Let's start with when is NOT the right time to sell.
- Forced to Due to Aging and Fatigue
- Health Decline
- Divorce
- Partner Breakup
- Business Decline
- Disinterest
- Poor Market Timing
A business sale should always be strategic and not reactionary.
You should always sell when you do not have to. If you sell because you have to the buyers will absolutely sense that and your sales price will be clearly discounted.
Some sales even default all the way down to a distress sale or a liquidation sale status.
There is one thing that you never ever want to experience. It is seller remorse. When you sell you want to go out on top and feel like a winner. You do not want to limp away feeling like everything was out of your control including the final price. If you depart with seller's remorse you will regret it and second guess it for the rest of your life.
You worked too hard for too long to sustain a miserable final outcome.
With 30 years of experience, I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty.
MOST PEOPLE WAIT TOO LONG!
Why?
They do not have a succession plan. They stumble forward under a surreal premise that everything is fine and that it will continue to be fine. They also believe everything in under their control. How many of the seven attributes above are actually under their control?
They also procrastinate with the following two statements:
- I enjoy what I am doing.
- I don't know what I would do if I stopped.
Somehow, they do not consider what they would suddenly do if they had plenty of time AND plenty of money.
I give the following advice based upon 30 years of experience.
DEVELOP A PLAN AND PLAN TO FOLLOW THE PLAN!
Recommended Planning Technique
- Plan to live to 75
- Develop a business transition plan by 62
- Sell your company by 65
- Enjoy 10 hopefully healthy years
What could go wrong with this plan?
Oh, you could live to 85 and have to enjoy 20 years instead of 10.
I just watched someone I know work to 67 and retire on New Year's Eve 2025 and dropped dead January 6, 2026. He got 5 days of enjoyment so the 10,000,000+ in his bank account was not of much good.
I have also seen horrible situations where the business operator dropped dead and the non-involved spouse was completely stranded with ability to operate the company. If you love someone do not put them in this doomed situation.
These are not meant as a scare tactics or a false encouragements to sell.
They are meant as a good faith well intended nudges to develop a plan WHILE EVERYTHING IS WITHIN YOUR CONTROL.