How to Find a Buyer for your Business: 5 Ways to Find a Buyer

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How to Find a Buyer for your Business: 5 Ways to Find a Buyer

I’m going to help you with five ways to find the right buyer for your small business!

1. Look for natural buyers inside your business

Look at people that are already inside your business, these are people that are invested. They love your business and they probably want to grow with it. The person I sold my practice to was one of my clinicians. She’s a high achiever, she’s someone that I could take the business to the next level. And she was someone that I trusted to take the name of Mental Wellness Counseling to a whole new level.

2. Is anyone expanding locally?

Are there any people in your industry who are expanding locally? Are they creating second locations, are they expanding in a new way, are they looking for new opportunities? If you see other private practices with growth potential you might be able to approach them and ask if they’d like a second location. You already have the team and system set up, so it would be turnkey for them.

3. Are non-local businesses looking to expand in your area?

There might be businesses in larger cities, a couple of hours away from you that want to get into a new market. Look at people that are expanding from other cities looking to get into your area. There might be people that want to expand to a second, third or fourth location into a new market without starting from scratch. For them, the value is that it’s an established business and they’re able to launch without starting from scratch and then supervising from a couple of hours away.

4. Numerous companies buy small businesses. but prefer to do so at a reduced rate

They typically value you significantly below what you’re actually worth this is how they make their money. If you’re offering to sell your business for half a million dollars they might offer you $100,000. You might know that you’re done,  or you’ve had a really hard time selling your business so this might be a good option for you. But usually, it should only be a last resort.

5. If it’s profitable, don’t be in a big hurry.

If you’re selling your business, you really should be profitable, it might be good to have this be passive income and to not sell it. Instead, retire from your business and then set up a clinical manager. They can run it for you or you can have a percentage of the profits go to someone that runs it.

There’s a lot of options when you’re selling your business. This is the business that you’ve created, no one’s going to love it the same way you do and they’re not going to keep it the same. So emotionally you need to be ready for that, but when the time comes to sell your business make sure you follow these five tips. They’re going to help make it so much easier for you.

We have tons of resources over at practice of here. If you’re looking for some extra help around selling a practice, scaling it or going after big ideas like podcasting or a course, I’d love for you to apply for some consulting here, we’ll jump on a call to see if you’re a good fit with me or with my team.

Watch the other videos in this series:

Joseph R. Sanok, MA, LLP, LPC, NCC

joe-sanok-private-practice-consultant-headshot-smaller-versionJoe Sanok is an ambitious results expert. He is a private practice business consultant and counselor that helps small businesses and counselors in private practice to increase revenue and have more fun! He helps owners with website design, vision, growth, and using their time to create income through being a private practice consultant. Joe was frustrated with his lack of business and marketing skills when he left graduate school. He loved helping people through counseling but felt that often people couldn’t find him. Over the past few years, he has grown his skills, income, and ability to lead others, while still maintaining an active private practice in Traverse City, MI. To link to Joe’s Google+