Selling Your Business

We use a comprehensive, step-by-step methodology to assure your business is marketed on a confidential basis to qualified buyers. The marketing and sale of a business focuses on the following transaction phases:

• Phase I – Preparing Your Business for Sale
• Phase II - Marketing Your Business to (confidentially) attract multiple qualified buyers.
• Phase III - Completing Your Transaction – beginning with the Buyer’s Offer to ending with the Closing of the Deal.

The Benefit to You: We use an effective, proven formula that brings you results.

Click here for a free article summarizing "How to Prepare your Business for Sale."

Phase I - Preparing Your Business for Sale

Our professional staff will conduct a client interview.  During this interview, we will determine your objectives, gather pertinent documents regarding your company, and learn as much as we can about your business. 

Using the information we have gathered, we will construct generic website listings, produce a generic company profile, and create a comprehensive, professionally presented Confidential Memorandum to be shared with qualified buyers.  We will analyze your financial documents so that we may present a clear picture of your business.  Additionally, we will assemble a book with all of your company documents to be shared during the due diligence phase of the transaction.

Note:  Occasionally, a business owner needs to execute certain steps before marketing his or her business for sale. These steps may include formalizing certain unwritten vendor, customer or employee agreements, updating corporate records and compiling historical financial records. The Oakwood Group has experience in guiding businesses through the steps of preparing a business for sale.

Phase II – Marketing Your Business

The Oakwood Group will work with you to determine the most productive marketing strategy for your business.  We will consider the following databases, contacts and tactics:

• The Oakwood Group database of qualified buyers
• Including corporations, private equity firms and financially qualified individuals
• Our nationwide network of affiliate brokers
• Direct mail campaigns to targeted buyers
• Strategic buyers
• Advertisements in industry publications
• Postings on worldwide internet sites
  

The Importance of National Network and Multiple Qualified Buyers

We work with locally and nationally based buyers. Locally, we’ve spent a lifetime building long-lasting relationships with many business buyers. We’ve worked with small to medium sized businesses in the Mid-Atlantic region since 1980. Furthermore, our access to and relationship with a nationwide group of Business Network Group(BNG) “partners” or affiliates is equally important.  These offices have registered highly qualified corporate and individual buyers. It is very common for out of town buyers to purchase businesses they identify through our network.

The Benefit to You – The probability of finding the right buyer, at the right price for your business, is substantially enhanced.

Confidentiality, Integrity and Your Time

Your business will be marketed on a confidential basis. We only share information about your business with financially qualified buyers who sign confidentiality agreements. In addition, we act as a buffer between potential buyers and you and your business. Only serious buyers will be introduced to you and your company.

The Benefit to You – Your time and resources will be utilized in a very efficient manner and your intent to sell will be kept confidential.

Phase III – Completing Your Transaction

The Oakwood Group will assist you in all aspects of the closing process.  Once a buyer has submitted an offer, negotiations can become complex and intense.  Even after an agreement is reached, there are many points at which the deal may break down. The professionals at The Oakwood Group will assist you and act as a buffer during this process.  Additionally, we will assist you through the due diligence phase of the process in which the buyer affirms the condition of your company.  Finally, we will coordinate the legal, accounting, banking, and financial planning professionals involved in the transaction. 

We will be with you when your transaction is consummated at the closing table of a legal professional.