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When marketing a business for sale you will want to get the best result possible. So when is the best time to sell so as to achieve the best realisation of the value of a business?
When Should You Sell?
You are likely to get the best price for your business at the point when its growth prospects appear highest. The growth prospects of your business will appear best when:
- your company's business is growing (has been growing strongly and has prospects of strong future growth);
- your industry is growing; and
- the outside economy is growing.
Ideally therefore, you want to be selling at a time when your performance is good and your prospects are better.
It is a fact of life that many entrepreneurs are attracted to high growth industry as an expanding market offers easier opportunities to create a new business. What you must bear in mind however is that every high growth industry eventually settles down to a much lower rate of growth which cannot support new entrants into the market and often cannot support all of the existing players. Therefore many sectors, from skateboard shops through to nursing homes, golf clubs, and mobile phone shops, will show periods of high growth with large numbers of players entering the field only to have a 'shakeout' as the rate of growth declines and the less successful players go to the wall.
In buying your business, purchasers will be putting a value on the prospects of the business.
When picking your moment to sell therefore, it pays to 'leave something in it for the next man'. Remember that selling a business is a process that will take some time. Many entrepreneurs are tempted to hang on into a growth industry, attempting to squeeze every drop of growth out of the business and aiming to sell right at the top of the curve.
The danger with this approach is that you just might be very lucky and sell out at exactly the right time. However, bear in the mind that the sales process will take several months to complete, from start to finish. The chances are that you will not be successful and will miss selling right at the peak.
The point to note here is that the value of the business sold when it is on the up in a high growth phase is likely to be much greater, or as great as the value of the business sold at the peak as growth starts to tail off, because the business during the growth phase will be being valued on the basis of continuing growth as perceived in the marketplace; whereas the value of the business as the market flattens out may be valued on greater absolute earnings, but potentially at a much lower multiple due to lower growth prospects.
Moreover, if you wait too long in the business' lifecycle and the market starts to decline, the value of the business will be based on a deteriorating growth prospects which will be reflected in the multiples achievable.
You should review your business every six months or so and consider whether now is a good time to sell. In fact, asking yourself the question: 'Would people want to buy my company?' is a good test of whether you are generating value or not. Because if the answer is 'No', what does this tell you about your business?
Keep an eye, therefore, on the value of your business and the rate of growth of it, its industry and economy in general.
So What If You Need To Sell But Your Business Is In Difficulty?
If your business is in difficulty, if you attempt to sell it you will have to accept that you are unlikely to get as much for it as you would if it was in good health; since as a distressed seller or someone selling a distressed business, the value you are likely to achieve for your business will be low.
Therefore, if your business is in difficulties, in order to improve the price you are likely to achieve, it is usually best to attempt to turn it around first so as to be able to market a business with a better current trading performance and future prospects (a process sometimes referred to within the turnaround profession as 'polishing the pig').
If your business has become quite severely distressed, and in practice would fail one of the tests for insolvency set out in the Insolvency Act 1986, in that it is unable to pay its debts as they fall due or that its liabilities exceed its assets, then there are further problems in attempting to achieve a sale.
These are, that in the event of a liquidation, the insolvency practitioner who has been appointed will have a duty to look at transactions during the period leading up to the insolvency, particularly those undertaken when the company was technically insolvent, to see whether any of these should be reversed.
In particular he will be looking for transactions at undervalue where he is able to argue that an asset has been sold off cheaply (such as you have sold the Rolls Royce to Joe, your brother, for £5 the day before the liquidation), or preferences, where he is able to argue that you have acted to put one creditor in a better position than others (such as you have paid Joe, or have transferred assets to him in settlement of his account prior to the liquidation, when you have not paid other creditors).
Thus, any sale or transfer of a business's assets in the period leading up to a liquidation may be subject to a challenge in the courts by a liquidator. They may also feature in the liquidator's report on the directors' conduct prepared for the Government's directors disqualification unit on which they may decide to bring proceedings.
So in summary, when you want to sell your business, choose your moment to sell, do not have it forced upon you. Be proactive about deciding when you want to sell your business and never allow yourself to become a forced seller of your business as a result of economic or other reasons. If you do, you will achieve a worse price because firstly, you will not be selling at the most opportune moment to maximise value, and secondly, because anxiety will force you to accept lower offers than you would otherwise consider.

Growth in business is the goal. So when things start growing, every business owner and manager gets excited. This is what it's all about: seeing your business grow and become successful. Of course, along with this growth is going comes the need to be more organized than ever before. When you first started your business, it was easy to keep track of sales, inventory and orders. With the growth, however, you need to take a serious look at the needs of your company. Many business owners and managers are finding that order management software is the answer to keeping them on track as their company grows.
Sometimes those who manage businesses are unsure about any software that is involved in their business. Oftentimes, this is because of a lack of knowledge about how this software can benefit their business. The bottom line is that order management software can bring everything together for you and make your job so much easier. It may take some time to get the program set up and figure out how to make it work effectively. If you can find a method that will eliminate stress, bring order to your business and bring you even more success, it will be worth the energy, time and investment. Step out and make the necessary changes in your business in order to be as effective and organized as possible.
It's important to check out all of your options because every type of management software is different. You can meet many of the needs of your company by using a management program. Order entry and processing is the basic role of an order management system. However, there are other modules that may be included in the program.
One of the functions that may be included in software specifically for a wholesale business might include product information. This could include pictures, descriptions, quantities, locations and attributes of various products sold by the company. Catalogs, promotions and pricing can be included in another module, along with inventory availability and location.
One feature that many business owners and managers appreciate is the order entry and customer service available through this type of software. This could include returns and refunds. Many of these products include financial processing with the software. This might include payment to account, credit card purchases and billing.
The security of order management software is another favorable factor. With so many law suits due to thefts and white color crimes, this type of software can track inventory quickly and easily. If there are sudden changes in inventory or cash flow, it's very easy to track things down.
The number of advantages of order management software is amazing. By organizing your finances, inventory and customer service, you can help avoid confusion in your business. Rather than trying to do things the old-fashioned way, give order management software a try. If you decide to invest in this type of software, you will find customer service to be of great assistance as you begin to organize your company's data.

Order management software is helping to bring order to businesses and keep them on the cutting edge of every transaction that occurs. Wholesale business software is proving to be a worthwhile investment for business owners everywhere.