When it comes to selling a business, you want to make sure you get everything just right. Your business will likely be one of the most significant and valuable assets you own, often having taken years to build up from the ground. A crucial element of selling your business lies in finding the right business broker – let’s take a look at how you can find a business broker you can trust.
Ask around your professional network
A great place to start when looking for a business broker you can trust is with your professional network. Ask around, and see if anyone has used a business broker such as Dexterity Partners that they’d particularly recommend, or if they know of anyone who’s successfully sold their business recently.
Obviously, you might want to keep the sale somewhat on the down low, which could limit who you can ask about these kinds of things. Still, there will likely be at least a few people you can ask, and they might know just right the person.
Check their reviews
Whenever you’re looking for a professional service, it’s crucial that you check the online reviews of any potential options that you identify. These reviews will provide a great insight into the kind of service they’re able to provide, particularly with regard to their customer service. While it’s impossible to please everyone, you want to stick clear of brokers with mostly negative reviews, for obvious reasons.
Identify a broker with experience in your niche
You don’t just want to choose any old business broker. In addition to providing a great service, you ideally want to identify a broker with at least some experience with selling businesses in your general niche. This will be important for a number of reasons, from how well they’re able to navigate any relevant regulations that apply to your business, to how appropriate their network is when it comes to marketing the sale.
Make sure you see eye-to-eye
Finally, when it comes to trust, you ultimately need to make sure that you personally see eye to eye with the broker you end up going with. It doesn’t matter how good their track record is, if you strongly disagree with the way that they go about trying to sell your business, you’re going to have issues.
It’s important that you lay out any concerns you might have early on, meeting in person if at all possible. This will be an opportunity for you to see if they’re someone you think you’ll be able to communicate with, and should enable you to make the final decision of whether they’re the right broker for you or not.
If you go through the different stages listed above, you should be able to find a competent business broker that you can trust with the sale of your business. It’s important that you get this decision right – it can have a big impact on your future, and it’s not something that you should rush.
