When you’re hoping to sell a transportation business, it’s always exciting to see a prospective buyer show interest. Unfortunately, this is when many first-time sellers make the mistake of divulging too much information. While the interested party might be a valid buyer, he could also be a tire kicker or a spy sniffing around for competitive intelligence. At best, these “buyers” are a waste of your valuable time. At worst, they can jeopardize the success of your ambulance company for sale.
Attracting the Wrong Crowd
Listing your medical transportation business for sale is somewhat of a catch-22. You need to reach as many people as possible in order to have a shot at making contact with your highest-paying buyer. But the more exposure you give your business, the more you raise your chances of attracting vultures.
Just as so-called tire kickers hang around car dealerships making low-ball offers and taking test drives with no intentions of making a purchase, there are individuals who will give business owners the run-around despite lacking the funds and abilities to buy the company. In the worst cases, they can string you along all the way to the negotiations process, attack your valuation for months, and disappear without even making an offer. Meanwhile, time spent on the phantom sale drains your resources, energy, and company value.
But where owners really run into trouble is when sensitive information falls into enemy hands. Often times, interested buyers are really representatives from a competing ambulance business. By gleaning information about your operations and contacts, they can tip off clients and employees to your plans, destabilizing your business and eroding value in the process.
Protecting Your Business
Protecting your company comes down to protecting confidentiality. When you put your ambulance business for sale independently, you have no choice but to communicate directly with buyers. Like it or not, this opens up your plans to the general public – including competitors – and puts your company at risk. Making a sale on your own is possible, albeit very difficult, if you are communicating with a qualified buyer. The problem is that most contacts you make will not be qualified.
Using a skilled middleman to communicate with prospective buyers on your behalf is the best way to weed out non-serious and malicious individuals. Meanwhile, your transportation business broker can leverage extensive industry contacts to take a targeted approach, reaching out to investors most likely to be interested in acquiring your ambulance service company for a fair price.