Confidentiality is really important from a seller’s perspective but marketing and talking to people about a business to sell it is crucial.
It is understandable that you want it to be kept really quiet but you want everybody to know about it. The fact is that we only want the people that should know about it to know about it.
As soon as you start talking to people, confidentiality becomes a big concern. The best thing that you can do is work with your team and start to desensitize them for when they hear that the business is for sale.
Prepare the staff and explain to them that everything is for sale for a price and selling the place is an option any day if somebody showed up with the right number.
Talk to the staff about recent sales in the industry so it doesn’t come as a shock.
Priming them and hearing about it for the last month or two will desensitize them. These are just some ways to minimize the amount of trouble that comes with someone breaking confidentiality.
When you or your liquor license broker start to talk about selling your store to potential buyers, confidentiality is a valid concern. When you file an application before the town to transfer the license it becomes public knowledge. There’s no way to avoid it!
Before the information goes public, you want to make sure you have conversations with the important people and make sure that you have had a discussion with key employees.
Most importantly, you want to have a discussion with your landlord to make sure they know what your plans are. The landlord is going be an essential part of this from the very beginning. If you are going to transfer the business to somebody else and they want to stay in that location, the landlord needs to be involved early on rather than later.
Only you know that answer as the owner. You’ve been dealing with this landlord for years, know his personality best, and know how they will react.
If you’ve been a good tenant all along and have been straightforward this shouldn’t be a problem. Once that application gets filed, everybody’s going to know about it so prepare yourself and seek advice when needed.
If you would like confidential advice we are here to guide you. We will give you some tools, tips and tricks on how to do that.
