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All business owners think about selling their business at one time or another. However, for the ones who decide to go forward and sell, there are certain points that need to be addressed if they want to have a successful transaction and get the most money for their business.

After selling over 800 businesses, I decided to list eight common mistakes owners make when selling their business:

1. Trying to sell it yourself. Business owners usually are not objective about their business. Even if you have the financial skills, you’ll have a tendency to overestimate the value. And you are not expected to have the financial skills to be objective in the valuing of your own business. Instead, you are a successful business owner, which is an art in itself. The selling of a business is the combination of both an art and a science, and it is performed by individuals who do this full-time as their profession. You do what you do best, and let a professional intermediary do what they do best.

There is a reason pro athletes and actors have agents – because they get more money and better terms when they hire someone to negotiate for them. Likewise, you simply won’t get as much value for your business trying to sell it yourself and learn on the job. Attempting to sell your own business will devour your time. You know how to run your business, but this is no time to learn how to be an investment banker or business broker.

2. You are too sensitive about your business. You will take comments made by a buyer personally and perhaps kill the deal. Nobody likes to hear they have an ugly baby, and the same is true when you are selling your business. Any negative comments about your business to you will be taken personally regardless of how hardened you may think you are. The solution is to get an intermediary to soften the blow and translate the buyer’s comments into requests that will not be taken personally.

3. You don’t know how to arrive at fair market value. Owners who are unrealistic about the value of their business are the biggest reason why deals fall through. Get the facts and the reality of what businesses like yours are selling for in the current market, and never believe anything you read in the trade magazines as the gospel regarding valuations.

4. You don’t know how to recognize a qualified buyer. Different businesses require different kinds of buyers, and different buyers will pay different amounts for a business. You need to know which buyers are paying the most in today’s market because buyers change with the market.

5. You probably don’t know where to look for the right buyer. Finding the right buyer for your business who will pay top dollar isn’t as easy as running an ad in a trade magazine or newspaper and seeing who contacts you. As a seller, you want to know who really has the money and whether they are serious. Are they cherry pickers or making low-ball offers? Or do they try to claw back on an offer and use the old bait-and-switch technique? Remember, time is money, and buyers are generally working on your time and your money.

6. You fail to realize that selling a business is a process, not an event. Selling a business involves a structured process that takes time – generally between six to 12 months from conception to closing. It is a very detailed process that not all sellers are up to accomplishing without guidance from a trained professional who has performed this process many times before.

7. You have to assemble the right team to get the job done. Just as in sports, if a seller doesn’t have the right team of players in the game, he will either get defeated or hurt in some way. What is the right team? An attorney who has experience in business transactions and understands the sale of a business to a buyer and not to one’s lifelong golfing buddy. An accountant who understands the tax system and is not afraid to give good tax advice, knowing there is a possibility they will lose your account and is looking out for your best interest. And an experienced intermediary who has working knowledge of your industry.

8. You aren’t committed to selling. Selling a business is a lot of hard work. People don’t realize how much work it is to assemble all of the data that is needed by a buyer to get a business sold. A lot of transactions will fall apart because the seller is either not committed to the process or does not have the mental stamina to continue. The solution is to get help from a seasoned intermediary who will coach from the beginning to the end and help you to reap the rewards for all of your many hard years of work.

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Terry Monroe (www.terrymonroe.com) is founder and president of American Business Brokers & Advisors (ABBA) and author of Hidden Wealth: The Secret to Getting Top Dollar for Your Business with ForbesBooks. Monroe has owned and operated more than 40 different businesses and sold in excess of 800 businesses. As president of ABBA, which he founded in 1999, he serves as an advisor to business buyers and sellers throughout the nation. As an expert source he has been written about and featured in The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur magazine, CNN Money, USA Today, CEOWORLD, and Forbes.

The COVID-19 pandemic is putting people out of work, slowing down lots of industries, and causing businesses to close. But at the same time, an uncertain chapter in America’s economic history may provide opportunities for individuals looking for a fresh start – or a soft landing.

Nearly half of small business owners in the U.S. are 65 and older, and a good number are considering selling their business rather than putting their resources and energy into bouncing back from the recession. But isn’t an economic downturn an inopportune time to sell a business?

Not necessarily, says Terry Monroe (www.terrymonroe.com), founder and president of American Business Brokers & Advisors (ABBA) and author of Hidden Wealth: The Secret to Getting Top Dollar for Your Business.

“Some think due to the current difficult times many businesses are having that they wouldn’t be able to get a reasonable sale price,” Monroe says. “And they worry that they’ll have to delay retirement for several years because of COVID-19. But the reality is, there are lots of people, including the unemployed, looking to reinvent themselves and for a chance to run their own business. Investors with plenty of money are always around looking for good opportunities.

“The baby boomers who own many of these businesses are burned out and want to get out. But small business owners in general often don’t realize all that is required to achieve a successful sale. Done the right way, selling can result in owners walking away feeling they got good value for all they put into their business.”

Monroe says owners should think about the following factors when considering putting their business on the block:

Ask yourself why. “Selling a business can initially be an emotional consideration, but one has to drill down to the reality of why they want to sell and why it would make sense,” Monroe says. “Burnout is a common reason. If it’s affecting health or company performance, it’s time to get out. Another common factor is the inability to expand when necessary – the owner doesn’t want to incur the added debt relative to their age.” Other reasons owners decide to get out, he says, include lack of a family succession plan, too much disruption in the particular industry, and hitting a wall in terms of profitability.

Put together a professional team. “The selling process is very stressful,” Monroe says. “You can manage that by putting together a team of professionals who will guide you through it.” The team should include an accountant, a mergers and acquisitions specialist, and an attorney, in that order, he says. “You’ll hear business owners brag about the money they saved in fees because they did the negotiations themselves, when in reality they ended up leaving considerable amounts of money on the table,” Monroe says.

Know if you’re selling too low. How do you know if you are selling too low? Do the research before you decide to sell your business. “Finding out what a business like yours is selling for in the marketplace is not going to be very difficult in the internet age,” Monroe says. “In the end, you should confer with a professional who understands your industry and can provide data to find your business’ worth in the current climate. Don’t over-focus on the price. What you should focus on is how much you would put in your pocket when the sale is complete.”

“Selling a business involves considerable thought and performing lots of work with an unknown timeline,” Monroe says. “But doing it right can lead to the reward one deserves.”

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Terry Monroe (www.terrymonroe.com), is founder and president of American Business Brokers & Advisors (ABBA) and author of Hidden Wealth: The Secret to Getting Top Dollar for Your Business. Monroe has been in the business of establishing, operating, and selling businesses for more than 30 years. As president of ABBA, which he founded in 1999, he serves as an advisor to business buyers and sellers throughout the nation. His knowledge and expertise in multi-store operations and sales has led to many multimillion-dollar transactions. As an expert source in the convenience store industry, he writes a routine “Financial Insights” guest column for Convenience Store News and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur magazine, CNN Money, and USA Today.

8 Common Mistakes Business Sellers Make

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