這6件事 賣出公司前你一定要聽清楚

Selling a business is never an easy or simple process.However, the rewards can be great, and ultimately,life-changing, so if you do decide to sell there are sixkey things you need to be aware of that will help youprepare and maximize your chances of success.Getting it wrong before you start can ruin any hopesof a sale and can mean many months of your timewasted.

賣掉公司，過程絕不輕松，但回報也是巨大的，足以改變你后半生的生活。所以，如果你真的決定賣出自己的公司，務(wù)必要先搞清楚六件事。它可以幫你做足準備，最大限度地提高成功幾率。而在這些事上行差踏錯，很可能會令你出售公司的全部希望盡毀，數(shù)月時間白白浪費。

 

 

While I specialize in the sale of online businesses and refer to those as examples, these pointsstill apply to business sales whether offline or online. Experienced buyers will see straightthrough you and the business you are selling and will quickly pass over your offering if they seeany red flags.

我的專長是網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司的轉(zhuǎn)讓出售，本文引用的案例也將來自這類公司，但其中要點同樣適用于非網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司的轉(zhuǎn)讓。有經(jīng)驗的買家對你和你要出售的業(yè)務(wù)一眼就能看穿，一旦看出任何危險信號，他們根本就不會再理睬你的報價。

1. Buyers won’t pay more for potential.

1.買家不會為了“潛力”多付錢。

I regularly speak to business owners who believe they have a potential gold mine and expect tocommand a high selling price based on perceived potential alone. This isn’t how it works. If abusiness is simply a concept without a proven revenue stream then there isn’t any value in theeyes of the vast majority of potential buyers.

對那些認為自家公司是一座潛力無限的“金礦”，光憑這點就該賣個高價的老板們，我要一遍遍地說：這套想法是行不通的。如果一門生意只是個理念，沒有已經(jīng)證實的收入流，在大多數(shù)潛在買家眼中，它就沒有任何價值。

If they were interested in developing their own business from the ground up there arenumerous resources to help them get started and they would not be looking to buy somethingalready established in the first place. Buyers want to acquire something that is alreadysuccessful, not an unproven concept.

如果買家有意從頭做起打造自己的業(yè)務(wù)，他們有很多啟動資源，無需花錢去買一家剛起步的公司。買家希望收購的是已經(jīng)成功的公司，而不是一個未經(jīng)證實的理念。

2. Buyers are interested in profits, not revenue.

2. 買家感興趣的是利潤，不是收入。

Another common misconception is that buyers are impressed with revenue figures. Sure,they can sound good, but when it comes down to it the only number that matters is the profita business turns (see last week’s column for more on why revenue is a vanity metric). Take alook at these two scenarios:

另外一種常見的誤解是買家會被公司的收入數(shù)據(jù)所打動。確實，收入可能聽起來很美好，但歸根結(jié)底，真正重要的數(shù)據(jù)是一家公司的利潤。不妨看看以下兩例：

o Business A: $30,000 monthly revenue, $25,000 monthly expenses, $5,000 monthly profitand $60,000 annual profit.

o 公司A：月收入30,000美元，支出25,000美元，利潤5,000美元，一年利潤60,000美元。

o Business B: $10,000 monthly revenue, $1,000 monthly expenses, $9,000 monthly profit and$108,000 annual profit.

o 公司B：月收入10,000美元，支出1,000美元，利潤9,000美元，一年利潤108,000美元。

The monthly revenue for the first site is three times more than the second business, but theactual profit is almost half. Experienced business buyers want to see profit numbers, notrevenue.

第一家公司每月的收入是第二家的三倍，但實際利潤差不多只有后者的一半。有經(jīng)驗的買家希望看到的是利潤數(shù)據(jù)，而不是收入。

3. Buyers expect verifiable financial claims.

3. 可檢驗的財務(wù)聲明才符合買家預(yù)期

If you are going to claim revenue from a specific source, you need to have verifiable proof.For example, if you are selling advertising space directly, be prepared to show invoices as well asbank statements that show matching deposits. If you are generating revenue through affiliateoffers or third-party ad networks with an online business, be prepared to show deposit recordsand even access to your accounts online so both parties can see the accounts live. I adviseclients to use TeamViewer or Skype as a practical way to verify financial claims on smallerbusiness sales where using an accountant is not always practical or cost-effective.

如果你要宣稱擁有一筆特定來源的收入，就要拿出證據(jù)。比如，要是你在直接出售廣告位，準備好出示發(fā)票和能顯示相應(yīng)收款的銀行對賬單。要是你的收入來自會員服務(wù)或第三方廣告網(wǎng)絡(luò)，準備好出示收款記錄，甚至是在線登入你的賬戶，以便讓雙方都可以看到你賬戶上的實時情況。在規(guī)模較小的商業(yè)交易中，聘用一位會計師往往既不方便也不實惠，我建議客戶用遠程軟件TeamViewer或Skype來證實財務(wù)狀況。

4. Don’t live in the past.

4. 不要活在過去。

The previous success of a business is largely irrelevant at the time of sale, especially if it hasbeen struggling lately. Buyers are interested in recent performance (usually the last 12months) and future sustainability and viability, especially if you operate in a dynamic space(such as with websites). I commonly hear sellers talk about how successful their business wasin the past after a recent drop and “all it needs is a little work to get back on track”.

一家公司過往的輝煌歷史在出售時往往沒有多大意義，尤其是如果它近來已經(jīng)身陷困境多時。買家感興趣的是公司近期的表現(xiàn)(通常為過去12個月)和未來的可持續(xù)性與生存能力，特別是當(dāng)你的公司處于一個不斷變化的領(lǐng)域的時候(比如互聯(lián)網(wǎng))。我經(jīng)常聽到賣方說，盡管最近業(yè)務(wù)下滑了，但自己的公司過去是多么成功，“只要輕微一點努力便可以讓其重回正軌。”

Unfortunately, buyers don’t see it this way. They aren’t interested in fixing and recovering yourbusiness, especially if you are expecting them to pay a premium. However, don’t be afraid toshow previous years if the business has been growing steadily. Buyers love to see growingrevenue and profit figures, especially if you have already made future plans for the businessthat seem realistic based on past performance.

可惜的是，買方并不這么看。他們沒有興趣對你的公司修修補補，更別指望他們會為此支付溢價。但如果你的公司一直在穩(wěn)定增長，大膽展示之前的成就吧。買方喜歡看到不斷上升的收入和利潤數(shù)據(jù)，如果你還根據(jù)之前的業(yè)績制定了看上去可行的未來規(guī)劃，那將對買家更有吸引力。

5. Honesty is the best policy.

5. 誠實是最有效的策略。

The truth is going to always surface, so be upfront about everything from the beginning.Experienced investors understand that every business is going to have positives andnegatives. There is no such thing as a perfect business.

真相總有水落石出的那天，所以從最開始就要將所有事情說清楚。有經(jīng)驗的投資者能理解每門生意都有優(yōu)缺點。世界上不存在完美的生意。

If you are honest and transparent from the start there is less risk of a deal going sourbecause the buyer uncovered something during due diligence that wasn’t accurate or aninstance where the truth was stretched. Honesty is the best policy in all business transactionsand selling any business is no different.

如果你從最開始便能做到誠實透明，便可以大幅降低買家在盡職調(diào)查時發(fā)現(xiàn)事實不準確或被夸大，從而導(dǎo)致交易失敗的風(fēng)險。在任何商業(yè)交易中，誠實都是最有效的策略，轉(zhuǎn)讓公司也不例外。

6. Expect to answer a lot of questions.

6. 準備好回答許多問題。

Businesses — especially those run 100 percent online — are forever becoming more popular,with so many people looking to become independent and quit their nine-to-five jobs.Consequently, it has lead to a lot of inexperienced buyers inquiring about businesses for sale,which can be a significant time drain, unless you use a broker whose job is to handlequestions and vet buyers for you. Selling yourself will lead to a lot of questions — and you needto be prepared to answer them all, regardless of how simple they may sound.

做買賣，尤其是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)領(lǐng)域的買賣會越來越熱門，有太多人渴望不受約束，告別朝九晚五的生活。最終，這將導(dǎo)致許多經(jīng)驗不足的買家打聽待售的公司。回答這些問題會耗費大量時間，除非你聘用經(jīng)紀公司負責(zé)處理這些問題，幫你審查買家。賣掉公司本身會帶來很多問題——你需要做好回答這些問題的準備，不論它們聽起來可能是多么簡單。

Never judge a buyer. You never know whom you are dealing with or the buying power theypossess. Someone asking what appears to be a simple question could potentially be a buyerthat is new to the specific industry and have deep pockets for investing. Experienced buyerswill often hammer the seller with questions in an attempt to turn up inconsistencies and redflags.

不要對買家指指點點。你永遠不知道與自己打交道的是誰，或他們具備怎樣的購買力。問著看起來很簡單問題的人，或許是對某個行業(yè)不夠了解但財力雄厚的大買主。有經(jīng)驗的買家常用的一招——就是用反復(fù)提問轟炸賣方，以圖找出你回答中的前后矛盾之處和那些危險信號。(財富中文網(wǎng))