- September 25, 2020
- Selling Your Business
- by Rich-Biz Brokers, LLC
6 Value Drivers and 6 Emotional Drivers They Trigger
Together, we’ll tackle the Drivers referred to above. That said, the priority issue to address is, “Are you genuinely ready to sell?” Said another way, are you clear on why you’re prepared to make that decision and take the steps necessary to prepare your business to sell at peak sale value?
You have a lot invested both financially and emotionally. So, please consider the following outline for your self-examination of preparedness and objective decision-making to commit to this life-changing passage.
Why Do You Want to Sell?
You may be at a critical stage in either or both your personal and professional life that prompts you to want to sell your business. In our work with scores of small business owners like yourself, here are the top 5 reasons entrepreneurs claim as a sense of urgency to sell.
- Burnout: This is at the top of the list of reasons why businesses are sold. Running a small business is often stressful and burnout is common. Smart business owners deal with it before it can impact their businesses – and their personal lives.
- Health: “My health is preventing me from running my business.” “My business is endangering my health.”
- Family: “My family relationships are threatened because of my commitments to the business.” “Ours is a family business and is causing problems among the owners, my relatives.
- Partnership: “My partner and I can’t stand each other anymore.” “My partner and I are constantly in conflict over how the company should be run.”
- Retirement: “I’ve given the business all that I can. It’s time to retire.”
So, if your self-appraisal reveals one or more of the above as major, immediate concerns that may severely impact your well-being and that of those you cherish … it’s time to sell.
Pause for Brief Commercial: Enhance your soul searching … engage the confidential help of a guide with proven, multiple successes to help you develop and execute your plan for “life after entrepreneurship”.
Rich-Biz Brokers & Advisors, LLC has a verified history in doing so.
Contact us. We’ll respond promptly for a no-cost consultation.
Be Prepared … Profit from Peak Sale Value Plus Emotional Peace of Mind
You’ve built a significant asset through hard work, ingenuity and diligence. Don’t squander it … sell it for peak value! The key: Appeal to buyers’ needs and expectations … while maintaining diligent control of your, to-be-anticipated, emotional roller-coaster.
In our years of providing advisory services to both sellers and buyers of businesses, Rich-Biz Brokers & Advisors, LLC has developed a success checklist … the Six Major Drivers of Business Value. Demonstrate that all six drivers are in place and working. That ranks your selling proposition superior to other acquisition candidates a qualified buyer may be considering.
The 6 Drivers of Business Value … Triggered Emotions … Solutions to Both
- Value Driver – Company Organization The more valuable you are to your company, the less valuable your company is perceived by buyers. A buyer wants to know the success of your business is not dependent on you at the helm.
Emotional Driver: Ask yourself, “Would my business survive for 90 days without me?”
Solutions to Both Drivers: Execute a plan to ensure your business will successfully prevail without you at the controls. Equip your team with the competencies and support infrastructure necessary to maintain the business – post-sale. - Value Driver – Books and Records Accurate, up-to-date financial, personnel and legal compliance records are “must-haves”.
Emotional Driver: Are yours in shape?
Solutions to Both Drivers: Ensure you can demonstrate strong financial management and other critical, current documentation. Show buyers the strong likelihood of sustainable earnings and growth. - Value Driver – Systems, Repeatable, Efficient Processes: Up-to-date, compliant policies and procedures deliver confidence to buyers that productivity, personnel, supervisory and safety issues are proactively addressed.
Emotional Driver: Do yours improve top and bottom-line revenue growth and deliver consistent productivity results?
Solutions to Both Drivers: Examine and correct deficiencies in human resources, operations, marketing, sales and customer satisfaction. - Value Driver – Personnel and Clientele Stability: Buyers are concerned about “flight risks” of both key employees and clientele.
Emotional Driver: Do you have written evidence of how employees are on-boarded, groomed for advancement and managed to motivate employee engagement? Can you share satisfied customer testimonials and history of client retention?
Solutions to Both Drivers.Demonstrate management commitment to staffing, personnel development and supervision to improve performance and career path advancement - Value Driver – Marketing and Sales: Marketing support is essential to drive superior sales performance.
Emotional Driver: Your sales people must not be expected to perform as marketers as well as sales/relationship managers.
Solutions to Both Drivers: Be prepared to show your written marketing strategy, 2-year plan and evaluation method to gauge marketing efforts and sales results.
Your attention to each of these Drivers will demonstrate to buyers that your business operates smoothly with accuracy, clarity, efficiency, quality and positive results. And you’ll initiate your sales process with confidence that comes from emotional peace of mind.
You Are Not Alone!
We’ve covered a lot of ground and you may be left with the feeling that all of this is somewhat overwhelming. Not to worry … that’s a typical reaction which mellows out when you know that there is help available.
That’s where we come in … to help you decide when and whether to sell. Once the “to sell” decision is made we’ll work with you to tailor your best exit-strategy via sale or succession planning. You and your business are unique. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions.