Few entrepreneurs are involved in buying or selling a business more than once in a lifetime. While it will be an emotional transaction for you, it is best handled by a dispassionate professional who is involved in these transactions on a daily basis. Selling or buying a business is probably the most important financial decision you will make, involving a commitment that will affect both you and your family. A professional business broker has the training and experience to guide you through the process, pointing out issues that must be considered in the transaction and providing guidance throughout the process. He is a team player who will assist you in evaluating the business and provide assistance to your other professional advisors, such as attorneys and accountants. A broker will assure you of confidentiality, screening the sale from the public, your vendors and staff. It would be tiresome for you to constantly answer questions about why you are contemplating selling your business and potentially damage the business value should it be widely known that your business is for sale. Obviously, you would not want staff to know, lest they become concerned about their future and cause their productivity to be affected or encourage them to seek other positions.

Every small business owner will agree that running the business requires attention to detail to assure maximum profits. This management must be continued during the sale of the business and is the owner’s only responsibility. Getting too involved in the selling process diverts attention from his proper focus and can negatively impact the business operation. It is best to allow a professional business broker to handle this transaction and free the owner from the many tasks involved in selling the business: preparing advertising materials, preparing descriptive literature for prospective buyers, screening buyers, negotiating the transaction and arranging the closing. The Broker's job is to confidentially market the business, find and screen the Buyers, educate them, negotiate the terms of the sale and to advise both the buyer and the seller through the emotional process in a rational manner. The Buyer benefits because the Broker has already pre-qualified a business before he lists it and he has prepared the Seller for the sale and what a rational Buyer should expect to review. He has also compiled the financial information and background of the business that the Buyer will need to evaluate the transaction.