How to prepare for sale

By Robert Palmer, Managing Director, Prism Consult Ltd

So you've decided you have a business - or part of a business - you want to sell. What do you do now? How can you make it more attractive, more valuable in the limited amount of time available to you, and how can you make the subsequent sales process easier and quicker?

In what follows, I suggest you:

1. Ask yourself 14 fundamental questions at the outset

2. Think through, from a buyer's perspective, what you have to offer

3. Put your house in order

4. Maximise your profit prior to the sale

5. Take action to ensure that the sales process is quick and efficient

And lastly, I make a few personal remarks.