QBI - Exiting Your Business

Exiting Your Business

There are many reasons to exit a business

Retirement
Lifestyle change
Health issues
Trouble with vendors
Debt
Burnout
Low wages
Decreased sales
Smaller profits
Employee turnover
Increased competition

... but only four ways to exit

Sell to a new owner
Sell to family
Declare bankruptcy
Hire professional liquidators

Exit Methods

Sell to a new owner

This is the first choice for most retailers, but it's also the least viable.

Can you find a buyer who can actually afford to buy your store?
Can they get the financial backing?
Can they pay back their loan and still draw a salary based upon predicted sales?
What will they pay you for your inventory?
How long will it take to find a buyer?

Sell the business to family

Certainly, this is an option for a limited number of retailers.

First, you must find an heir who wants to go into the family business.
Second, you must objectively qualify them just as you would any buyer. Do they have the necessary expertise and financial background to make your business successful?

Declare bankruptcy

No retailer wants to go this route. If you are insolvent or nearly so, call us for help. It may not be necessary to declare bankruptcy.

Hire Quitting Business, Inc.

This is the only logical choice for most retailers.

Sell your inventory to an already established market - your present customers. We will return our fee back to you many times over through a carefully structured business plan designed just for your particular situation.
Call us to discuss any of these four exit options - we can give you the advantages and disadvantages of each method and then you can decide for yourself which is the best path for you.

Don't even think about it

We don't even mention liquidating the store by yourself. Over the years we have watched many retailers try to do their own liquidation. Each would have done better getting help from professional liquidators. It is not unusual for us to receive phone calls from retailers who say, "Can you come and help us out? We started a liquidation, but it isn't working."

At this point, it's too late. Regretfully, we must say, "Sorry, there is nothing we can do."

Selling to your established customers

After a sale

"Hi Mike,

"It seems very weird to be... not emailing you with sales figures every day and not seeing you every week. I'm sure you know by now how big of a success our last day was!! It was just as you said it would be... just like the first day. People were standing in line at the door at 8 a.m.! And, yes we did sell everything, even the pegboard off the walls!!

I want to say "thank you" for the very professional and expert help throughout the sale. I don't know how many times I've said this and have heard my mom say it, "We couldn't have done it without you!!" It was a huge task, but I feel that we accomplished a lot for my dad.

Thanks again Mike, I can't say that enough."

Furniture store owner

Son-in-law of store owners

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