Talk to a business broker. The issue is to get wide coverage, i.e. interest from potential buyers. Some of these buyers are immigrants, with poor English skills. As such, keep the English very very basic and short. An Asian version might help, in Thai or Chinese, if you know that perhaps Thai or Chinese might be the best buyers. Find a business broker in that community. They charge about 10% of sales price.
As such you need
a) a teaser - i.e. a one page document with pictures, why it is a great business to own, life style story, and some key numbers like revenue, daily visits, $s/visit, net profit and an asking price, and/or if you will take terms.
b) realistic asking price and terms: Terms are often X $s down and Y $s carried over a period of time, say 2-3 years paid for from profit of the business. As a rule of thumb the business sells for 2.5 to 4 times annual profit, after deducting a reasonable wage for yourself. So if your profit is $85,000/year and a reasonable salary is $65,000 then the business might fetch 3 times $20,000 i.e. $60,000. many businesses don't sell as they are overpriced and/or under-exposed to potential (immigrant) buyers.
c) legal docs: interested parties then should sign a non-disclosure doc and once they have signed it you can send them more details.
d) Details / Sales Binder
Have a fancy cover, with happy pictures, your contact info and then:
- business description with some details
- financials over last 3 years with projections
- lease terms (assuming there is some leased space)
- description of major business equipment (type, age, pictures, conditions, ..)
- areas where add'l revenue could be generated
- inventory
- pictures
The "binder" really is a PDF file as much selling happens electronically, and an immigrant buyer might send it to his local buddy to translate.
Final tip: be prepared for some silent shopping by the potential buyer or his/her friends/relatives/buddies. Keep the place clean and in ship shape !
