The 10 worst mistakes you can make when selling your privately owned small business by Barry Evans

Thinking about selling your business? You are not alone. CNN Money reports that 35 million baby boomers are expected to retire between 2000 and 2020. If you are approaching retirement or soon will be, chances are you've considered putting your business on the market for one of the following reasons:

* You feel burned out;

* Industry conditions have changed;

* You are facing health issues;

* Your business has matured and plateaued;

* Your business is doing well;

* It's a good market for the sale of a business.

The key to survival for any business is efficient credit management and debt recovery.

In dealings between businesses, a supplier is expected to allow a customer time to pay for the goods or services provided, but if the customer pays later than the established date, profits may be eroded. If the customer does not pay at all, then clearly a loss will be suffered on a particular transaction. Therefore, a healthy and productive credit management depends on the policies of payment for the services provided.

Credit management is more efficient when reducing the risk of non-payment through the means of a credit policy. The credit policy should deal with the procedure for approval of credit for new customers and the action to be taken to recover debts.