Issue link: https://digital.nexsitepublishing.com/i/1460718
S uccessfully building a quality home requires skilled contributions from a variety of experts and companies, ranging from architects and roofers to electricians and cabinet manufacturers. Selecting the wrong team can result in project delays, cost overruns, and potentially unhappy customers publicly attacking your reputation on social media. The same is true when you sell your business. Selling a business is a complicated and nuanced process requiring comprehensive knowledge, experience, and a superior skill set. It is also a process that most entrepreneurs are unfamiliar with when they begin to think about retirement. When selling a business, you need a team of high-caliber professionals. Here's a brief overview of the most important ones to ensure best practices for a successful sale. The quarterback of a business sale team is the business broker. The professional services provided by a business broker require extensive experience and knowledge to perform at a high level. Their first service is the valuation of the business, a complex, subjective science incorporating accounting, finance, and investment principles on one end and an intuitive skill similar to assessing art on the other. When you're ready to sell your business, having the right team of experts is key. A broker has to be able to price a business based on buyer demand and establish a competitive marketplace where multiple parties can vie to acquire a company. Because of this, you should only engage brokers with experience successfully completing transactions in the construction industry. With buyers identified, the next step is facilitating information provision and negotiations in an environment of strict confidence, so employees, competitors, and customers do not prematurely learn that the business is on the market. Top business brokers will do this for free until the transaction is completed—similar to a real estate broker. Once you have a broker, your transaction team should also include your accountant and attorney. The accountant in the deal will assess the valuation, support due diligence (the equivalent of a building inspection), and provide guidance on tax allocation, while the attorney will mitigate post-transaction liability. Failure to build the right team will likely cost you money with an unfavorable sale price, increased taxes, or post-transaction financial liability. The valuation of a business is a complex, subjective science incorporating accounting, finance, and investment principles on one end and an intuitive skill similar to assessing art on the other. BY CURT MAIER VP OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IBA CURT@IBAINC.COM Building a Quality Team to Sell Your Business 32 master BUILDER | SPRING 2022 MEMBERSHIP VALUE