Should You Sell Your Palm Beach Business with or without a Broker?

When you have made the decision to sell your business in South Florida, you may only have a few end goals in mind. These could include getting the highest price for your business, selling to someone you trust will take care of your employees, and making the transition as smooth as possible.

These end goals are simple enough, though they can sometimes be challenging to accomplish. After all, running a business is hard enough, in and of itself. Finding the time and energy, and having the know-how, to accomplish these end goals can be even tougher.

That’s why many business owners nowadays are turning to business brokers to help them sell their business. Brokers are people who are tasked specifically with getting you from Point A to Point Z of a business sale, including:

• Prepping your business for sale
• Marketing your business for sale
• Finding the right buyer
• Helping in negotiations and with paperwork

But is hiring a broker the right thing to do if you’re selling your business? Here are some of the pros and cons of doing so.

Why You Should Hire a Business Broker

Here are some of the top benefits of hiring a business broker:

• Great marketing: Business brokers specialize in marketing your business. This means that once they have talked to you about your goals, they can start the process of crafting your story, both from a visual and descriptive standpoint.
• Less paperwork: Business brokers handle the tasks of all the paperwork you’ll need to prepare. These include CIMs and NDAs for potential buyers, as well as help with creating and organizing all the accounting information that any potential buyer would want to see.
• Research: Brokers have done this plenty of times in the past. As such, they have years of expertise and can help you set a proper price for your business. In this sense, they are very much like real estate agents who use their expertise to help their customers set appropriate asking prices for their homes.
• Large network: Business brokers have large networks of potential buyers as well as other business brokers. This means you won’t have to search around for potential buyers, as the business broker may be able to cherry pick a good fit for you from their network.
• Buyer screening: One of the biggest benefits of hiring a business broker is they will screen and qualify potential buyers before they even present you with an offer. This saves you a lot of time, money, effort and headaches.

Why You Shouldn’t Hire a Business Broker

On the flipside, there are some reasons why you may not want to hire a business broker, including:

• The cost: Business brokers aren’t free, and they don’t come cheap, either. Just like a real estate agent, the business broker will take their fee, most of the time, as a percentage of the final sales price. This fee could range anywhere from 8-12 percent, which could end up being a lot of money.
• There aren’t a lot of them: Unlike real estate agents, good business brokers are not a dime a dozen. There are likely to be more qualified, trustworthy and top-notch brokers in and near bigger cities. That means it may be difficult for you to even find a broker. If you are able to find one, make sure you vet them before signing on the dotted line.
• The responsibilities: When you hire a business broker, you are trusting them with a lot of important, confidential information and are assigning them very important tasks. This is quite a lot to hand to a contractor. Keep in mind that if you hire a business broker, you’ll be putting your future in their hands almost completely – even though you’ll have the final say on everything.
• Their goals: While you are the person hiring the business broker, you have to always wonder whether the broker only has your goals in mind, or whether they are working for the buyer, too. The extensive network of business brokers is great in finding you potential buyers, but keep in mind they may have a previous relationship with this business broker. As such, the broker may be trying to walk the line of getting you the best price while getting the buyer the best price at the same time.

These are just some of the pros and cons of hiring a business broker when you have made the decision to sell your business. Before you make the final decision on whether a business broker would be right for you, keep in mind these pros and cons, and see how well they fit with your specific situation.

Talk to a Sunbelt South Florida broker today! Sunbelt Business Brokers of West Palm Beach provides dedicated business brokerage services for all of your selling needs.

Whether you are an established business owner nearing retirement and looking to sell, or an ambitious entrepreneur seeking your next investment opportunity, there is no reason to look beyond Sunbelt Business Brokers. Visit us at 800 Village Square Crossing, Suite 216 Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410 or contact us at (561) 832-9222.