Whether this is the first time you have attempted to buy a business, or you’ve bought and sold more than one, it’s important to have a local business broker to assist you.
Take Charge When You Plan to Buy a Business
Deciding to buy a business is a big deal. Buying a business gives you great power to control your financial future. Owning your own business is one of the biggest ways to build personal wealth and take charge of your own destiny. By partnering with Transworld to buy a business, you’re working with the best business brokers in the industry. Ideally, you will meet with your Transworld business broker in person. If distance makes that more than an inconvenience, regular communication by phone, video conferencing, or email, or a combination of those should be effective.
Before You Buy a Business, Take Time to Evaluate
Before you buy a business, you need to do some soul searching and truth telling. It’s important to know your own strengths and weaknesses before buying a business. That’s why we begin the business buying process by asking you a lot of questions, in order to best serve you. Clear and honest answers are important. We use the information we gather to establish your financial capabilities, as well as learn about your skills, experience, and your personal life goals. The decision to buy a business is not a weighty one. Together, we’ll determine your commitment to the process and which business sector is the best fit. Once we wrap up the evaluation phase, we will start your business search using Transworld's wealth of resources.
Knowledge is Power When You Want to Buy a Business
Making uninformed business decisions is a good way to lose money. Your Transworld business broker will help educate you on what it takes to buy a business. We make sure you understand both the buying process and the realities of the current marketplace. You will learn how to search the Internet for businesses for sale that meet your requirements, You will also learn how to decipher Business Listing Information sheets, make sense of basic valuation concepts, and much more. Knowledge truly is power when you set out to buy a business.
The Search Is On to Buy a Business
Now the fun part begins. Armed with information and newly found knowledge, we will help you search for your future business. We will help you refine your business search and to come up with a list of possibilities. Your Transworld representative will assist you in signing confidentiality disclosures, get you detailed information on each business of interest, and set up showings with the seller. If your search to buy a business takes longer than a few months, you may need to clarify your goals and return to the previous two steps.
Make an Offer to Buy a Business
Your Transworld business broker will help you draft a contingent offer to buy a business that you want to own. We will present a purchase and sale agreement to the seller, along with a deposit of good faith to demonstrate you are a serious buyer. After any negotiations, and if all goes as planned, you will have an executed contingent purchase agreement. The actual purchase is contingent on the next phase of the process.
Perform Your Due Diligence Before You Buy a Business
Performing your due diligence is when you look behind all of the closed doors, and dive into the financials. Think of it as an inspection, similar to when you have a home inspection done before closing on a house. This is a little more complicated, though. You will fully inspect the owner's representations of the business to ensure they are accurate. Is the business really as profitable as they said? Are there any hidden surprises in the financial documents, or pending lawsuits? Due diligence uncovers those sorts of issues. Depending on what we find, your offer can be modified, and negotiations may begin again. If you plan to finance your business purchase, the lender must have approved your application before things proceed to the next step.
Close the Deal – Buy a Business!
Both you and the seller will make final preparations for lease assignments, utility transfers, financing, merchant service accounts, inventory counts, and any other last minute preparations. Arriving at closing prepared will help make the business transfer as smooth and simple as possible. Your business acquisition will usually be completed by an attorney, and will include reading and signing several documents, as well as paying the balance of the purchase price.
After Closing
The seller may provide you with transitional training and assistance including meetings with employees, clients, and vendors; technical education, computer updating, and other essential knowledge transfer. We will be available to assist you with any needs you may have.
Please do not hesitate to ask us to explain in detail any portion of this process. And remember what you have learned throughout this process, because when the time comes, Transworld will be here to help you sell your business.
