Businesses for Sale in the UK, Direct from the Owners

FAQs

• Why should I use Business Owners Direct?

  Business Owners Direct is a portal or shop window for you to sell your business without the need of a business broker. This portal will save you thousands on fees or commissions and guess what? You get to keep more of your hard-earned money once the sale of your business has been completed.

• What is the 21 day free trial offer?

  Business Owners Direct offers you the full unrestricted service of the portal for 21 days, so before you select one of our monthly packages you can list your business for 21 days and only pay once the trial has expired, how cool is that?! Imagine having an offer for your business within the 21-day period, if you do have an offer within this timeframe, and complete on the sale of your business that’s all you will ever pay Business Owners Direct.

• How do I value my business?

  A question that almost every business owner asks at some time. How much is my business worth? The golden rule of thumb is a multiple of your EBITDA which means (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation. An example:

  Net Profit – 90K

  Taxes Paid – 10K

  Depreciation – 6K

  Amortisation – 1K

  Total EBITDA 107K. Then it is a multiple of that figure depending on the type of business you are selling. Businesses with long-term contracts will have a higher multiple than ad-hoc short-term contracts.

  Any purchaser will very likely undertake commercial and financial due diligence. They will want to establish the cash flow, what the assets and liabilities are, so make sure that you collate all this information beforehand.

  Be prepared to provide copy contracts for leased properties, vehicles, machinery, office equipment etc…

  Employee contracts, audited or unaudited accounts.

  Always give factual information about your business, any buyer will want to have an insight into your business through due diligence. If that Data Folder is full of information that the buyer can access it just makes the whole process that much easier.

  A final word on valuation, everyone believes that their business is worth more than it actually is, so be realistic in your valuation, if your price is too high, the barrier for a buyer will not see past the amount that you are looking for.

• How do I upload my business?

  Our aim is to make the process of uploading your business as simple as possible. Firstly, you will need to create your own account and add your business information through our easy upload form. Remember, when you are describing your business be honest and accurate, your description of your business will need to pass financial and commercial due diligence with any prospective buyer.

  So, upload a description, upload good quality images, and don’t forget to tell us the price that you are looking for.

  Once your information has been checked and your payment has been processed we will put your listing live on the website.

• How do I pay for the service?

  After the 21 day free trial period, we charge a flat monthly rate for your business to continue on our website. Payment is taken via our website and a subscription setup. This is taken on the same day each month. Discounts are available when paying for more than one month at a time and upgrades to the listings can be made available too. You can subscribe for 1 month, 3 months or 6 months, its entirely up to you.

• How do I know if I have offers or enquiries?

  Whenever anyone enquires you will receive an email with all of the details. We hold minimal information of these enquiries and allow you to handle the sales process how you see fit. If you need any advice on the sale of your business visit our guides section or book a one to one session with one of our experienced team, at info@businessownersdirect.com

• Should I have a Non-Disclosure Agreement with a potential buyer?

  Absolutely, we would advise you to have an NDA drawn up either by your Lawyers or you can even download a template from this website. Our advice is not to provide any confidential information about your business until you have a signed agreement. There are time wasters out there an NDA will generally filter these out.

• When is the right time to sell my business?

  Owners sell their business for many different reasons, such as ill health, retirement age, divorce, or I simply have had enough, partnership fallouts, director fallouts, shareholder fallouts, but whatever the reason always try and sell your business on the upward curve.

  Buyers will want to see turnover and profit growth year in year out. So it’s all about timing, get the timing right and you could command a higher price for your business, get it wrong, and you could lose a substantial amount of money.