Keep it Confidential

You've made the decision to sell your business. Now what should you do? Your number one priority should be discretion. Without complete confidentiality during the sale of your business, unwanted complications may start to pile up.

Ask yourself how those affected by the sale would react, if they were to find out. How would your customers react? Your employees? Would your suppliers or your bankers treat you any differently?

Likely, they would all react with some apprehension. Staff might start considering the stability of their employment, and start looking elsewhere. Customers you've had for years may do the same. Suppliers and bankers might question how this transition impacts your agreements and may limit your credit and purchasing power.

Keeping everyone calm would be an impossible task. That's why it's important to keep the sale as confidential as possible. Your employees, suppliers, and established customer base are probably why your business is worth acquiring in the first place. If those relationships start to crumble during the sale process, your deal may crumble with them.

A breach in confidentiality could be disastrous. Having a broker on your side helps to ensure the highest level of confidentiality, and increases the likelihood of a smooth sale.

You may want to approve every individual disclosure, or you may want to let information flow freely. Bridgepoint Business Brokers will work with you to establish the right level of discretion for your sale.

You retain complete control of your information by setting your own guidelines, which our team adheres to 100%, while we search for suitable buyers. There's a lot at stake, and the livelihoods of many people will be affected by your sale. Confidentiality is key to a smooth transition.

A plan for disseminating information to each of your business' stakeholders - customers, staff, suppliers, bankers - must be outlined in the confidentiality agreement, so you know when and how information will be shared. We remove the risk that information will leak before you are ready, avoiding unwanted panic, and knee-jerk reactions to the news.

In deciding to sell your business, you've likely made one of the biggest financial decisions of your life. You're in control, and with a trusted broker at your side you can prevent the emotional reactions of others from interfering with your plans for the future.