Want to successfully sell your company? Get out of the way!
We can all agree: When you’re ready to sell your company, you want to be sure that it’s truly ready to sell. And what makes a company most likely to be acquired might surprise you.
Most business owners have dedicated their lives to ensure their business is profitable. They are involved in most every aspect of day-to-day operations, ensuring customer satisfaction and healthy profit margins.
However, as the owner of your company, when you are ready to lift off to the next phase of life, you must ask yourself this very important question: Are you running your business 24/7 or are there people within your company who can maintain company operations if you weren’t there?
The counterintuitive truth is that the more important the owner is to their company, the less valuable it is.
I recently worked with a manufacturing firm where the owner had set up the company so that it would continue to thrive if he wasn’t there.
Excellent!
However, the owner was the only person in touch with the clients, and he jealously guarded those relationships.
Upon realizing this, we had further discussions on the importance of ensuring a business can thrive without its founder. Over the next year he started introducing other people in his company to clients, giving company clients more points of contact and strengthening his business in the process.
By the end of the second year, customer/employee relationship connections were imbedded throughout the company. The company was now sellable.
The truth is that potential buyers want to know that your company will continue to grow and operate without you being there. And the only way to ensure this is to deliver a self-sufficient company that can continue to thrive without you.
