Exit Consulting Group Blog

One of the key indicators of a successful business is if it can run without the owner around or involved in the operations.  In the small business world, that might only be the case for a day or maybe a week, but rarely more.  Most owners are key players in the business and is the reason why selling them is very difficult.   Personally, it took me 10 years of running my company before I took two straight weeks off and it was hard as hell to leave. What I did learn is that my company performed better when I was gone for that longer period of time.  Not better in the sense that I don’t need to come back but better in the sense that the operations ran smoother without me around to ask questions to.   Usually when I took a week off I had to work 80 hours before I left and 80 hours when I returned and it never seemed worth the effort.  On the contrary, when I was gone for two weeks, issues…[......]

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I have written many times about the need for getting your business ready to sell in order to make the most out of the transaction.    Hopefully you have spent the time cleaning up your financials and they accurately represent the Company’s financial strength, as well as presenting your Company in it’s best light.  Assuming you have done this, now what?   At least now you can feel comfortable that a buyer can come and look at your numbers and you can explain them.  The worst answer to say to a buyer who is questioning your financials is, “I don’t know.”  You have to show them you know where all your dollars are going, what they are paying for, and if they are going up or down.  If you can answer those questions then the buyer will feel that you have a handle on the Company.

The next step after cleaning up and understanding your financials is to present them in a format that a buyer would like to see.   I want to change your focus…[......]

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We just finished negotiating with a buyer and received a signed letter of intent detailing out the terms of the arrangement.  The seller wanted to go out and celebrate the occasion until I told her that the hard work was just about to get started.  She looked at me the same way as I looked last summer when I was backpacking and I hiked, sweat, and bled to get to the top of the mountain, I thought, only to see another peak in front of me.  She gave out a big sigh and, with a beaten look in her eyes, she asked, ”what’s next?”  I told her that the offer is a great start but in order to finish it we need to go through due diligence.  She asked what it meant, knowing that the term sounded familiar but couldn’t remember what we…[......]

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Most business owners sell a business once in a lifetime so experience is not on the side of the seller.  My best analogy to selling your business is like selling your house, but on adrenaline.  Your house may carry some emotional connection, but nothing like your business.  You have emotionally, physically, financially, and socially surrounded yourself around this business and letting it go can be more emotionally challenging than you might think.  Then add to it the relationship with your employees, vendors, supplies, etc. and it can be a roller coaster ride.  That being said, selling a business is similar in selling your house when it comes to getting it spruced up before you market it. 

If you have decided to sell your business then please look around, with an objective eye and put together a list of the things that need to be cleaned up.  What worked for me was having a friend come over and tell me what he…[......]

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I understand that in my past not everyone I requested advice from I really listened to but generally, if I was going to have to pay for it, I think I should have.   If you are a business owner trying to sell your business and have asked for professional help, and are paying for it, then listen to what we are telling you!!  There is a signficant difference between hearing what they say and listening with an open mind and I often get extremely frustrated when business owners don’t do either.  Why interview, research, and hire us and then not listen to the exact steps we tell you to do?   We are paid to assist you so why not listen and do what we say? Baffling.

I can promise you that if you hire a qualified advisor that has been through the selling experience more than once and…[......]

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Let’s start off by saying that selling your business to anyone would be defined as “success” to many entrepreneurs.  The obvious goal is to first get someone to buy it, then step two is to collect all the money owed, and step three would be to keep as much away from the government.  It all sounds so simple, but I can tell you from experience, it’s not that easy.  So with those three steps involved, who you sell it too will depend on who can deliver the best deal at the end.

Usually, inside sales (those to employees, family members) allow for the most amount of flexibility in the price and terms thus allowing for creativity in the deal.  When you have creativity, often…[......]

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