Finding Qualified Buyers for your Business Part 2

Classified ads in the local newspaper

The old-fashioned method of advertising a business for sale was to place a classified ad in one or more newspapers and hope enough qualified buyers would stumble upon it.  This method is not very effective because you only have a few short lines of text to tell your entire story and attract interest in your business.  This not only reduces the overall quantity of buyers, but you also end up wasting time on a lot of unqualified buyers.  As a result, classifieds are not very effective at generating a high quality or quantity of buyers.

Business Brokers

Business brokers are typically very professional and knowledgeable in the art of buying and selling a business.  Plus they are skilled at helping sellers sell their business.  They will prepare your business for sale and handle all discussions with buyers on your behalf.

In addition, brokers will help generate interest in your business from buyers through their relationships with other brokers, as well as listing your business for sale on their website.

However, to get maximum quality and quantity of buyers interested in your business it is best to complement a broker’s services with additional advertising efforts.  You can do this either in conjunction with the broker’s efforts, or on your own.

Online marketplaces

Currently the most effective method of getting both the highest quantity and quality of buyers interested in your business is by advertising on an online business-for-sale marketplace.  These marketplaces are searched by hundreds of thousands of buyers each month, and can generate a staggering amount of interest in your business.

There are many online marketplaces to choose from, but they are far from equal.  Some have inadequate search functions, which mean your quality of buyers will decrease.  The better the search functions the site offers, the more precisely buyers can search for what they want.  And when a buyer finds your business, you know they are highly qualified.

Other business-for-sale marketplaces are just interested in collecting listing fees from you, regardless of whether or not they help you find a buyer.  These sites charge a monthly listing fee that is not tied to performance of any kind.  As a result, they may or may not bring you any qualified buyers, and they really don’t have any incentive to do so.

The most effective business-for-sale marketplaces put their money where their mouth is and only charge sellers on a pay-for-performance basis.  With these sites, you list your business for sale on the site and it appears in buyers’ search results when they search for a business that meets your criteria.  But you are only charged a small fee if the buyer actually clicks on your listing and views its details.  And you can set your own budget to determine the quantity of buyers you want.

Performance-based marketplaces are very efficient and highly effective because you get exposure to the maximum number of highest quality buyers, but you don’t pay if you don’t have any qualified buyers view your listing.

Resources

* Find the perfect visit (www.thebusinessmarket.com/411000-Buy_a_Business.asp) or www.thebusinessmarket.com/411001-Buy_a_Franchise.asp

* To find a broker to help you buy or sell a business, visit www.thebusinessmarket.com/500000-BrokerSource.asp, www.thebusinessmarket.com/420000-Sell_a_Business.asp