We meet with a lot of business owners who think that their companies are prepared to be sold. As we review their information and talk with them about their businesses, we often find big gaps in preparation. In asking why such gaps exist, we often get the response noted in the title of this article.

Business owners must understand that distractions go with the territory. Employees want to know what’s expected of them, ask about what they don’t understand, and be reassured that they’re on the right track. However, there’s a reason everyone is “puling their strings,” and it doesn’t have to be that way. The owner needs to become a leader, not a manager or employee. The role of a company’s leader is to provide vision for the company’s future and the energy and know-how to drive that vision to its conclusion. But it’s the implementation of that vision that often gets the owner into trouble and causes him/her to have to deal with multiple distractions. Implementing the vision is NOT the owner’s role. That’s the role of managers, under the owner’s direction, who have been given a clear indication of the future path of the company and how the owner wants to get there.

Since managers also have some leadership responsibility to their teams, the approach by which the owner models his leadership will ultimately lead to the path he wishes the company to go or to an entirely different path which could create chaos in company operations. Leadership modeling is extremely important. Effective leadership modeling can lead to competence with employees and stress-reduction for the owner.

The Lesson: If business owners wish ultimately to have a peak sale of their companies, they must envision themselves as leaders and act in ways that show their leadership. One extremely important strategy is to create a Leadership/Management Team to operate the business with the owner’s guidance. This structure is what a savvy buyer will seek to assure sustainability of the company and to give him/her time to understand the company and its people before making significant changes, if needed.

For additional information about how to structure leadership and a management team, and be prepared for a peak business sale, please contact Wayne@richbizbrokers or RBennett@richbizbrokers.com.

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