Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory

A Neumann & Associates, LLC

May 6, 2022

Seven Reasons to Use An M&A Advisor To Sell A Business

By Joe Oddo

selling-a-business

Based on many testimonials, the decision to engage a professional to sell your business will be one of the most important investments you can make. Sellers tell us how emotional the process can become. After all, business ownership has been your life’s work.

The entire process from preparation to execution becomes much less stressful with the proper M&A advisory team carefully guiding you through the multiple steps. For many business owners, the sale of a business will result in making up to 70% of an owners total net equity available.

The most common challenge in selling your business is ensuring that it is performing at its peak when the process of selling is initiated. As M&A advisors, our objective is to minimize the time that you need to worry about the selling side – in order to stay focused on generating cash flow. The other two important services you will need are a reliable transaction attorney to expedite the deal closing, and a good tax specialist to keep Uncle Sam from taking too large a chunk of the transaction.

Owners we interview say they could not have run the business at full capacity without us confidentially coordinating the selling process. It would be impossible to tend to the details needed in marketing a business, qualifying prospective buyers, walking through due diligence, negotiating the terms, and possibly even helping the buyer achieve financing. Below are seven reasons that highlight the value of trusting your M&A advisor as the conduit to a successful sale.

Firstly, before you decide to sell your business, certain key information must be discovered. That is why we take the steps to build a relationship with our clients and begin a dialogue using a business information organizer (BIO) questionnaire, a financial recasting, and the certified valuation to learn all the pertinent information to properly represent the business.

For instance, even if you are attempting a simple transaction such as selling your half of the business to a partner, there are multiple steps needed to ensure that the true Fair Market Value (FMV) is agreed upon. If you base your assumption of the value on the financial documents alone, then you are likely to come up far short of the true competitive value.

Using a professional to identify the Seller Discretionary Cash Flow (SDCF) finds the true value hidden in the numbers. These are the owner perks and benefits that need to be accounted for in the form of add backs during a financial recasting. For every dollar found, you could see as much as three to four dollars back in the final sale receipts.

Commissioning a Certified Business Valuation from your M&A Advisor is a smart first step which can be done long before you are ready to sell. This gives you a baseline on the Fair Market Value of your business as an ongoing concern. Once you confidently know what your business might bring on the open market, you can start deciding on a timetable, figuring out the tax implications, or updating your business plan for enhancing the appeal to prospective investors. Plus, having the business valuation in hand will allow the purchasing party to ultimately secure financing, in essence accelerating the transfer process.

Second, preserving the confidentiality of the transaction should never be compromised, otherwise it will be putting the whole transaction at risk by causing uncertainty to employees, vendors, the bank, the landlord, but most importantly to your customers. People don’t like change, and selling a business that has any aspect of confidentiality breached could threaten the entire deal or provide unnecessary leverage to the buyer.  A good M&A Advisor knows how to preserve confidentiality.

Third, business owners are free to do what they do best, run the business at full capacity while off-sourcing the key components that bring a deal together. Once the FMV is established and the owner decides to engage, a professional team kicks in to complete the marketing. Since investors demand concise, convincing information to explore an acquisition, they can rely on a carefully prepared Confidential Memorandum that incorporates the BIO data to describe the business details, the competitive advantages, the growth potential, the general picture of the market and the prospective deal structure.

Fourth, a well-established M&A team like ours will generate quality marketing materials and spread them confidentially through multiple channels to get the word out about this great investment opportunity. The reality is that most businesses change hands with people that you do not know and are not even in your specific industry, thus they need good marketing documents, developed by a qualified M&A firm.

Here again your M&A advisor is able to tap into the years of previous connections with a confidential email campaign, non-divulging approach letters, and informal calls to alert his network of investors. Utilizing these web channels may yield prospective buyers from parallel trades. For instance, a search firm specializing in the healthcare field may also find higher education or non-profit placements a good vertical to add to grow their business.

Fifth, speaking for our organization, we only work with experienced, financially pre-qualified buyers and private equity investors with a strong cash position who are motivated to move forward. Generally, these investors act quickly and decisively, and don’t waste time.

We thoroughly pre-qualify prospects who must disclose both their management capabilities and a strong financial capacity, with proof of liquid funds that would make a deal possible. Having capable and qualified introductions screened to provide the most likely matching profiles from the investment pool really minimizes the owner’s time and allows for running an efficient, saleable enterprise.

Sixth, imagine yourself trying to run the business when a number of prospective buyers start asking for due diligence, offering Letters of Intent (LOI), want to start negotiating, or ask to talk to key employees. Relying on your M&A advisor to address these tasks frees you up to focus on the day-to-day business operations.

One example of how we help is steering the prospective buyer to draft an Offer to Purchase (OTP) rather than an LOI. If asked to take the business off the market, you want a stronger agreement that has proper terms and consideration in the form of escrow funds deposited, due diligence timelines defined, benchmarks established for clearing financial hurdles, and ensuring the proper Definitive Agreements.

Seventh, it is well-established that even elite athletes need coaches. As a business owner, you too should have a coach to depersonalize the negotiating process and have you well prepared to answer buyers’ questions. Chances are that the investors have negotiated many deals and know to look for weak spots and how to gain advantage in the negotiation.

In sum, with your M&A advisor as a business intermediary, you will be in complete control of the deal without having to worry about the intricate details. You’ll have peace of mind that the transaction is being conducted professionally, and that all the pieces are being coordinated, especially meeting the timelines and coordinating the external activities of the transaction attorney, banks, landlords, and tax professionals.

About A Neumann & Associates, LLC

A Neumann & Associates, LLC is a professional mergers & acquisitions and business brokerage firm having assisted business owners and buyers in the business valuation and business transfer process through its affiliations for the past 30 years. With an A+ Better Business Bureau rating, the company has senior trusted professionals with a deep knowledge based in multiple field offices along the East Coast and has performed hundreds of business valuations in its history. The firm’s competitive transaction fees are based on successfully completing transactions. For more information, please contact A Neumann & Associates at 732-872-6777 or info@neumannassociates.com

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Client Testimonials

“ I appreciate your diligent approach to screening buyers and sellers as well as the high quality CIM that you produce.”

Andrey O, Investor

“Finally enjoying retirement after recently selling my business using the services of A Neumann & Associates. Joe Oddo provided the conduit to a successful transaction. Joe knew when to inject input and when to simply listen and allow the buyers to vent, step back and regroup. The outcome met our expectations and got us to the finish line, which included my staying with the company six months in order for the buyers to get their footing and keep our workforce in the loop. He helped at every step by providing his expert guidance & resources. Thank you!”

Emily Parker Myers, Co-Owner - Myers McRae

“I had been in touch with Karin and Gary from A Neumann & Associates regarding some opportunities and was looking forward to meeting with them. Hence, when they organized a seminar in Princeton, NJ, I was quick to sign up. The seminar was very informative as the team walked the attendees through various scenarios and referenced real life buying/selling situations they had been through. The sessions by Gary, Karin and Achim were crisp and focused and brought clarity to potential seller and buyers. I strongly recommend the team and look forward to continue working with them.”

Gaurav Tyagi

“Thank you for your Event on "How to value, Sell, and Buy A Business for Maximum Profit" and the insight into ANA’s approach on what is involved in the Business Exit for sellers. Garys Hervieiou's "Business Valuation", Achim's "Deal structure" presentation and Karin’s "Preparing the Package" are real street knowledge shared. They answered attendees questions which makes it more interesting for learning from others. Great for small businesses like us. The presentations were totally worth our time and travel for the event to Princeton, NJ from Rockville MD. Ravi Bhutani, President, CIPS”

Ravi Bhutani

“Gary, this is to thank you for an excellent job done in selling our business. We could never have done it without your professional expertise, dedication and time put in without reservation to make it happen. We will gladly and highly recommend you to anybody in our position.  It was a pleasure to work with you.”

Pat Iammatteo, Owner

“Your vetting is simply outstanding, among the best I've seen from a broker.”

Eric H., Investor

“I recently contacted A. Neumann and Associates about getting a valuation of my business done. I spoke with Marc, who explained the process in detail. After meeting with Marc in order to get a clear understanding of my business, and what I was hoping to accomplish. His patience in answering all my questions and his knowledge of the proper way to market my business gave me great confidence that this is the firm I will be using to sell my business for max value. Working with Marc at A Neumann & Associates was very easy and professional. I did not know all that was going to be involved in selling my business but they helped me through the process. What I thought was going to be a just another one of those pushy sales companies was just the opposite. Polite, knowledgeable, and a pleasure to talk to and deal with. I highly recommend this firm to anybody who wants to sell now or down the road. Marc not only knows his stuff, but actually is a real nice guy.”

Double Diamond

“Used A Neumann & Associates to sale my business. could not imagine having done it with out the patience and experience Gary provided. Thanks Gary,”

Dennis Frazier

“Working with Marc and his company was a pleasure. What I thought was going to be a just another one of those pushy sales companies was just the opposite. Polite, knowledgeable, and a pleasure to talk to and deal with. Marc handled most of the interaction and he has one of the greatest demeanors. Again, it was a pleasure working with him and his firm.”

Douglas DiCeglio

“I recently completed an acquisition using A Neumann & Associates. Tony Valentino was very helpful and accessible during the entire process. They do a thorough job vetting both parties and got us to the finish line.”

Srini Mudambi
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Contact A Neumann & Associates, LLC

If you are considering selling your business, please contact us to learn more about our comprehensive service spectrum. Our experienced professionals will answer all your questions about selling a privately held business in complete confidentiality. Please fill out our contact form, or call us at 732-872-6777. We will contact you directly and will never identify ourselves to your employees.

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