If you are planning to sell your business on your own, there are numerous pitfalls along the way that you need to avoid. The problem is when you don’t even know how to spot these dangers even if they are staring you in the face. There are two ways to go about the sale of your business: either you market your business for sale online on your own or hire a credible and experienced business broker to assume that responsibility. The first route is more stressful and labour intensive, particularly when you have no prior expertise in the field. The second way is obviously more ideal if you want to sell your business at the highest price in a shorter time frame at little extra effort on your part whilst you continue to concentrate on running your business.

Mistake 1: Lack of planning

Whether you are looking to sell or buy a business in Australia, it’s all about the timing. You will miss an opportunity to obtain the best price if you wait too long or act too soon. Perfect timing takes careful planning. The important thing is to never be impatient. On average in the current market it takes 6 months to a year to sell a small business. Even putting your business in the hands of a really good broker doesn’t guarantee a quick sales because there are too many external factors to consider.

For example, you should have a good record-keeping system so when it’s actually the time to sell, you won’t have to go back through a mountain of paperwork or incomplete data just to show the status of your business at the time of the sale.

Mistake 2: Trying to take on too much

Just consider the task involved. You will have to carefully prepare the listing of your business, design an advert or some brochures, come up with proactive measures to aggressively market your business, available be always when the prospective buyer comes to call, contact a tax professional or legal counsel to handle the paperwork, and spruce up the place to add value to the property. Even then, there’s no guarantee you are going to get the maximum possible price for your business. These days most marketing takes place through sophisticated and professional websites most of which are not available to the general public, which means you will often miss the opportunity to reach the target market.

If you can’t make heads and tails about the business for sale market, taking on too much can be very dangerous indeed. Do notget too caught up about the broker’s fees because a professional broker can often obtain a higher price in the market which will more than pay for these costs when you put up your small business for sale. It’s the classic case of failing to see the forest for the trees.

Mistake 3: Jumping the gun

Jumping the gun is an idiomatic expression to denote over-eagerness. Just because somebody makes an offer does not mean you should immediately accept it. This is the most common mistakes by first-time sellers who did not hire the services of professionals.Knowing how to negotiate to obtain the best deal is very important when you sell one of the largest assets that you own, your small business for sale.