Do you want an all-cash offer?
Most sellers want to be paid all of their money up front, and most buyers want to avoid paying anything up front. For example, when Eric Weiner wanted out of All Occasion Transportation he found a buyer and agreed to accept half of his money in a five-year consulting contract, which sounded great in theory.
Most sellers want to be paid all of their money up front, and most buyers want to avoid paying anything up front. Deals usually get done somewhere in the middle, where the seller agrees to accept some cash and to be paid some of their proceeds over time.
Eric Weiner, for example, started All Occasion Transportation in college and by the time he turned 35, his company was grossing more than $3MM a year. That’s when Weiner decided he wanted out.
Weiner found a buyer and agreed to accept half of his money in a five-year consulting contract, which sounded great in theory but ended up becoming hard to enforce. In this cautionary episode, you’ll learn:
- How to structure a vendor take back
- How to market your business for sale without competitors finding out
- How to create sticks and carrots to ensure your deal is honored
- The definition of recourse and why you need some in any non-cash offer
- How to pick a walk-away number and use it to accelerate your negotiation
- The biggest blooper in structuring a consulting contract with an acquirer
How to get an all-cash offer
During the interview, Weiner also reveals his principal mistake in selling: not running his business like a company that could be acquired. Maximize the cash you get at closing by creating a business that would be attractive to a buyer. See how an acquirer would evaluate your business by getting your Value Builder Score now.
Are You the Entrepreneur’s Obi-Wan Kenobi?
If you advise business owners on driving up the value of their company, we want to talk. Our network of Certified Value Builders™ from around the world is a group of seasoned advisors who guide owners through building the value of their company. Each year, we certify only a small group of professional advisors. If you are a sage advisor owners turn to for advice, we should talk. Apply to be one of our next advisors here.
Do You Know An Entrepreneur With A Story To Tell?
We’re constantly on the prowl for interesting stories from owners who have sold their businesses. We look for owners who have sold a business that was generating $1 million or more in revenue, who are willing to share their story candidly with our community. Forbes ranked Built to Sell Radio one of their top 10 podcasts for entrepreneurs and we have more than 100,000 downloads, so your story will get shared with a great community of like-minded owners. Nominate yourself or someone you know today.
Click to Tweet: Ep. 83 of Built To Sell Radio, Entrepreneurs: Do You Want An All-Cash Offer?
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At Built to Sell we’re all about shifting the balance of power from the buyer to the seller. If you support our mission, please write a review on iTunes — and if you have any comments or questions you can find us on Twitter and Facebook. Tune in every Wednesday for another episode of #BuiltToSell Radio with John Warrillow.
About Eric Weiner
Eric loves being at the intersection of small business, logistics, and great food! He has been accused of being a serial entrepreneur since he started a lemonade stand in front of his childhood home in New Jersey at 10 years old. During the summer of 1990 he started a small limousine and corporate transportation company while in college in Providence RI. He built the business over 20 years and was named the RI Small Business Person of the Year in 2008. In 2010 he sold the business. Over the past few years Eric has been energized and focused by the mobile food industry. As the founder of www.FoodTrucksIn.com he is committed to helping people locate food trucks from coast to coast and border to border, and has built tools to help food trucks better communicate where they are Serving Now. FoodTrucksIn.com is the most comprehensive food truck search engine with over 6,500 food trucks, trailers, carts, and stands in over 1,500 cities nationwide. In May of 2015 after visiting food trucks and food truck events all across the country Eric started producing local food truck events under the brand PVD Food Trucks Events.
The Ticking Time Bomb Lurking Inside The Sale Of Most Businesses
When you sell your business, you’ll want your money to be paid up front. Your buyer will want to acquire your business with as little cash as possible using a potentially risky contract called a “vendor take back”. Here’s how to ensure you don’t get taken.
A Big Chunk of Something Small vs. a Small Slice of Something Big?
Nicholas Seet developed a video player for some of the world’s biggest media companies. His business, Auditude, was acquired by Adobe for more than $100 million. Although a spectacular exit, Seet had to give up a large chunk of the company — and the CEO title — to scale up.
Built to Sell: 8 Things That Drive The Value of Your Company [FREE WEBINAR]
Why would one company be worth two or three times more than a similar company in the same industry?John has discovered that there are eight factors that actually impact your company’s value more than the industry you’re in.
During this informative and engaging talk, you’ll learn how to:
- Increase your score on each of the eight drivers of company value
- Maximize your company’s overall value
- Find strategic buyers for your business
- Structure your business to maximize its value
- Accelerate the pace of positive word-of-mouth for your business using the same technique as companies like Eventbrite, Intuit, Google and Apple
- Boost your company’s cash flow in the same way Harley Davidson finances its business
- Differentiate your business using the same methodology Warren Buffet looks for in the companies he invests in
- Minimize your company’s reliance on your personal involvement using some of the strategies Tim Ferriss used to reduce the time he spent in this business to just four hours a week.
