This is the second of three articles on ideas to mull over before you put your business up for sale. These ideas are designed to aid in moving the selling process along quickly and smoothly, and should help you get the most money for your company when it's sold. In this article, I will offer four more ideas for you to consider as you gear up to sell.

Because revenue is so important, the first few tips concern matters related to sales. The last one deals with management.

• Tip number 1: Focus on improving your financial performance. This is important because two key elements that potential buyers look at when considering acquisitions are sales and profits.

This means that once you have decided you are going to sell -- and throughout the whole selling process -- you absolutely must continue to focus on running your business, keeping the sales coming in, and keeping your company profitable.

Of course, this implies that you need to have up-to-date financial records, so make certain that your bookkeeping records are current.

• Tip number 2: Take a look at your customer balance. Then expand and diversify your customer base. This reduces the impact and risk of losing one or two large customers, especially if you serve corporate or business markets.

Charlene Maurer Finerty, a business plan specialist and newspaper columnist for the Times-Herald Record, says, "Any number of circumstances -- controlled or not -- can destroy future revenue from a dominate customer. Some simply change suppliers for price or personality reasons." Others are sold or close. Natural disasters occasionally destroy businesses. Thus, work to expand and diversify your roster of customers.

• Tip number 3: Develop and document your sales and marketing program. Most buyers want to fully understand how you obtain customers and sales. They want to be comfortable that after you leave, your customers will remain -- and that the sales will continue.

With this idea in mind, give serious consideration to developing a manual that outlines the methods that your company uses to attract and retain customers.

• Tip number 4: Work on developing your management team, and work on replacing yourself. The more structure you have in place -- including a strong management team -- the more attractive your company will be to potential buyers.

This article has been devoted to giving you even more ideas to think about in advance of selling your company. Putting some of them into effect ahead of time not only will smooth the selling process, but should also help you get the most money for your business at closing.

For more tips on gearing up, check out my other articles on this topic entitled SECRETS OF PRE-SALE PREPARATION PART 1 and SECRETS OF PRE-SALE PREPARATION PART 3.