Buying and Selling Small Businesses in the New Economy

Buyers and sellers of the corner grocery store, delivery service, fast-food franchise, small manufacturing enterprise and the thousands of other types of American small businesses, face new challenges in this, the New Economy. Whether borrowing purchase money, valuing businesses for sale or structuring a buy/sell agreement, entrepreneurs who want to succeed in today’s business-for-sale marketplace need to know how the “best practices” have changed since the economic tsunami that started in 2007/2008. While the rate of small business sales in the U.S. has dropped dramatically in the past few years--mirroring other indices throughout the economy—stock market, employment figures, housing sales--there is evidence of a slow recovery. It is lead by buyers, sellers and their intermediaries who are able to effectively overcome the problems that leave many other entrepreneurs frustrated, and unable to achieve their objectives. Meanwhile, the market is being transformed by new pressures from the buy side, as more and more people decide that buying a business is a better career choice than taking your chances in the employment merry-go-round. And thousands of business offerings are coming on stream as baby boomer owners decide to retire. This new book, by one of the country’s foremost small business sales experts, points out what familiar methods are no longer effective in this quickly changing marketplace. And it explains what successful entrepreneurs are doing to make and close deals. Their strategies form the basis of the way small business buyers, sellers and the professionals who help them will succeed in the New Economy.