Selling a business is one of the most stressful events an entrepreneur can go through. After thinking about a business for nearly 24 hours a day for years on end, it can be daunting and emotionally draining to separate from the company.

What’s the best way to announce the sale of a business? Do you need a press release when selling a family business? How can you tell staff? Transmission Private recently conducted a poll of 2,000 people to better understand the key reputational risks that entrepreneurs must overcome when selling their businesses.

The research revealed that it was easy for important stakeholders to misunderstand the true underlying rationale for a sales process — and assume the worst, potentially leading to a collapse in the business’ underlying asset value.

So, if you’re selling a business, what are the key seven things that you need to think about when communicating the sale?

• Prepare early. Firstly, as soon as an entrepreneur starts thinking about selling a business, they need to start taking strategic steps to counter the communications risks. This process should start as early as possible because business sale processes often leak to the media, employees, and other stakeholders.

• Think about all the audiences. Secondly, when starting to lay out a plan for communicating the sale, it is important for businesses to put in place robust strategies for each of their different audiences. It is not enough to see the media and press as the only, or even core, audience. In fact, employees, suppliers, and financial partners are much more important.

• Communicate a succession plan. Thirdly, when communicating about the sale of the business, founders should do so at the same time as articulating a clear succession plan for the company, showcasing how it will continue to thrive after the sale, even without the founder at its centre.

• Step carefully when it comes to wealth. Entrepreneurs should still step remarkably carefully when talking about crystallising their net worth. Being seen to flaunt wealth can damage an individual’s reputation quickly and profoundly — and justifying a business sale in terms of realising wealth can easily shade into this territory.

• Think about social media. Anti-wealth sentiment on social media is currently at an all-time high, and we expect it to rise higher yet over the coming months. There is a risk that a story headlining on an entrepreneur selling a business — to realise a substantial amount of money — could lead to aggressively hostile commentary on social media that feeds into narratives around economic inequality and the distribution of wealth.

• Tell people clearly why you are selling. A founder needs to clearly articulate why they are selling — and why they are selling now. Most importantly, this reason must have a degree of sincerity and finality to it; it must not be fudged with weasel words nor lead to more questions. If information voids are left on the table, stakeholders will always assume the worst.

• Consider getting a Non-Disclosure Agreement. If you do not want the terms of the sale released in the future, you might want to consider putting in place a Non-Disclosure Agreement or NDA with the counterparty. These are never 100 percent watertight, but it will at least send a signal to the buyer that you want the details to remain private.

If you’re selling your business, it is important that you think through the potential communications risks clearly, and take considered strategic steps to manage them in an effective way throughout.