There are a number of ways you can attract a buyer, and that will be covered in our next Blog post, but one way is to announce your attractiveness and lure a buyer into your books.
What does this mean and how do you do it?
Quite simply - with some well written press releases that extol the key features of your business or simply brag (respectfully) about recent achievements.
An example of this can be found in the acquisition of labour hire firm Labour Solutions Australia (LSA) in December 2013 when South African based Adcorp purchased the company for nearly $45m.
In April 2013 the company was featured in a news release that described its growth from startup status to revenues that exceeded $100m (http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/labour-hire-business-hits-100-million-revenue-20130404-2hal4.html).
It carefully detailed the competitive advantage of the business and the founder's entrepreneur tips for growing a startup business.
Now it is important to point out that I have no information that links both the article and the transaction. However it does provide an example of how some blatant business promotion in a national (or at least NSW-based) newspaper can be used to attract a buyer.
It may not necessarily make the phone ring with acquirers immediately but it provides some industry buzz that also makes it easy to approach potential suitors using an independent adviser. Proactive acquirers will often have a regular and watchful eye on the target industry sector and will be looking for information that suggests a target has attractive features that will add value to their business.
Often a string of key announcements about completed projects, new product or service offerings, key management appointments, equipment or management system upgrades can not only signal a strong business that clients should do more business with, but also promote the features that a buyer wants in an acquisition.
I am not saying go out and shout to the world "my business is up for sale - call me now". But some well worded promotion of achievements and telling the business story can attract a buyer or at least make it easy to call them and see if a conversation about acquisition is of interest.