Managing Your Business Listing and Responding to Inquiries

You’ve made the decision to list your business for sale, undertaken a valuation, implemented pre-sale enhancements, and determined an asking price. Whether opting for a broker or a private sale, you’ve crafted a marketing plan and placed your listing on various business-for-sale platforms. Now, it’s time to effectively manage your listing and handle inquiries from prospective buyers.

As you receive inquiries about your business, make sure your selling memorandum is ready to share with serious and qualified prospects and you have a signed confidentiality agreement before releasing your sale information. Now it is time to track which listing channels are performing best and to manage the inquiries your ads generate.

Tracking Listing and Ad Responses

If your business is listed across multiple platforms, such as newspaper classified ads, online sites, and an industry-specific newsletter, keep track of which responses, and especially which well-qualified responses, come from which listing placements. This information will guide adjustments to your strategy, allowing you to focus on what works best.

If the wording in some listings or ads pulls more and better-qualified inquiries than the wording in others, the finding will help you revise non-performing listings to better match the content of strong-performing listings. An advantage of online listings and classified ads is that both can be almost immediately updated. Do not hesitate to make revisions as you feel necessary, and do not hesitate to read broker and online listings for inspiration.

If your listings in various outlets are all the same or similar, study which outlets delivered the highest number and most-qualified inquiries. You can use that finding to shift marketing efforts toward the best-performing sites or publications.

As you track your marketing efforts, don’t get impatient. The average business takes 6-12 months to sell. Your listing ad tracking statistics will be valuable in guiding your decisions.

Screening, Prioritizing and Communicating with Buyers

When responding to inquiries, acknowledge the reality that a significant portion of respondents may not result in a sale. Many lack the necessary qualifications or financial capacity, and some may be exploring without a genuine intent to purchase.

Some are wannabe shoppers who would like to buy a business but are in no way ready to make a purchase.

Some are tire-kickers who are simply curious about the kind of opportunities they might pursue.

Some are competitors masquerading as buyers in order to gather intelligence.

Some are what the industry calls “sharks,” searching for sellers who appear overly anxious and may be ready to accept rock-bottom prices.

Your job, or the job of your broker if you are using one, is to separate strong respondents from all others, which involves these steps:

1. Be clear about the qualifications the person who buys your business must possess. What business experience, professional certifications, or other factors are absolutely required? How much cash must the buyer be able to provide on closing day — either as a full payoff or as a sizable down payment? If you are offering a seller financed loan, what type and size of collateral will you require as security? What timeframe must the buyer be prepared to act within?
2. Screen and sort respondents based on their ability to meet your necessary qualifications. Your listings will provide information that helps unqualified buyers opt themselves out. Once you receive inquiries, your buyer requirements will help you assess each respondent’s capabilities before pursuing their interest further.
3. Inquiries from buyers who appear to be fully qualified will become your strong prospects, but first you will need to verify their facts. If you are working with a broker, that person will handle this task. If you are working on your own, you will want to involve your attorney and accountant as you request copies of bank statements, financial statements, professional licenses and certificates, and other documentation.
4. Qualified and serious prospects will be prepared for such requests. Often, however, they will feel comfortable releasing information only after signing mutual non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements and only as part of a trust-building quid pro quo exchange during which you release facts and financial information about your business in exchange.

Track inquiry response rates to identify successful ads and revise wording and investments accordingly. Prioritize respondents based on their ability to meet financial and experience requirements. Those who align with your criteria become strong buyer prospects, initiating further communication and negotiations promptly. Create a free BizQuest account to compare listings of similar businesses.