If you want to sell your business yourself, you should do it in a proper way. But many things must be done by you because your broker would do them for you.
First of all, act without delays and prepare everything ahead of time. All your documents and papers must be collected and ready. And available, of course. You should not keep your prospective buyer waiting while you prepare all the necessary stuff. To make the process of preparation easier, think as a potential purchaser. What will help them to analyze your business? 3-5 years of financials are mostly presented to purchasers. Your financials, bank statements, profit and loss statements, balance sheets and tax return must be clear and correct.
Your business as most small businesses nowadays can be marketed on the Internet. As a seller you can hit lots of purchases by advertising your enterprise on the top web sites.
You should qualify your potential buyers and ask them for their personal financial statement. What if this or that purchaser is not able to buy your company at all? And do not forget to ask them to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
When you have a real purchaser, you should keep the process moving and provide information, set up meetings and negotiate. . . And here you will remember about a broker and his functions, as a business broker gives a business owner to run his business in a calm atmosphere.
As a seller you do not have to disclose all the information ahead of time and your purchaser will have possibility to back out if there will be something wrong. Do not demonstrate a customer list or secrets of manufacturing process. However, you should not hold back any negative information if there is any.
Certainly you can do selling without a broker but you can ask him for help if you already have found a purchaser to negotiate and manage the process more successfully.