So I’m not the least surprised I would get this business question asked, “As a Business Owner, how do you protect my confidentiality?”
The process of Confidentiality is a key role in maintaining your Business operation while marketing your Business for sale. As an Arizona Business Broker it’s cumbersome enough without having to deal with comments and issues, for example, from outside vendors, employees of the Business and otherwise.
There is no deception here whatsoever, it is just a mindset that an Arizona Business for Sale is a negative, and with some this might be the case. As another example, the facts are that most Buyers know that the Employees are the key to running that Business and wants them to stay on at the transition, but it is sometimes difficult to convince employees of this, before a sale. The Buyers know that there are plenty of profitable local Arizona businesses for sale.
Sellers sell for all different types of reasons. Retirement, tired of this type of Business, too much personal debt, relocation, death of a spouse, just need time off, and so on.
As an Arizona Business Broker, I work full time at this for a living. I take my clients veryserious, and go to great lengths to protect my Seller’s Confidentiality while their AZ Business is listed and on the market. Prospective Buyers are required to sign and date a Confidentiality Agreement protecting any information provided to that Buyer concerning that Business. A buyer could be liable for any discussion or appearance with employees, vendors, and/or competition of that Business.
Before the actual location of that Business is discussed, including but not limited to, Web Sites, etc, the Broker or representative, as a starting point, must pre qualify the Buyer and identify that the Buyer is financially qualified to purchase the Business.
In most cases a meeting will be scheduled with a Buyer before meeting the Seller, and further discussion will take place with the Buyer, to ascertain more information about the Buyers qualifications to purchase this Business.
The initial meeting between the Buyer and the Seller will usually take place after Business hours or discretely scheduled during normal Business Operation.
The Qualified Broker will do everything possible to protect Confidentiality of all Businesses during the marketing process; however, it is important to understand that it is the Brokers responsibility to expose the Business, as a duty to the Seller.
The initial purpose of Confidentiality is to maintain market presence of the Business for sale, but to make every effort to deflect any confidential information on the Business (which is most of it) to be used only by the Buyer, only for the purposes of Purchasing the Business.
In general, the use of a strong Confidentiality Agreement or Non–Disclosure Agreement, a thorough interview with the Buyer showing effective communication, is essential, before the Buyer is physically introduced to the Seller and the Business. This will usually provide a Sellers peace of mind for Confidentiality.
