How to sell your business, our 5 step process
BCMS utilise a unique and refreshingly different way to sell your business for its maximum value: the 5 step process.
Step 1: The project brief
We work with you to create a comprehensive Sell Your Business brief, thinking laterally and beyond the obvious.
The brief covers all aspects of your business including:
- Your client base
- Your products and services
- The marketplace
- Financials
- Purchaser profiling
We then appoint a project manager and team to handle the business sale process.
Step 2: Exhaustive research
The project is now passed to our large, dedicated and highly skilled research team. We identify potential buyers from our 50 million strong company database. The nature of many buyers is often a surprise to a seller and there are 3 reasons why we usually identify over 200 prospective purchasers. At this stage it is vital to look at complimentary buyers (not just competitive) and possibly from overseas, not just from the UK.
The research stage usually takes 5 weeks and is approved by the seller before implementation. At this stage we begin to develop our unique 'Step Change Business Plan', the most important document in selling your business.
Step 3: Prospect generation
The project manager now draws in the unique and skilled 'Prospect Generation Team'. Our consultants contact, in strictest confidence, every prospective purchaser. We introduce the initial idea without telling them your Company name.
The objective is to generate face-to-face meetings with multiple prospective purchasers to create an atmosphere of competition. Each prospective buyer will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement before proceeding. There are no valuations at this stage. Due to strongly adhered to confidentiality policies, a breech of confidentiality is virtually unheard of.
Step 4: Qualification and bidding
The BCMS team will vet and qualify each prospect. It is at this stage that one of our highly experienced 'senior negotiators' is called in. The senior negotiator will talk in greater detail with between 7-10 prospective buyers. Some of these will be eliminated from the deal.
We prepare the client with our 'dry run negotiation meeting' to help them understand:
- What to say and what not to say
- How we will be inviting competitive bids
- How to think benefits
- How to trade, not concede
- How to keep sight of the objective
- When the client should talk and when they should leave it to the negotiator
The BCMS team facilitate and lead every meeting and take each prospect through our proven bidding process.
We typically receive 3 to 5 serious bids of which 2 to 4 are normally worth progressing.
Download our FREE book: 'Selling a Company for All It's Worth'
Step 5: Concluding the deal
We continue to handle the negotiations between buyer and seller and their advisors. We manage the due diligence process that ensures the buyers know that what they believe they are buying is what they really are buying.
We ensure the business purchaser knows that the seller still has alternatives, because choice—or percieved choice—impacts on the speed and price of the business sale.
The BCMS team work hard to get you the best 'deal' possible.
