Do you want your sale to be quick, quiet and confidential? We do things differently to protect our Sellers and get results.
Merchant’s Qualified, Professional and Experienced Team are setting new benchmarks in how the confidentiality process works.
Every enquirer on your business complete a confidentiality agreement specific to just your business.
Potential buyers at the enquiry point will be asked to complete a request for a confidentiality agreement and at the same time we will seek some additional information which helps us qualify and better understand the buyer.
The request for a confidentiality agreement is reviewed by the broker to ensure it is complete and sent back to the buyer to sign. Once done the confidentiality request is sent to our seller for approval (unless we are appointed to do this on a sellers behalf). This process is all through email with digital signatures.
Once the seller is satisfied they digitally sign and complete the confidentiality agreement and then the buyer receives a copy of the completed agreement and at this point for the first time finds out who the seller is.
Now the process of sharing information with buyers can start although this can be different for each of our sellers depending on various factors and preferences.
Merchant have invested in a best practice and market leading confidentiality agreement and process. Our process is much more efficient completed through email and with digital signatures. Our stringent process provides sellers with confidence in who we are providing further and confidential information to.
Merchant has also developed a market leading process to collate and build an information memorandum for every seller. The support staff and brokers at Merchant can pre-fill a great deal of information from a range of sources and then provide each seller with an active link through our secure portal to add, edit and change the draft information memorandum. Once this step is completed our team finalise the information memorandum by adding annexures and images.
Merchant has every seller review and sign off on not just the information memorandum but also the advertising scripts and images. This step is another best practice adopted by the Merchant team to ensure every seller is not just happy with the presentation, the wording, the content, the accuracy but most importantly to ensure any potential confidentiality issues are managed and every thing is accurate.
When Merchant has an opportunity to talk to a potential new seller we are honest and transparent. Getting to know each and every seller and their business is a great starting point and also we need to establish what the seller is wanting to achieve. It might be a time sensitive sale or an opportunity to retire or something else. Our approach is to provide a list price range where we feel we can support the price and what we feel the buyer would have no issues with. We provide supportive commentary and a basis for the appraisal. (This is important as buyers, their accountant, the bank and valuers are looking for a basis for the asking price) We set fair and reasonable expectations from the start which may include approximate time lines, what is happening in the market and what challenges we may encounter – with the business or otherwise. Pricing a business is a diligent process that comes from many years of experience. We review and consider so many variables with the business and the information provided, previous similar or comparable sales, industry trends, benchmarks, return on investment or other relevant methodologies and sometimes what level of demand and activity is happening in the market. Listing a business is not an exact science but a good business broker will have fair and supportive pricing methodologies and be able to substantiate the overall price position and opportunity. This preparation can make or break the sale when an interested buyer comes along.
As a seller you want to know you are in good hands. Merchant Business Brokers are Australia’s first 5 star accredited business brokerage with the AIBB. We are long time members and active participants of the AIBB (The Australian Institute of Business Brokers – who are the industries peak body). Merchant as a business and the the individuals within the team have won dozens of awards within the industry and the region but none more prestigious than being awarded the NSW and National Business Broker of The Year for the last 4 consecutive years (as awarded by the AIBB). Merchant Business Brokers have a 5 star Google rating with many seller and buyer reviews.
