Where to Advertise Your Business Sale

Last Updated
September 22, 2010

Chapter 5: Finding Potential Buyers

So far, you have made the decision to sell, found the necessary assistance and prepared the business for sale – the next step is to find potential buyers.

There are many ways to find potential buyers through a variety of media and even better if you use a business broker, as they will use their own contacts and experience to find a number of interests.

One of the main things to remember when finding potential buyers is to maintain your confidentiality to avoid any consequences from occurring as discussed earlier.

Once potential buyers have been found and Selling a Business (detailed later), only then will your identity be unveiled. Below are the main ways that you can attract potential buyers to your business.

5a) Newspapers and Magazines

Advertise your business in the local/regional/national business newspapers and magazines. To keep your identity confidential, you should generally outline your business and relevant information (turnover, asking price, etc) without giving away the name or location (although you could summarize the location).

For interested parties, you could set up a PO Box or e-mail account so that they can follow up on their interest.

5b) Business Brokers

If you hire a business broker, they will use their own contacts, usually other business brokers, to look for potential buyers suited to your business. Further, they may advertise your business themselves in newspapers and magazines using their own name to avoid revealing your identity.
The extra advantage of business brokers is that they will deal with all potential buyers that show initial interest themselves, giving you the chance to put your valuable time into running the business.

5c) The Internet

The Internet is fast becoming one of the most popular ways to advertise a business for sale. The main advantage is that it can reach a wide audience, as it can be accessed by people all over the world. If it is a local small business then the Internet may not be a favoured source to advertise, but for the larger small businesses, it is highly recommended.
Use a search engine to find a web site where you can register your business for sale. To get you started, we have picked out a few sites:

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