When Selling Your Business, First Impressions Count

First impressions matter. And if you’re entering into negotiations with potential buyers of your company, then a strong initial impression can be established through the layout and organisation of your pertinent information in a virtual data room. These fit-for-purpose deal platforms, where company financials, employment, supplier contracts and more are uploaded and arranged, enable the seamless and secure sharing of structured information between all parties to a transaction. It is in these ‘VDRs’ that potential bidders form a judgement as to how organised and well run your business is, or isn’t. ansarada designs VDRs exclusively for use in such deals and with more than a decade providing this software to the global M&A market, has gathered a wealth of data intelligence from some 10,000 deals run through its platform.

This intelligence is a great benefit and has resulted in the creation of a standard diligence index - the essentials bidders will want - giving business owners a head start and minimising time and risks during a deal. The result is an easier deal and an easier life during one. If you don’t have a structure such as this in place, it will cost you additional money, time and risk as you will be overloaded with questions from bidders about them. And deals are very stressful whilst you’re running your business and trying to sell it at the same time. It pays to be prepared. Kicking off a sale process with gaps places you on the back foot from the outset. You don’t want the tone to be set in the wrong direction. Analytics in a deal tell you how much time your potential buyers spend looking at the facets of your business, helping you to distinguish between serious bidders and those taking a cursory glance. Being better prepared in advance amplifies the benefits of this deal based analytics.

A specialist M&A software platform is the only way to get this intelligence, as M&A is not a generic set of documents or process. Deals are very structured and using a tool designed for that allows you to control the message and maximises the value attained from the sale of your business.