Maintaining Privacy and Confidentiality

For entirely valid reasons, Sellers do not want word of a pending business sale to reach their customers, competitors, employees, or even their bankers, until a purchase-and-sale agreement has been signed. Multiple confidential telephone conversations, requiring signatures on strict confidentiality agreements, carefully screening all prospects, and sometimes phasing the release of information to match the growing evidence of buyer sincerity and trustworthiness can be a daunting challenge for any Seller working alone. This is one phase of the sale process where a seller’s “do-it-yourself” approach should be seriously reconsidered, in terms of money, time, and the risk to sale of the business.