Expert Insights | How to Sell a Business in Chicago

How to Value and Sell Your Business Service Company in Chicago

At The Grasemann Group, LTD., we specialize in helping business owners confidentially sell small to mid-sized service companies across Illinois.

Selling Your Industrial Service Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you’re the owner of an industrial service company in Chicago, selling your business can be one of the most rewarding—and complex—transactions you’ll ever undertake.

The Ultimate Guide to Selling a Distribution Business in Chicago

Your ultimate guide to selling a distribution business in Chicago. Learn expert tips from The Grasemann Group to ensure success.

Valuation Strategies for Selling Your Tech Company in Chicago

Discover top valuation strategies to sell your Chicago tech company. The Grasemann Group guides you to maximize your business value.

5 Key Steps to Prepare Your Manufacturing Business for Sale

Prepare your manufacturing business for sale with these 5 key steps. Get expert tips from The Grasemann Group in Chicago.

A Deep Dive into Sell-Side Advisory Services

The decision to sell one's company is one of the most significant undertakings a business owner will face.

How Sell-Side Advisory Can Help Sell Your Business

Whether you're the owner of a distribution company, a tech startup, or a manufacturing firm, every business sale presents unique challenges and opportunities.

What is Sell-Side vs. Buy-Side?

In the realm of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), understanding the distinction between sell-side and buy-side advisory services is paramount for informed decision-making.

How to Acquire the Right Company with Buy-Side Advisory

The decision to acquire a company is a strategic move that demands meticulous planning, insightful analysis, and expert guidance. Discover how buy-side advisory can benefit you as a business owner.

Key Questions to Ask Before Buying a Business

As a business owner looking to expand or diversify your portfolio, the decision to buy a business is a significant one.

How to Finance the Purchase of a Business

For business owners in sectors like manufacturing and IT in Chicago, understanding the nuances of M&A financing is crucial.

10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Chicago Business Broker

Are you considering selling your business in the Windy City? If so, you're probably aware of the complexity of the process. Selling a business requires careful planning, strategy, and often, the assistance of a professional business broker. But how do you choose the right one for your needs? In this blog, we'll explore the ten essential questions you should ask before hiring a Chicago business broker.

The Most Common Reasons for Valuation Surprises

Selling a business is a significant milestone for any business owner, and getting the valuation right is crucial to a successful transaction.

Hallmarks of an Effective M&A Advisory Firm

A business broker’s job is to help you get the most value for your business, find the right buyer, and negotiate a deal that works for you.

Tactics for Effective M&A Communication

Once you have closed the deal, it's important to maintain strong communication to ensure a smooth transition.

Business Broker vs. M&A Advisor: The Difference and Why it Matters

If you're considering selling your business, it is essential to understand the difference between a business broker and an M&A advisor to choose the right professional for your needs.

How to Identify and Retain Key Team Members During a Merger

This blog post will provide you with the essential information needed to identify and retain key team members during a merger.

5 Questions to Ask Before You Sell a Business in Chicago

Selling a business is a massive undertaking. You know this on some level, but it’s easy for owners to underestimate the time and effort involved.

Liability Due Diligence in M&A: What to Expect, What to Know

Any company can be sued at any time, for almost any reason. It’s something every business has to grapple with. But in the world of mergers and acquisitions, the potential for a lawsuit poses a serious threat to selling a business.

5 Tips to Successfully Sell a Business in 2023

If you're planning to sell a business in 2023, it’s easy to feel like the hardest part is getting ready. Yet many M&A deals fall apart or lose momentum in the leadup to signing.

Hoping to Sell Your Business in 2023? Get Ready Now

The new year is the ideal time to take stock of what your business has already done, and where it’s going. If you’re considering selling a business, now is the time to get ready.

To Sell Your Company, Think Like a Buyer

The Internet is filled with tips to sell a business in Chicago and across the globe. You’ve heard them all before: Sell when your company is thriving.

20 Questions to Ask Before Selling Your Chicago Business

Entrepreneurs often make decisions based on intuition and experience. So you may have grown accustomed to acting quickly to reap the rewards of a once in a lifetime opportunity. Selling a business isn't like this.

Exit Planning: 5 Tips for Success When You Sell a Business

If you’re planning to sell a Chicago business, the right business broker is an indispensable ingredient in the recipe for success. Guidance from an advisory firm can help you correctly price your company.

How to Prepare Your Family Business for a Merger or Acquisition

If you’re hoping to sell a business owned by your family, you probably already know that your business is part money-making venture, part family member. So selling it means not only parting with the responsibilities it entails, but also with the memories it’s connected to.

M&A Buyer Red Flags: 5 Signs Your Buyer Isn’t a Good Fit

What’s the most important factor in a successful M&A deal? If you’re otherwise well-prepared for the process, it’s choosing the right buyer. A good buyer comes into the process prepared to competently operate your business from day one.

The Top 5 Reasons Buyers Back out of Mergers and Acquisitions

When you sell a business in Chicago, it’s insufficient to merely build a great business and then hope for the best. You need to think like a buyer, so you can cater to the buyer’s needs and give them precisely what they want.

What Do M&A Buyers Really Want?

Successfully selling your business requires more than just the right documents and a lot of business acumen. It also requires empathy. For years, and maybe decades, you’ve looked at your business through the lens of an owner. Now, it’s time to consider what buyers want.

Changing Your Mind During M&A: The High Cost of a Change of Heart

Deals can fall apart for many reasons. You might be surprised to learn that one of the most common is the seller. Owners have spent years, and sometimes decades, growing their businesses. This creates a strong emotional attachment, as well as intense feelings about who should run the business, how, and at what sale price.

Global M&A Trends: What You Need to Know

The COVID-19 pandemic brought mergers and acquisitions across the globe to a screeching halt. But the effects were not evenly distributed.

How Long Will it Take to Sell My Business?

You’ve thought about it, maybe for years. You’ve put your plan into place, and are ready to begin accepting offers to buy your business. Now what?

5 Traits of a Good M&A Lawyer

When you sell a business in Chicago, the right M&A firm is critical to the sale. The M&A firm you choose should ideally lend credibility to the transaction, support a professional and orderly negotiation process, and set reasonable expectations that help you get top dollar for your company.

Integration Planning: The Hidden Ingredient in the Recipe for Successful M&A

Successful M&A is about a lot more than getting the numbers right then throwing two entities together under a single heading. Post-merger integration planning is critical to the long-term success for the new entity. Delays of planning and failures to undertake it are major contributors to merger fails.

Are You Ready to Sell Your Chicago Business? 5 Questions to Ask

Building a business is a lot like having a child. You invest much of yourself in your company, and parting ways with it is rarely easy.

What is a Business Broker Anyway?

If you're planning to sell your Chicago business, you’ve probably heard about business brokers. But you might not be sure what role a broker plays in the sale of a business, or whether hiring one is worth the expense—particularly if you’re on a tight budget and hoping to maximize the final value of the sale.

10 Tips for Negotiating Your Business Sale Like a Pro

Most business owners have plenty of negotiation experience, and intend to leverage that for a better deal as they move through the exit planning and business sale process. But most business owners have never sold a company.

Strategies for Selling Your Online Business

If you’ve been steadily building an online business that you’re now contemplating selling, you’re part of a growing movement. That means there are more resources available than ever before to help you, but also significantly more competition.

5 Communication Strategy Tips for Selling Your Chicago Business

The mergers and acquisitions market is heating back up as COVID begins to wind down. Now could be a great time to sell—if, and only if, you are fully prepared.

Avoid These Costly Mistakes When Selling Your Chicago Business

Selling a business is a major project, and you should expect some hiccups along the way. The right Chicago business broker can help you navigate the process, but many sellers are still novices when it comes to putting their business on the market. Here are five costly mistakes you must avoid when you sell your Chicago business.

Do You Really Need to Hire a Business Broker?

If you’re contemplating selling your business, you may also be taking a closer look at your finances. And that can spur a desire to save money at all costs. Many first-time business sellers are reluctant to hire brokers.

The Questions You Need to Ask Before Selling Your Business With a Business Broker

If you’re planning to sell your company, you have two choices. You can do it yourself, or you can partner with a skilled business broker.

Mistakes to Avoid When Selling a Business

Here are some strategies that can help you avoid common pitfalls

Questions To Ask a Business Advisor Before Hiring Them

When you hire an M&A firm, you're making a major decision that can generate extensive value for your company.

10 Tips to Help You Sell Your Business

Opening a business is on many people’s bucket list. To actually do it, then grow it to the point where you’re ready to sell, is a huge accomplishment.

Tips for Negotiating M&A Deal Terms During COVID

The novel coronavirus has caused significant disruptions in the mergers and acquisitions market.

Promoting Value After an M&A Deal

Closing is the culmination of months, and sometimes years, of planning, due diligence, negotiations, and exhaustion.

The Three Biggest Legal Mistakes When Selling a Business

Paying close attention to legal issues is critical when selling a business.

Why Does Valuation Matter?

So much of the M&A literature focuses on valuation. But why does it matter? It’s a long and involved process with a lot of variability.

How to Prepare for Legal Due Diligence When Selling Your Business

Sooner or later, M&A will recover from COVID-19, and the recovery may come earlier than some analysts anticipate. If you are planning ...

Strategies to Sell Your Business

Selling your business may be one of the most difficult things you do as an entrepreneur. Only about a quarter of businesses sell within 6 months of ...

How COVID-19 is Affecting M&A Deals

There are three key consequences this crisis may have for joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions. Local rules, judicial precedent, and individual industry factors may further complicate things.

COVID-19 and M&A: Key Insights

While COVID-19 has delayed some M&A deals, some dealmakers are plowing ahead...

8 Key Insights for M&A Negotiations

Although buyer and seller interests sometimes conflict, the two parties share a critical goal: getting the deal closed. Buyers want to buy...

What to Do After Selling Your Business

Whether you’re planning an imminent sale or just contemplating the future of your company, you have a lot of work under your belt.

How to Save BIG on Taxes

Old Dogs, New Tax Tricks

Strategies for Finding the Best Business Broker for the Job

Similar to real estate agents, brokers act as matchmakers who connect you to the right buyer for your business.

Things to Consider Before Working With a Business Broker

Just like in real estate sales, business brokers are usually paid by sellers. That’s an important thing to bear in mind if you’re a buyer.

Strategies for Crafting a Business Exit Plan

A solid exit plan helps you prepare for the future, and may even improve profitability in the present.

Exit Strategies for Small Businesses

Whether you’re running a giant conglomerate or a small family operation, your business needs an exit strategy. Two questions can help guide your strategy:

Tips for Hiring a Business Broker

If you’ve decided to sell your small business, a broker can greatly improve the process.

How a Good M&A Advisor Can Add Value to Your Transaction

No large or publicly traded company would consider selling their business without representation by an M&A advisor.

5 Steps for Choosing the Right Chicago Business Broker

The decision to buy or sell a business in Chicago is just the first step in a long process.

How Organizational Improvements Can Improve Your Business

Many businesses, especially small ones and those run by solopreneurs, believe they must accept every client and pursue every dollar.

5 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Business Broker

A business broker may be your best ally when you sell your business. But before signing the engagement contract, you need to be clear about what you’re getting.

Four Strategies for a Successful Business Sale

The M&A market is on fire, and not just among massive corporations. Small and mid-sized companies are increasingly..

The Strengths-First Approach to Selling Your Business

Many fail to adequately emphasize their strengths. Here are five key strengths to hone in on as you prepare to sell.

Tips for Selling Your Business With a Business Broker

A business broker is an invaluable partner for successfully selling your business. Here are 12 simple tips for using a broker to optimize your sale.

Why You Need A Business Broker

If you’re ready to make the plunge into entrepreneurship, the best person to help you navigate the process is a business broker.

Tips for Finding the Right Business Broker

You’ve decided to sell, and are ready to put your business on the market. The right broker can maximize the final sale price.

M&A Trends to Monitor in 2018

Companies increasingly feel that it’s riskier to wait for tax reform and deal with uncertainty than it is to move ahead with mergers.

4 Ways to Ensure the Perfect M&A Strategy

If you struggle to develop a quality acquisition strategy or don’t even know what one looks like, here are four simple tips for getting it right.

10 Strategies to Successfully Sell Your Business

You must have a realistic assessment of your business’s value. The following 10 strategies can help make your business a more enticing acquisition.

Is an Acquisition the Right Strategy for Your Business?

Merging with or acquiring a like-minded business offers opportunities for accelerated growth. This method isn’t just for big businesses, either.

Cultural Fit: A Hidden Key to M&A Success

One oft-overlooked issue in M&A deals is hard to explain, and even harder to assess: cultural fit.

Insider Tips from an M&A Advisor

Some M&A lessons can only be learned through hard-won experience—or from listening to a more experienced advisor.

How Long Does it Take to Sell a Business?

A variety of factors affect final sale prices for small business. But one oft-overlooked factor is the amount of time the business has been on the market.

Acquisition Agreements 101

An acquisition agreement is an indispensable document in mergers and acquisitions. Here’s what a typical acquisition agreement for the sale of a business includes.

Dealing with Employees When You Are Selling Your Business

Some advocate complete transparency from the very beginning. Others argue that, when employees know a sale is imminent, their morale may deteriorate, along with their productivity.

Succession Planning

Small businesses form the foundations of the U.S. economy. But they’re also often woefully ill-prepared for transitioning ownership—even though almost all will eventually undergo a transition.

Avoid Wrecking the Deal

Selling your business is a complex process. Here are 10 tips to help you avoid wrecking the deal.