StrategicPlanning360.com - Strategic Planning Information At Your Fingertips...

   

  StrategicPlanning360.com - Strategic Planning Information At Your Fingertips...





25 Ways To Find Companies To Buy


When you start your program to purchase your "ideal" company, you quickly realize that your ultimate success will depend on two primary skill sets: 1) Your ability to FIND viable companies that are for sale, and 2) Your ability to effectively qualify the potential acquisition investment once found.

This article is about only step one, how to creatively find viable companies and one's that are able to be purchased.

Assuming you have clearly defined your business purchase criteria and you have decided to pursue only companies that are "officially" for sale, versus attempting to find and contact company owners who might be willing to sell, you will need to explore as many ways as you can to find companies for sale as possible.

As a business buyer you want to use the best means possible to position yourself to get the first shot at your most promising acquisition candidates and to do such in as cost effective means as possible.

Often the more "creative" you are to find deals, the quicker you'll find the "right" deal. The more diverse your means to locate viable companies for sale the better your chances of finding a quality acquisition candidate that few others are aware of.

When you are pursuing acquisition candidates you really never know where your next deal will come from. It could be word-of- mouth, something your read in a newspaper, a visit to a website or a lead from an association meeting. Listed below are a variety of ways you can use to find businesses to buy:

25 Ways to Find Businesses For Sale

* Investment Bankers: Regional, National, International
* Investment Banker websites: Listings of businesses for sale
* Business Brokers: Regional and National
* Business Brokerage websites: Listings of businesses for sale
* Venture Capital Firms: Good referral potential
* Mezzanine Lenders: Regional, National, Always aware of potential deals
* Newspapers: Listings in Local, Regional, National and Industry specific
* Magazines: Listings in Regional, National and Industry specific
* Newsletters: Listings in printed or "Ezines" on the internet ? Industry specific
* Commercial Banks: Many of their clients are considering sale of their company
* Consultants: All varieties, many have extensive practices and many owner contacts
* Associations: All varieties, some are focused just on merger & acquisition activities
* Business Directories: All forms of printed and electronic, many industry specific
* M&A Service Providers: They know who is selling what often on a national basis
* Product Suppliers: Many product manufacturers/ distributors are in the know
* Trade Shows: Walk a trade show in an industry of interest, salesman love to talk!
* Accountants: Many have large practices with extensive business owner contacts
* Professors: Many provide consultative services to business owners or are board members
* Corporate Officers: Especially Corporate Development managers, seeking "spin-off's"
* Bank Trust Departments: Sometimes viable businesses surface in trust situations
* M&A Legal Specialists: Many are in the "crosswinds" of constant deal opportunities
* Networking Meetings: Your local business newspaper publishes many of these
* Technology Licensors: Always aware of companies getting "out" of new technologies
* Directory of Board Members: Board members typically know other board members
* Business Associates: Current and previous business associates and service providers

These "25 Ways to Find Businesses for Sale" are only a few of the creative means you can use to find acquisition candidates. Keep this list and add your own methods once you start your business pursuit program. With today's endless capabilities of the internet, its worldwide reach into various countries, industries and industry participants, there are countless variations for most of the means listed here.

As important about being proactive to locate companies to acquire you need to be as diligent to broadcast and document your specific business purchase interests and purchase criteria whenever and wherever possible. Business owners; individuals, corporations with multi divisions, merger and acquisition intermediaries, private equity firms need to know who you are and what specific businesses you seek to purchase.

This notification effort can be manifested in printed or "electronic" formats. The internet again is the most cost effective means to document your exact business purchase criteria and interests. However, be aware that there are few e commerce sites that specifically accommodate proactive business buyer needs. Most business transaction websites focus on listing businesses for sale, facilitating primarily business sellers needs, not business buyers.

Take the time and effort to research and try all these different means to locate companies to buy. Some will be more productive than others, while some may be more accommodating to your specific business pursuit requirements. You must do what you must to throw away as much hay as you can to get to that needle in the stack!

About the Author:
Mark Smock is President of http://www.business-buyer-directory.com, the FIRST international business buyer directory of its kind. Business Buyer Directory provides a non-traditional means for proactive business buyers to locate businesses for sale worldwide that meet their exact registered purchase criteria.




Click here to Save on Harvard Business Review...





Results per page:

Match: any search words all search words





Strategic Planning News for Monday, Feb 6, 2012...

Bdaily debate raises strategic planning issue
bdaily
The first in our series of follow-up articles on the Bdaily 'State of the Region' debate, focuses on the key issue of strategic planning in the North East. Despite their vastly conflicting political views, all panelists made calls for a cohesive, ...

and more »


AME Info

Ahlibank staff attends Queen's strategic planning program
AME Info
In keeping with Ahlibank's focus on providing excellence in products and services to its customers, the Bank recently sent its senior staff members to attend a 3 day training program on strategic planning. This training is the latest step in the Bank's ...



The Drum

New COO and strategic planning director for 1000heads
The Drum
1000heads has announced two new additions to its team, with Joanne Jacobs joining as chief operating officer at its Australia office and Phil Borge taking up the newly created role of strategic planning director at the agency's London office.



Additional Actions Needed to Strengthen Strategic Planning, Management ...
defpro
DHS's primary strategic planning effort in recent years has been the QHSR. In September 2011, GAO reported on the extent to which DHS consulted with stakeholders in developing the QHSR. DHS solicited input from various stakeholder groups in conducting ...
Experts Contemplate DHS Management, Cost Efficienices for Next QHSRHSToday

all 2 news articles »


Development Dialogues Announces Upcoming Webinar 'Strategic Planning for ...
PR Web (press release)
Two nationally recognized experts in philanthropy will present on Strategic Planning for Successful Philanthropy in an upcoming online event on February 16th. The event, organized by Development Dialogues, will focus on strategic planning for hospitals ...



Communications, Engineering & Design Magazine

Comcast hires former Cisco exec as SVP of finance and strategic planning
Communications, Engineering & Design Magazine
Comcast Cable has hired Inder Singh as its new senior vice president of finance and strategic planning. In his new job, the former Cisco executive is now responsible for Comcast Cable's forecasting, strategy, business trends, and long-range plan ...
Inder M. Singh Joins Comcast As Senior Vice President Of Finance And Strategic ...TheStreet.com (press release)
Inder M. Singh Joins Comcast Cable as Senior Vice President of Finance and ...MarketWatch (press release)
Comcast hires former Cisco executive Singh for strategic planning postFierceCable
Telecompaper (subscription)
all 16 news articles »


PR Web (press release)

Aurora Health Care Selects strategicplanningMD's Strategic Planning Software ...
PR Web (press release)
One of the nation's leading health systems for quality and patient safety teams up with strategicplanningMD to deploy state-of-the-art strategic planning software across two hospitals in its north region. "Through the use of our technology and tools, ...

and more »


Airport Authority sets priorities for next four years
Jamestown Sun
General aviation will be one of four major areas of focus for the Jamestown Regional Airport Authority in the next four years, the group decided at a strategic planning meeting Saturday at City Hall. General aviation will be one of four major areas of ...



Australia becomes key to US's strategic planning for Asia
Vancouver Sun
At first glance there was not any connection between US President Barack Obama's stated intention last November to establish a permanent, rotating presence of 2500 marines near this tropical city and US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta's shock ...

and more »


Strategic Planning Meeting Expert Mary C. Kelly Offers Ways to Improve ...
MarketWatch (press release)
25, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Large companies miss opportunities for growth and profits if they fail to create effective strategic planning meetings, says strategic planning meeting facilitator Mary C. Kelly, Ph.D. and author of 360 Degrees of ...

and more »

Google News





Copyright © 2005 - 2012 StrategicPlanning360.com. All rights reserved.    Legal Info    Site Map




Sedo - Buy and Sell Domain Names and Websites project info: strategicplanning360.com Statistics for project strategicplanning360.com etracker® web controlling instead of log file analysis