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Selling Your Business?

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Here's why you should forget about selling your business.

4/28/2014

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Forget about selling your business and focus on increasing the value. If you do it right, the buyers will come to you.

It's a crowded market and lots of business owners would like to sell. Some started early and many have waited too long. No one can predict how long it will take to sell your company. You can try selling it as is or increasing the value first. With more value you're in a much stronger position to attract buyers and negotiate a better deal. 

Finding buyers for a business can be more time consuming and often more difficult than you might think. Much like selling a house or a car you can fix it up just before you sell or do it in advance and enjoy the benefits as you go. 

You may have some nibbles but likely one real shot at selling the business. If you do it right that's all you need. 

9 Tips for Selling Successfully and Exiting Well

1. Not sure what to do, don't have a qualified team or just too tired. Engage experts in Operations, Finance, Sales & Marketing, Human Resources and Legal. Make sure they understand what is needed to sell a business.
2. Stop working in the business and start working on the business. Pull away from the day to day responsibilities and spend quality time looking at the present and future of your industry and your business.
3. Get back in touch with why you loved building this company. Re-energize yourself and enjoy the selling journey. You won't feel as pressured and wind up taking the wrong deal.
4. Recognize the imperfections and do something about them. People, systems, finance etc. Often it is the unwillingness of the owner to make the tough decisions that will be their downfall. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck it won't fix itself, or it would have already. 
5. Get your sales and marketing updated and aligned. Make sure they're working in an integrated effort. Ideally this should happen before you start the selling process but good sales and marketing are always welcome. 
6. It's not just about great sales numbers. Great operations and strong financial controls deliver profitability and desirability as well. 
7. Add at least 4 years on to your exit strategy. Count on 1 year to do the deal and 3 more to ease your way out. The new owners will likely require your participation to provide experience, industry introductions, continuity with staff, vendors, and customers.
8. Not sure if you really want to sell? Run improvement efforts parallel to selling, as you don't know how long it will take and you just may change your mind.
9. Attend our next workshop. We'll discuss all of the above and more at our half day event on 'identifying weaknesses and increasing the value' of your company. The cost is $250 and includes a full report on what your company could be worth in it's current state or with improvements. This is a private by invitation only event for owners of established businesses with annual sales in excess of $2,000,000.

If any part of this post speaks to you or to someone you know please feel free to email my Assistant Cheryl cscoffield@warrenbdc.com. Schedule a telephone call with me or we can talk in person over a cup of coffee and figure out your next move.

Eric Gilboord

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Are you attracting Takers or Buyers?

4/25/2014

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Are you attracting Takers or Buyers?

Free samples has several meanings and offering stuff for free can often result in different outcomes.
 
You can get a free sample at the deli counter before you buy. Usually you're there to buy so it makes sense to offer free samples. Sure someone might take advantage but typically the ratio of buying vs taking is low.
 
Free on the other hand, as in download this stuff free, take this free pen at the trade show, come to this free event or take an hour of my time for free has less attraction to real Buyers and usually appeals to Takers. 

Takers go for anything free or close to free and place little value on what they're receiving. It's appropriate to lower your expectations and anticipate a lesser quality of response.

Rarely do they buy as the free stuff satisfies the need for acquisition. If I have all these free downloads to read I don't have to buy books. If I go to free events I don't have to attend paid ones. I've done my duty.
 
On the other hand if I'm considering purchasing a tool or buying a ticket for a paid event I'll gather information, evaulate the purchase and determine if it is the best choice for me. Will it fulfill my requirements, how does it compare with other similar offers and is it a good value? I expect to pay for value and free is not a choice.
 
So next time you're pricing and promoting a product or service or even considering doing someone a favour, you have to decide if this is a free offer or a paid one. We've all done favours where you know there was little real appreciation for your efforts. Kind of an empty feeling.

Ask yourself, what message are you sending about who you are and how you value yourself or your product. Is this a charge situation or a free sample?

Eric Gilboord, A2E
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Our new magazine ad.

4/5/2014

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