilwaukee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"sbmilwaukee\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"sbmilwaukee\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2ee64979056a49169571c30f28c32141\"},\"headline\":\"Five More Deal Killers to Avoid\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-01T15:00:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-20T18:51:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/107\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/sunbelt-news-cover.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Barbar Findlay Schenk\",\"Deal Killers\",\"John Davies\",\"negotiate\",\"Patti Wenzel\",\"Sunbelt Business Brokers\",\"truth\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Exit Strategies\",\"News\",\"Selling A Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/\",\"name\":\"Five More Deal Killers to Avoid - Sunbelt of Milwaukee\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/107\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/sunbelt-news-cover.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-01T15:00:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-20T18:51:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2ee64979056a49169571c30f28c32141\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/107\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/sunbelt-news-cover.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/107\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/sunbelt-news-cover.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628,\"caption\":\"sunbelt news cover\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Five More Deal Killers to Avoid\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sunbelt of Milwaukee\",\"description\":\"We Sell More Businesses than Anyone in the World.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\\\/milwaukee-wi\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2ee64979056a49169571c30f28c32141\",\"name\":\"sbmilwaukee\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/54ef65b39ba94e460965061c702c297da5892cfe05ea3fd7a476c83a0454b7f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/54ef65b39ba94e460965061c702c297da5892cfe05ea3fd7a476c83a0454b7f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/54ef65b39ba94e460965061c702c297da5892cfe05ea3fd7a476c83a0454b7f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"sbmilwaukee\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Five More Deal Killers to Avoid - Sunbelt of Milwaukee","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Five More Deal Killers to Avoid - Sunbelt of Milwaukee","og_url":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/","og_site_name":"Sunbelt of Milwaukee","article_published_time":"2016-08-01T15:00:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-20T18:51:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2017\/11\/sunbelt-news-cover.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"sbmilwaukee","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"sbmilwaukee","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/"},"author":{"name":"sbmilwaukee","@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/#\/schema\/person\/2ee64979056a49169571c30f28c32141"},"headline":"Five More Deal Killers to Avoid","datePublished":"2016-08-01T15:00:11+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-20T18:51:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/"},"wordCount":402,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2017\/11\/sunbelt-news-cover.jpg","keywords":["Barbar Findlay Schenk","Deal Killers","John Davies","negotiate","Patti Wenzel","Sunbelt Business Brokers","truth"],"articleSection":["Exit Strategies","News","Selling A Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/","url":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/","name":"Five More Deal Killers to Avoid - Sunbelt of Milwaukee","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2017\/11\/sunbelt-news-cover.jpg","datePublished":"2016-08-01T15:00:11+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-20T18:51:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/#\/schema\/person\/2ee64979056a49169571c30f28c32141"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2017\/11\/sunbelt-news-cover.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/107\/2017\/11\/sunbelt-news-cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"sunbelt news cover"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/five-more-deal-killers-to-avoid\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Five More Deal Killers to Avoid"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/","name":"Sunbelt of Milwaukee","description":"We Sell More Businesses than Anyone in the World.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/#\/schema\/person\/2ee64979056a49169571c30f28c32141","name":"sbmilwaukee","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54ef65b39ba94e460965061c702c297da5892cfe05ea3fd7a476c83a0454b7f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54ef65b39ba94e460965061c702c297da5892cfe05ea3fd7a476c83a0454b7f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54ef65b39ba94e460965061c702c297da5892cfe05ea3fd7a476c83a0454b7f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"sbmilwaukee"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1169"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11812,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions\/11812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunbeltnetwork.com\/milwaukee-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}