Buying a business is a major undertaking that involves a number of considerations. It’s success or failure may not only affect you and your investors, partners, customers or clients, but often for your family members as well. This is especially true if you have younger siblings or children who may eventually inherit the company. In view of this, you should pay attention to the following tips:
Tip #1: Invest Time in the Search — You’ll Be Glad You Did
The first thing to remember when seeking to buy a business is that the process is likely to be a good deal more time-consuming and intensive than you imagined. Realistically, finding a company that will suit your needs and desires may take a year or more. Though sometimes you may get lucky quickly, rushing through the process is likely to lead to less than gratifying results. After all, buying a home or a car requires investigative research if you want to be satisfied with your purchase, and buying a business or franchise is even more complicated.
The wisest step to take when navigating toward a business purchase is to consult with an experienced, knowledgeable business attorney. If you are seeking to buy a business in New York or Florida, the Law Office of Angela Siegel is the place to contact. Not only is Angela as sharp a business attorney as you’re likely to find anywhere, but from her office in Garden City she has developed her practice around serving clients with ties to both locations.
Part of having a successful experience when buying a business is making sure to ask the right questions. Angela Siegel has the legal background and extensive experience necessary to assist you in examining your reasons for purchasing a business as well as your expectations about what a successful purchase means to you personally.
Being a well-credentialed, detail-oriented attorney, she will help you focus on the issues that surround buying a business, such as: Are you prepared to take the financial risk such a move always involves? Do you have the time and energy to give to this project? Do you feel confident in your partner if you have one? She will also caution you to remain unpressured at the time of potential purchase, leaving no stone unturned in making sure there are no red flags against purchasing the business you are considering.
Tip #2: Be a Respectful Buyer
When buying a business, as when buying a home, it helps the process move more smoothly (and sometimes more cost-effectively) if you treat the seller with interest and respect. Having run a successful business, she/he is likely to have helpful information to impart and will no doubt be charmed by your attention to the establishment he/she has created. It is also always useful to understand the reasons for sale. Remember that the seller, like the seller of a home, wants to feel that you are impressed with what has already been accomplished.
Though you will certainly be making improvements in terms of layout, equipment, methodology and design, the seller will want to hear some admiration of what has already been achieved, even when you are trying to bargain. Denigrating the business you want to buy is never a good tactic.
Tip #3: Be Wary of Recent Attempts To Make the Business Look More Profitable
While you want to be sure to treat the seller with respect, you don’t want to be naive. You have to assume that the seller has done everything possible to make the business being sold look attractive and profitable. You will have to examine any recent increases in profit margin to discern whether or not they are sustainable.
It’s important to determine, for instance, whether profit margin increases have been driven by [1] a temporary influx of workers for a massive construction project or [2] by the new high-rise apartment building across the street recently filled with new resident customers. Angela Siegel is well-prepared to help you ask the right questions in order to obtain reliable answers.
Tip #4: Don’t Take Information You Receive For Granted
No matter how trustworthy others appear to be, there is no substitute for doing your due diligence. Angela Siegel has remarkable credentials, having worked in government as well as legal venues, and knows all too well how common mistakes, exaggerations, and fraud can be.
She will help you to avoid pitfalls by encouraging investigative research to make certain that information you have received is genuine, whether it concerns financial reports, customer base, competitors, investors, suppliers, environmental matters, or the community at large. Angela will also steer you towards experts in various fields whose feedback will be invaluable.
Tip #5: Buy the Right Business at the Right Time
Recent political, social, and health events have certainly proved that life is unpredictable. Nonetheless, if you work with a knowledgeable business attorney like Angela Siegel, now can be a good time to buy a business. With so many companies ravaged by the pandemic and the quarantine it resulted in, there are many businesses on the market at reduced prices. Also, with so many people unemployed, there is a large pool of highly competent workers to choose from.
No one wants to profit from the misery of others, but starting a business now will not only provide incomes to sustain the families of your newly hired employees. It will also start economic motors throughout the country. More employees become more customers for goods and services, resulting in more money fueling the economy. Now, more than ever, however, it makes a tremendous difference what type of business you look to buy. With an eye to the future, you may want to make certain your new company can grow in cyberspace and/or that you can deal with the staggered work shifts and distancing requirements the future may require.