Small Business For Dummies®, 4th Edition

Chapter 9

Negotiating Terms and Sealing the Deal

In This Chapter

Gauging the value of the business

Crafting an offer with contingencies and price allocations

Exercising due diligence

Starting your small business off on the right foot

Ask yourself this important and (we hope) revealing question: “How many businesses have I purchased in my lifetime?” If you’re like most people we know, the answer is a big, fat zero.

Now, you’re an intelligent and discerning person, as evidenced by the fact that you bought this book. And we, as your humble authors, have high hopes that you’ll gain a wealth of practical insights and knowledge by reading our book. However — and this is a most important however — we firmly believe that, when buying a business, you’ll benefit from retaining the services of experts with extensive small-business deal-making experience. (Chapter 10 tells you how to get the most out of your relationships with experts.)

Negotiating is a skill that improves with experience. Experienced advisors can help you inspect the business you’re buying and look for red flags in the company’s ...