Ready to sell? Talk to your spouse and advisors. Beyond that, keep it a secret.
Confidentiality is extremely important in almost any deal. When people begin to think your business is for sale, it creates dangerous uncertainty. Valuable employees start looking for other jobs, vendors tighten credit terms, and competitors use it as an entry point to poach customers.
The average business takes 9 to 12 months to sell. If confidentiality is breached early in the process, it can put the company in a downward spiral. Suddenly you’re not only running a business, but you’re busy putting out fires. That will discourage potential buyers. A buyer wants a successful, going operation with very little changes until he/she has an opportunity to make them.
