Writing Business-for-Sale Listings That Attract and Prequalify Buyers

When it comes to selling your business, developing a marketing plan is essential in order to get your listing in front of as many prospective buyers as possible. There are many types of marketing channels available to get the word out about your business, from business-for-sale websites to social media and trade journals. Business-for-sale listings are written to attract responses primarily from those who are the most serious and the most qualified to buy the business. Although it may seem counterintuitive to write and place listings intended to limit responses, by targeting marketing to draw responses only from self-qualified prospects, you protect your time and your business information by responding to only the most valid inquiries.

Whether you are writing your listing or relying on the expertise of your broker, here is what your listing needs to accomplish:

• Entice prospective buyers with attractive facts about the current condition and future potential of your business without even slightly stretching facts, which you will have to warrant as accurate before closing the sale.
• Tell enough about your business to cause buyers to want to know more, but not so much that readers – including competitors – can link the description to your business.
• Indicate your business size and price so it appeals to self-qualified buyers seeking businesses like yours while also allowing those who don’t match up financially to rule themselves out.
• Make your business offering stand out among other business-for-sale ads, whether online, in classified ads, or in trade publications.

Providing a Concise Yet Thorough Business Description

You have only a few sentences in which to introduce your business and why it is an attractive purchase opportunity. Every word matters. Your description needs to be clear, compelling, and above all, completely true and accurate. Here is what your ad needs to convey:

• What your business is and does. Get specific with attention-getting facts. Instead of “manufacturing business” say, “manufacturer of low-tech product for high-tech industry”. Instead of “marketing firm” say, “a top Florida marketing firm serving national and international clients and winning industry awards for the past seven years.”
• Where your business is located. If your business is in a major metropolitan market, name the city. If it’s in a small town with few similar businesses, instead of divulging your location and possibly your business as a result, you could say, “located in Ohio” or, “located in a vibrant Ohio college town,” or some other descriptor that attracts without risking your identity. An important fact to remember is that many buyers search by location, such as “restaurants for sale in Los Angeles.” If you exclude your location, it is likely they won’t see your listing ad.
• Age of your business. Buyers want to know if your business is established. Convey the answer in your description, “profitable 12-year-old jazz bar” or in your statement of strengths, “serving government and commercial contracts since 2014.”
• Strengths of your business. This includes information about its financial strength, products, services, clientele, and other attributes that make it an attractive purchase prospect. Make your strengths part of your description with terms such as “profitable and growing,” “consistently strong earnings,” “well-known and highly regarded business name,” “loyal staff and clients,” “high-traffic website and social media presence,” “good growth potential.” Just be careful that every adjective and every statement can withstand scrutiny both during the due diligence process and as you warrant accuracy when signing a purchase offer.
• Your asking price. Most business sale advisors, though not all, advise sellers to include prices in their ads. Although your price might scare some buyers away, the consensus, by a wide margin, is that the advantages outweigh disadvantages. Most buyers looking online for business opportunities shop within price categories. If your price is not listed, your business will not appear in their search results. Also, without seeing your price buyers cannot self-qualify, resulting in inquiries from those without the financial capability to complete a deal of your size. Be aware that while common advice is to state your business asking price, an exception may apply to larger businesses that expect a bidding war. Often, such businesses only disclose earnings, so as not to anchor or limit the sale price.
• Why you’re selling. This statement is not a have-to-have but if the reason is understandable (retirement, for example) it can inspire trust and increase response rates. Other reasons (burned out, for example) are better left unsaid.

Brokers and sale advisors approach listing ads differently, but all agree on one point: The description must be brief and specific. It needs to present not a full description but a profile of the business that is capable of catching attention and allowing a buyer to self-qualify interest and ability to make a purchase. It needs to compress facts and strengths into a short description that makes a buyer want to reach out for more. Some intrigue is good. Just be absolutely certain that every word is true.

Concealing Your Business Identity

Using a broker relieves many confidentiality concerns because the broker will market the business, receive inquiries, and handle responses. If you’re marketing directly, protect your business identity with this advice:

• Place what are called blind ads that do not reveal your business name or location and that describe your business attributes while camouflaging facts that buyers, competitors, and others can link specifically to your business. Avoid photos that reveal identity.
• In offline advertisements and listings, direct responses to a media-provided PO box or email address. This allows you to conceal your name and business identity. It also allows you to follow up with only the inquiries that seem to come from serious prospects who are qualified to buy and own your business, and to pass on all others.
• Business-for-sale listing sites use identity-concealing call-to-action features. Interested buyers are directed to “complete the Contact Form.” After you receive inquiries, you can ask questions to determine if they are serious prospects. Before sharing any information about the business, you can then ask them to complete and submit a confidentiality agreement.

Best Practices for Online Ads

1. Include key financials. This includes annual revenue and annual cash flow or seller’s discretionary earnings.

2. Provide geographic information. You have the option to include your location, such as state, county, city, and address, or to keep geographic information confidential. Be aware that most buyers search at least to the county level. If you exclude this geographic information your business is eliminated from the related search results.

3. Write an attention-grabbing headline. In any ad, most people read only the headline. If those few words grab their interest, they read more. To draw them in, use keywords they might use during their search. Also, consider which aspects of your business prospective buyers are most apt to find compelling, whether it is your great location, desirable products and services, strong brand and well-known name, clientele, or other factors. Ask yourself this question: What would make you want to buy your business? Write a headline that conveys your answer.

4. Be easy to contact and prompt to respond. Direct ad inquiries to your broker’s phone number or, if you aren’t using a broker, to a phone number or email address in no way connected to your personal or business name. For a higher level of confidentiality, place blind ads that present no personal contact information, instead funneling responses through media or site-provided contact channels. Once an inquiry from a seemingly wellqualified prospective buyer arrives, be ready to respond quickly and to begin communications.

5. List your business under two categories. Most business-for-sale marketplaces, including BizQuest and BizBuySell, have the option of listing your business under two categories – a “best matching business type” and a “next-best matching business type.” Even though a business might at first seem to fit within one category, it is best to select a second category to maximize exposure as long as the second category is relevant. For example, a service station could select “gas stations/service stations” as a best-match business type and extend reach with a second placement under “auto service/ repair.”

6. Be descriptive. Highlight what makes your business unique, its strengths and its potential – with no meaningless details. Be honest and don’t exaggerate. Keep language professional and with no hint of desperation. No OBO (or best offer). No all-caps headlines. No flashy sales pitches such as “Hot Deal. Won’t Last Long.”

7. Include photos. Make your listing stand out with eye-catching photos of your physical location or of your business interior, equipment, or other confidence-inspiring images. Be careful to select images that do not reveal distinguishing features that clients, employees, or competitors could see and then identify your business. At a minimum, include a stock photo that represents your business offering and quality. Whether you shoot your own images or use stock photos, make sure all are clear, uncluttered, non-pixilated, professional-looking and, in the case of stock photos, legally available to use without watermarks.

8. Balance details with confidentiality. To keep sale plans from getting out, in all presentations avoid unique details that reveal your business identity. Instead, describe strengths with nonspecific language, for example “one of the leaders in its industry,” “established online presence,” “located in popular shopping mall along major interstate.”

9. Proofread your ad before publishing. Check for spelling and grammar, for missing words or numbers, and to be sure that the ad communicates clearly and presents your business in a compelling and professional manner. Use spell and grammar checks. Even then, proofread several times.

Requesting Information That Allows You to Prescreen Buyers

In your listing description, you do not have to state, “Contact the seller for more information.” Instead, you can request and require specific information that helps you prescreen and sort respondents by the likelihood they can and may buy your business before inviting personal contact. If you are using a broker, that person will prescreen responses on your behalf. And if you are placing your own ads in offline media, you can make this requirement part of your first email response. Your instructions might read, “Thank you for your inquiry about my business. Please reply with a description of your business background, the type and size business you seek to acquire, when you plan to purchase a business, your investment capabilities, and your interest in this business.”

Serious buyers will understand your efforts and will reply with the requested information.

Visit the BizQuest Broker Directory to find a business broker to help you market your business for sale.