Why Businesses Don’t Sell and Why Some Never Sell!

Sometimes, business owners are their own worst enemies when they try to sell a business.

“Statistics show that less than twenty percent of businesses sell when marketed for sale.”

That statistic equates to – 80% of businesses never sell when marketed!

In a survey of Business Brokers and Merger and Acquisition (M&A) Advisors, the respondents were asked to identify the top reasons why businesses don’t sell successfully.

The top response was unrealistic seller valuation expectations; sixty-nine percent of merger and acquisition advisors and business brokers indicated this issue as being the most problematic in selling a business.

1. The valuation of the business is too high, in some cases by as much as 100%.
2. The business has several family members in top management positions.
3. The owner is the business, and the business cannot run effectively without the owner’s efforts and know-how.
4. One or two customers constitute more than 25% of the total business.
5. The business’s industry is diminishing or threatened by globalization.
6. The owner(s) is aging and has slowed down, resulting in diminishing revenues.
7. The owner did not take the time to perform exit or succession planning. To properly prepare the business for sale, the owner should have engaged in exit planning 2-5 years prior to selling.
8. Many of the financial rewards of the businesses were taken by the owner in various “perks” which, from a business valuation perspective, will not make it to the EBIDTA as add backs.
9. The seller did not take time to become educated on the selling process, especially on the possible ugliness of the due diligence process by the buyer and their advisor.
10. The owner did not utilize the professional services of trusted mergers & acquisitions advisor or, in the case of a retail company or a small business, the services of a business broker.

Without properly preparing the business for sale and arming oneself with a proven mergers and acquisitions process, there will be a huge business valuation gap between what the business seller expects to receive and what a reasonable buyer sees as fair market price. Selling a business takes years of preparation and the use of a proven process.

Additionally, it is time consuming. A business owner trying to keep their business running smoothly while, at the same time, trying to sift through streams of bargain hunters can be daunting. Without a proven process, a formal business valuation, and a good amount of preparation, these bargain hunters will chip away at the sellers asking price.

For owners of B2B businesses and large businesses, your buyer will not be an individual but rather a corporation or a private equity group. If the potential buyer has revenues up to $100 million, the mergers and acquisitions contact is usually the president. If the company is larger, the contact is typically the head of strategy, business development or merger and acquisition services.

The first task is to recognize that reaching these corporate buyers is a very difficult and labor-intensive process. In these situations, it is wise to enlist the services of a mergers and acquisitions advisor firm that specializes in reaching these targeted buyers.

In summary, it cannot be stressed enough that a business needs to be properly prepared for sale. The process takes approximately 2-5 years, is not very costly, and does not take much time, but the results can be phenomenal and will bring about a much higher business valuation, better terms, and a faster sale.