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Eric Gilboord is a lifelong entrepreneur, Author, Public Speaker and the CEO WarrenBDC, a company that specializes in working with boomer aged business owners or those wishing to acquire their companies. Eric is focused on solving a big problem. Sixty-five percent of all businesses in Canada and the United States are owned by baby boomers. Anyone born between 1946 and 1964. So this is a pretty big audience. Eighty percent of those owners do not have a plan in place or know how to transition. Most are counting on the sale of their company to fund their retirement, and in a lot of cases the value of the business is less that the owner needs for the desired retirement lifestyle. In this episode Eric:
No matter which of the many types of buyers you’ll encounter in this journey to sell your business, the term EBITDA will be up front and discussed in detail. Whether business Buyers are a strategic vs financial buyer, looking for synergies or seeking a lifestyle business they all want to know what your EBITDA has been over the past 3 years or more. Being on top of your EBITDA is important.
7 Sure-Fire Ways to Beat Large Business
by Eric Gilboord from his book 'Just Tell Me More'. 1. Outmaneuver Them. A small business is like a speedboat that can manoeuvre quickly, slow down or speed up as needed, and turn around completely in a much smaller space than a battleship (a larger business) can. A new strategy may take a large business three months to develop and implement. You could execute it in three days. 2. Offer Genuine Personal Attention. Small businesses can offer real personal attention, greeting customers by name and having a brief conversation with them when they enter their establishments. Customer service is more than screaming, ‘‘Hello!’’ indiscriminately when someone walks into a store. I find this particular activity, conducted mostly by the larger U.S.- based chain stores, to be somewhat unsettling and in many cases, quite insincere. 3. Choose Between Help And Help Yourself. I prefer to buy from small businesses because they’re usually more ready, willing, and able to help me. It seems that customers must choose between getting help and helping themselves. The staff at some larger organizations tend to be busy stocking shelves. They may point out where something is but they don’t always have the time or the expertise to help customers make a purchase. 4. Educate Yourself. Education can be an important part of the purchasing process. When many products deliver the same benefits, it is not always easy to make the right choice. In order to select the best product or service for your needs, you may require education. Small businesses tend to be better suited at offering assistance and are the best choice for one-time requests or requests for unusual or rare products and services. 5. Tailor Your Products. A small business has the ability to tailor its product or service selection to its specific customers. The most popular products your specific customer desires can be stocked in depth. This feature can be a disadvantage to large businesses as they carry a wide range of products offering little choice within a specific product group. Don’t forget to promote this advantage. Your business may represent one section of one aisle in a big box store. You don’t need to worry about the rest as you are not in those businesses. 6. Train Your Staff. Make sure you don’t make the same mistakes that some large businesses make. Don’t fall into the trap of being too busy to provide good service. Unfortunately, several large businesses seem to have staff to stock shelves but not to help customers and in some cases, not even to take your money. I can’t imagine any small business allowing a customer to stand in the middle of the floor with his or her money and no one to give it to. This unfortunate experience happened to me in one of the well-established department stores. I couldn’t even pay for the one item that I came in to buy. But small businesses don’t always have good service. You must train your staff. Your larger competitors probably have training programs. Your advantage is the ability to have an informal, on the spot training session for your staff. Augment any formal group training with small amounts of input when needed. If you notice something wrong or there’s a situation where you can improve your service, the changes can be made almost immediately, unlike your larger competitors, who may have to take months to develop a more formal, structured training program. 7. Don’t Compete On Price Alone. Some small businesses charge a little more than a larger competitor but that’s OK. Some segments of your target group are willing to pay a little more in order to receive better service. It’s up to you to provide it and to make sure that customers know they are receiving added value. Some customers will always look for the lowest price. They will shop around, use your time and expertise, then go to your larger competitors to make the purchase. It’s your job to recognize these people and to educate them about the advantages of doing business with you. Customers are not mind readers. These ideas apply to many business categories such as retail, manufacturing, and industrial or professional services. No matter what business you are in, act like a speedboat and outmaneuver the battleship. Go out and run circles around big businesses.  Buyers Are Not Mind Readers
As the Owner, you know all the wonderful things about your company. But that doesn't mean a Buyer automatically does. You will have to tell them. Making someone work for it isn't the smartest strategy. It's not just numbers Buyers need to consider purchasing your business. You know who your best technical staff are, the ones who are the most loyal and the small circle you can count on any time. The folks I like to describe as 'in a crunch it's always the same bunch'. The staff with huge potential who are consistently growing and assuming more responsibility. The key people you've been grooming to take over management. The loyal, hard working day to day heartbeat of your organization. This is the knowledge gained over years of working together week after week. Experienced Buyers can acquire some of the information via staff interviews, but not near what you can provide. If you think you can hide the dirt, think again. Maybe you can for a while, but the truth always seems to surface. The Buyer of today is typically seasoned and short on a capacity for BS. You know how great your relationships are with specific large key and smaller long-term customers, but the Buyer doesn't until you show them. You know the ideas and opportunities that have been on the back burner and are ready for moving forward. It's Your Job To Tell Them Everything You need to dig out all the great things about your business, the obvious and the not so obvious. The things you take for granted and the stuff you just do because, well you've been doing it forever. The new innovations and the upcoming industry trends you spotted years ago and have prepared for. The relationships with friendly competitors and the strategic alliances. And don't forget the numbers. They will be requested in every configuration and scrutinized with a magnifying glass. Knowing how to present them is key. If you can't anticipate the requests and respond quickly the momentum can get lost pretty easily. Yes, after the NDA. Think Of It As Sharing With More Than One It's not about bragging or blowing your own horn. More like sharing the many accomplishments you and your staff have achieved over likely, give or take, 30 years of blood, sweat and tears. Sales, well run processes, reputation, innovations and industry standing are all important. The successes you've attained need to be recognized and you need to be compensated for them. You can't expect a potential Buyer to just uncover the information or glean it all from your conversations and retain it on their own. The data has to be packaged, wrapped in a bow and presented like it was the greatest gift they will ever receive. As with many large purchases the decision will be made by more than one person. The Buyer may make the final decision, but they will consult with others. Your company story needs to be told with as much impact and backup detail as your most important sale ever. But more so, it needs to be transportable to other offices and the many conversations that will go on while a Buyer is considering the purchase of your business. And frankly, you or your representatives will not be in all those meetings and conversations. There Are No Secrets So remember, as you move down the path of transition, you can't keep the wonderful things about your business, both the obvious and the hidden value a secret. If you expect to sell for top dollar and on your terms you need to clearly tell the complete story in an interesting, informative and exciting way. You Control Your Story The trick is to dig it all out and communicate all of your company greatness in an easy to digest format. Present it so anyone can get your story quickly and easily. You don't always know who is being told or asked about you and under what circumstances. What you do know is, they will be influencing the purchase decision. Or the potential Buyer wouldn't be talking to them in the first place. Subtle or heavy influencer, they can only comment on what they've been told. You can control the story more or less. Shouldn't you make it more than less. To help tell your story or to discuss the many services we have available to increase your odds for a successful transition please contact me today. Schedule A Call Cheers, Eric Timeline Of Events For Selling Your Business
Extraction From Eric Gilboord Online Courses This is an extremely optimum time frame and would require a very well prepared Seller, highly desirable company, a qualified Buyer and may not include the transition time to ease out of the company post sale. All in count on 3-5 years. 4-6 Weeks Preparation • 2 Weeks to gather the required information. The Intermediary will work with you to gather necessary information and to gain an understanding of the business (Information gathering is mostly a Seller responsibility.) • 2 weeks for the Intermediary to compile the necessary Teaser and Confidential Information Memorandum documents (Mostly an Intermediary responsibility.) • 1-2 weeks to review and finalize representations (Joint responsibility of Seller and Intermediary.) 1-3 Months for Soliciting Interest from Buyers (duration is very variable) • During this time the Intermediary will mostly be talking with prospects, answering questions, feeding more information to them. • Much of the effort during this phase is the Intermediary working with prospects, trying to figure out who are serious and who are not, filtering and moving them along. Making sure that only serious, qualified prospective Buyers get to meet and talk with the Seller. • The Seller may be required to provide ad-hoc ancillary reports. Mostly accounting type data or answer questions. • The Seller will be required to meet with prospective Buyers (1:1, duration and frequency is variable and will be based on seriousness of Buyer and comfort of the Seller). Receive a Letter of Intent (LOI) to Proceed The prospective Buyer will issue a LOI. The Seller will be required to negotiate and accept the LOI terms (Review by Sellers' legal counsel is mandatory. ) The typical LOI would contain terms about the deal, payment schedules, vendor notes and post transaction employment / contracts, but it can have all kinds of terms and considerations that will form the basic terms of the future transaction. Accepting an LOI is certainly a significant go/no go point in the process. The Seller gets to make the final determination at this stage. 2-4 Months Buyer Due Diligence Process (This is a fairly intense period of time ) • The Buyer will provide a list of expected items that they wish to review. • The Seller will need to work diligently and expeditiously to respond and provide this information in a timely manner. Responses could be piecemeal over a few weeks. This for most sellers is the hardest part of the work required since there could be considerable asks, lots of documents to gather and create and lots of meetings to review and discuss. • Depending on the answers to the above there could be further requests, conversations and meetings. • The Intermediary will assist you during this period. But this is largely dependent on the information request, and what role the seller would like the Intermediary to play and what access to information would be provided to the Intermediary. 4-6 Weeks Legal Process (Time required to read & review docs) • Legal begins once Due Diligence completes and this typically lasts a 4-6 weeks or more. The variability depends on the legal complexity and detailed Seller & Buyer review of clauses and specific wording. • Emotions will be running high at this point, so patience is required if you really want the deal to close! Deal Done! Total elapsed time from start to end: 8-12 months but most of the Seller effort was during the Due Diligence phase. Exercise - Questions What would be your ideal timeline for starting the process to completely exiting with you having no further involvement with the business? Is it realistic? Why is this your ideal timeline? What about the above timeline do you think does not fit with your personal situation? Schedule a Call or Meeting  I often write and speak to groups and individual Owners about selling their company for 300% more than they could currently. At first there is a look of disbelief, quickly replaced by the question 'how'.
There are multiple reasons an Owner has stopped growing and or improving the value of their business. The same comfort level logic works for most anything. Your health, personal finances or relationships etc. The company is the size it is currently because the Owner can control all aspects of it. Generate enough sales. Wrap their arms around the operations. Be comfortable with the finance side. Continue to run the same sales and marketing efforts. Not have to replace anyone. Basically they have reached a repeatable level of success. Essentially experiencing the same year over and over again. But what if you want to have a different more successful year vs the previous one? There are typically 3 key areas of your business that need to evolve, if you want to potentially transition a company for 300% more. 1. Open your arms wider. Think bigger, take on larger opportunities, give yourself permission to stretch. Don't be afraid to screw up. It will happen and you will overcome and succeed. 2. Owners often tell me they can't finance growth. There are many more resources for financial help than the bank. Once you find one or two that work for you, you're comfort level will rise and that project you didn't even try for in the past is now real and in your reach. 3. Finding good, qualified and reliable employees. Some Owners say it is difficult or impossible. First of all that's not true. You just need to find a great resource to help you. Once you do find the right assistance and make a successful hire, your luck begins to change. The business runs better, new opportunities are identified and secured. You begin to attract the right staff and better customers. You have effectively removed some of the negative roadblocks and made room for more positive results. You've created a vacuum to be filled by success. Now you have the bandwidth to try some of the ideas that have been on the back burner. Tap into and reveal hidden opportunities to increase sales or improve processes, make your company what it should be. Bigger, better, able to run on its own. Get out of the way, focus on just what you love to do and work on the business not in it. It's not going to happen overnight. You will require help. And yes it's worth it. Key Learning - Ask yourself 'WHO' can I find to get the above tasks done, not how. If you'd like to discuss the future success of your company let's talk. You can tell me about yourself and your business. I can fill you in a bit on who we are. Alternatively please explore our website for more insights into this whole growing before transitioning thing or visit our online program www.SellYourBusiness4More.com Eric Gilboord 416-270-2466 [email protected] From our proprietary online program 'Sell Your Business 4 More' developed to help Owners increase the selling price of their company. www.ericgilboord.com How do you get from thinking about selling to actually concluding a deal? How do you get the best price/deal (it's not only about price) for your business? How do you find a Buyer? What does the process include? And much more.
Excerpt from book 'Moving Forward' by Eric Gilboord
Over the last couple of years you've kicked some tires, read a few articles or books, spoke to a few friends and maybe some professionals with experience in selling businesses. Then you put it all on hold because selling your business was never a serious consideration. After all you were still young. If you read the business press today, it is shocking the number of Boomer Aged Business Owners with no real plan to sell their business. In Canada it's estimated there are 550,000 Boomer Aged Business Owners. 1. Over 75% of you plan to sell within the next 10 years. That's a lot of competition. 2. Less than 10% of you have a team, formal exit or succession plan in place. 3. Over 82% expect the sale of your business to fund your retirement. That's a lot of pressure. As I said earlier, over the years I've worked directly with hundreds of owners of small and medium-sized businesses, like yourself. And spoken with many more. It is disturbing to realize the number of entrepreneurs who don't have a real exit strategy in place. There is no thought out plan to sell or transition your business. In addition there are a huge amount of business Owners willing to let your businesses go for well under what you could sell for. Mainly because you don't want to do the work to prepare the company for sale. Or you've chosen to ride it out for a few more years, taking as much cash out of the business as you can and then plan to just close the doors with little or no thought for the negative impact on employees, vendors and customers. Let's not forget our economy which is not even close to being ready to absorb the impact of hundreds of thousands of Owners shutting down over a concentrated period of time. The other option being considered by Owners is to 'die with your boots on'. These are the Owners planning to work until you drop. A plan based on loving what you do, working is an economic necessity or you simply don't know what else to do with your time. Or whatever story you want to tell yourself. In many cases, initially, you're taking business selling advice from your current lawyers and accountants. Which is great if the trusted advisers have experience buying and selling companies. Not so good if they don't. You are letting your baby go for 2, 3 or 4 x EBITDA* based on a volume of sales well below what it could be. Increased sales, a reshuffling of people, improved marketing, better operations and financial controls could all help to increase EBITDA* and therefore garner a sale price 6+ X. Especially when your annual sales break the magic $10,000,000 level. You could sell for far more than you have ever imagined was possible. It just requires some preparation. *Commonly abbreviated as EBITDA, an accounting measure to calculate a company's net Earnings, Before Interest expenses, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization are subtracted. Used as a proxy for a company's current operating profitability. You could wait a few years and receive much more for your business. Anything done to increase the value of the business will help to make the company more desirable to a Buyer and valuable to you the Owner. For years you considered improvements to your marketing, operations, finance and sales departments. Thought about enhancing technology, or even replacing staff. But you never followed thru. Every SMB I've ever visited always included the obligatory tour. The Owner inevitably introduced his staff as: This is Jeff our Marketing Manager but he's not really a marketing person more a sales guy. Meet Susie our Controller, but she's really only qualified as a bookkeeper. Jan who doesn't get along with anyone but I keep her anyway. And my children who couldn't get a job elsewhere so they work here, etc. Always one step below what they should be. No not the whole staff or you wouldn't have a thriving business. Just a few key players who help to keep you back or cause some frustration. Well now you may want to reconsider. The new Owner will be assessing your people and your judgement in people. They will be spotted and quickly. It will be held against you. There are good ideas not acted on because they were an unnecessary expense or it was so much work you just didn't bother. If you have an established business, consider returning to why you got into the business in the first place. Get in touch with what you were passionate about and determine how to get back to doing the things that you can’t wait to do each day. There is no shortage of experienced folks to perform the functions you are not comfortable with or even qualified to do. Stop doing the stuff you hate and spend more time working on the business not in the business. Increase your company value now. Visit www.SellYourBusiness4More.com  Excerpt from 'Just Tell Me More - Marketing Tips in 10 Minute Chunks' Lists like this one are usually made up of financial reasons for the failure of a small business. Unfortunately there are also many sales and marketing reasons. Fortunately, there is a positive step that can be taken for each one that will greatly increase your chances for success. “These actionable tips are the responsibility of everyone who works with you. Make sure they know and understand them.” EG 1. Face Your Weaknesses. Failure to face up to your weaknesses and a lack of effort to take advantage of your strengths can keep your business in a no-growth mode. Take two pieces of paper and list your company’s strengths on one page and its weaknesses on the other. Note the ways you can make your staff, customers, prospects, and other business associates aware of each of your strengths. On the page of weaknesses, identify steps to correct each problem. Discuss the points with your staff and develop a schedule to address them. No, it’s not really as bad as you think. 2. Take Action. Talking about the great marketing program you have been developing and following through with it are two very different actions. Implementing the program is the key to marketing success. Plan all you want, but be prepared to act on all the steps you have identified. Don’t be surprised to discover that there are some steps you hadn’t initially considered. 3. Accountability And Responsibility. Understand the difference between accountability and responsibility. Make sure your staff and suppliers recognize that by accepting responsibility, they are accountable to you and to the rest of the company. It is now their job to get the assignment completed. This was my experience with WarrenBDC
"You work your entire life building up a business that is your asset going into your golden years. And yet, you are saddled with the overwhelm of how to navigate the sale part, or what it may take, or how to go about it. It's not the easiest topic to discuss with others, especially if they haven't gone through the process. And how do you find the right buyer if your business is unique? WarrenBDC was patient with my endless questions, and understood my challenges. They helped me through the thought process and then the actual deal. The trust was well earned and appreciated. Looking forward to what lays ahead." Sue Griffiths  Excerpt from our online program. Sell Your Business 4 More You should be working very hard to build your business into something great and make yourself irrelevant in the process.
The strategy is simple: 1. Have a big vision and, make it worthy of your time and effort. And more importantly your staffs time and effort. 2. Bring great people with varied skill sets and experiences onboard. Make sure they speak their mind. 3. Let them do what they do best and are most passionate about. We all have a superpower and at our core we know what it is. This is usually accompanied by a deep desire to unleash it to its' fullest potential. 4. Create a desirable inclusive atmosphere that great people want to be a part of. If you succeed, they will thrive and likely take the company much further than you ever could on your own. So what should irrelevant mean to you in the context of selling your company? Right now and for the foreseeable future you will maintain the vision and lead the charge. As you are getting ready to transition, slowly replace your superpowers with others who demonstrate the same abilities and let them take over. The same applies to any of your key staff who will be leaving around the time of selling or within a few years. Buyers will interview your employees and they will find out who is staying and who is going. Start training their replacements as well. At some point you will become redundant, irrelevant and unnecessary to managing and growing the business. You will then have succeeded. The business operating without you is a key factor when Buyers are considering purchasing your company. It means they can step in and immediately take over. It's not easy and requires some real grit on your part. While many day to day functional activities are taken care of by staff there are still top level decisions that always seem to fall into your lap. No this is not by fluke it is by design, your design. The desire to be relevant and important to the process. There is a reason that some of you have kept your business running at a particular sales level for years. It's not always because opportunities have dried up. Nor is it the new developments within your industry. It's because there is a comfort in working in a particular sized business. You found your comfort zone and staying there is well, more comfortable. Typically an Owner will keep a successful business just under $3 million around $2.6 million in annual sales. Or in many cases under $1 million or under $2 million. You've created what is often referred to as lifestyle business. i.e. your lifestyle I know it sounds counter intuitive since you spent the last few decades making most of the key decisions, creating and massaging the vision, leading the sales and generally driving the business to its' current success. It won't be easy to give up the responsibilities and let go. But the Owner who has done this typically finds that among the many factors used by Buyers to make a purchase decision, this one is key. Put yourself in the Buyers seat. You do the transaction and suddenly you get hit by a bus. Or there is a falling out and you refuse to continue the transition relationship. You don't agree with a change they're making and your instinct is to fight it or worse sabotage the change. If the Buyer is dependent upon one or two people to determine the fate of the business post sale, they're highly unlikely to move forward with a purchase. You can say it won't happen all you want, but when one is dealing with real money and time invested in the success of a venture they want all the right cards in their hand. So become irrelevant personally, to the point where you become incredibly desirable as a company. Exercise - Task Step 1 is to be clear on your superpowers. Step 2 is to determine who the best replacement might be. Look inside your business and outside. Step 3 is to identify the current staff with other superpowers the company needs to thrive. And their replacements. Because you never know who will leave or when. My superpowers and replacements are: 1. Power Replacement 2. Power Replacement 3. Power Replacement 4. Power Replacement Other currently existing superpowers within the company and their replacements are: 1. Power Replacement 2. Power Replacement 3. Power Replacement 4. Power Replacement If you found the above information and exercise of value please visit. Sell Your Business 4 More Guide/Coach Eric 416-270-2466 [email protected] Excerpt from 'Just Tell Me More - Marketing Tips in 10 Minute Chunks'
A sign in the window of a convenience store boldly stated ‘‘No Change.’’ The store had been inundated with people seeking change for the subway or for parking, and the owners felt that it was better to keep them out of their store. By posting the sign, the owners were effectively driving away new business. If they had taken a more positive approach, they would have seen a great marketing opportunity, not a problem. If the people seeking change were viewed not as a nuisance but as potential customers, a completely different strategy could have been employed to bring in new business. What the owners could have done was equip themselves with a supply of change and posted a large sign reading ‘‘Change Available.’’ It is likely that many of the people who initially came into the store looking for change could have become regular customers over time. 4.4 Teaser And CIM - Confidential Information Memorandum
(From our online program Sell Your Business 4 More. Free when you engage with WarrenBDC) As part of the listing process and in order for your Intermediary to be able to provide good and accurate information to a prospective Buyer, they will need to assemble the following information. Starting your work now and being ready for the Intermediary is key to selling faster and for more. As soon as you select the Intermediary and or as part of the selection process you can review it together. Do not hesitate to ask questions for further clarity, and make sure that you are both on the same page. In fact the entire transition team needs to be on the same page. Together you will have captured the greatest value of the business to be presented to a prospective Buyer in the best light. It is not unusual for prospects to ask for further specific information as part of their review. When this happens we urge you to treat these requests with urgency as it is imperative to keep the process moving, you don't want the prospective Buyer to go looking at some other business over yours! They are always looking. Buyers will need to first see a Teaser followed by a Confidential Information Memorandum The Teaser is a generically worded high level overview. Since this document will be going to the public and not subject to an NDA, it should be very generic, not identify the Seller but contain sufficient details to interest a Buyer to look into your business a bit further. This document will be created together with your Intermediary at the time of listing. Once the Intermediary has gathered some interest from a prospect and determined suitability they would then release the secondary document the CIM or Confidential Information Memorandum always under a signed NDA. The secondary set of documents, CIM, typically includes: • 3 years Income statements. • Balance sheets. • Cash Flow statements. • A 'business deck' to tell the story and better explain the business. Staff, industry, positioning, customers, locations etc. These documents need to be accurate and correctly reflect the reality as they will become the basis under which a Buyer will issue a LOI or Letter of Intent and begin the Due Diligence process. Any variance here between what you present and what is found out to be the truth by the Buyer will result in a discount, failure to close, or if really bad, litigation for misrepresentation and Buyers costs of Due Diligence. Exercise - Questions, Tasks And Documents To Be Supplied To The Intermediary Your Intermediary will use this information to effectively communicate your story to Prospective Buyers. A. The quick business summary or Teaser to share with prospective Buyers. B. The detailed Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM) - which is only ever shared subject to your approval with a prospect that has been vetted by the Intermediary and who has entered into an NDA with you. C. They will also use this knowledge to help validate and discuss the business further with prospects who have received a CIM and provided a signed NDA. The information to be assembled will include the following and likely some additional items particular to your selling situation, company and industry. 1. A brief history of how your business came to be, significant events, items that help paint a story. These may be the same items you would relate to a new or prospective client. 2. Last 3 years of Accountant prepared financial statements - Income statement, Balance sheet and Cash Flow Statements for the business/s. If more than one financial entity then provide similar documents for each or a consolidated set of statements. Indicate intra company transactions, and whether all statements are prepared to the same accounting and revenue recognition standards. 3. Year To Date 'in house' financial statements with aged Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and Inventory list for the same period. If multi-company you will require the same for all entities. 4. Statement of earnings normalization (EBITDA) in line with fiscal year ends that identifies all non-recurring expenses and salaries and other expenses directly related to you the Seller. 5. List of top 5 - 20 customers for last 3 years by $ volume & indicate length of relationships. Typically 20% of your customers represent 80% of your income. 6. List of key suppliers representing 60 - 80% of your spending and $ amounts spent with them over the last 3 years. Also a few words about each, including length of relationship and if there are any formal exclusivity agreements. 7. Staff Organizational Chart. Also need to identify key personnel, tenure and what they do. 8. Brief biographies for each of the key personnel identified in the Org. Chart. 9. Key terms about Building Leases, Car Leases, Equipment Leases, Long Term Obligations. 10. Who your key competitors are and a few words about each. Any changes recently, bigger, smaller, new management or important internal key person promotions. 11. Who manages your Supplier relationships? Will there be an impact by your selling or easing back your personal involvement and how long do you think it would take to transition back to normal? 12. Who manages your top Customer relationships as in #5. Will there be an impact by your selling or easing back your personal involvement and how long do you think it would take to transition back to normal? 13. What is the typical sales process and marketing out-reach program? This question can be answered at a high level for now and will be required to be provided in more detail as you go through further Buyer discovery. 14. General questions 14.1 What are some of the potential barriers to entry of others into this market? 14.2 How and why are you winning business? 14.3 Why do customers keep coming back? 14.4 Change in any key customers over the past three years and if so why? 14.5 Change in any key staff in past three years and if so why? 14.6 Do you have ongoing contracts with customers / commitments? 14.7 A few sentences or at most paragraph for each, highlighting any; Special Intellectual Property, Patents, Equipment, New Products, New Clients, Recent Growth, Future Forecasts, Significant events. 14.8 Other points that you feel would improve the business case.  You are either delusional about the value of your company or you are working with a verified figure as a potential selling price. There are typically two different kinds of Sellers when it comes to Owners wanting to sell their business.
OWNER 1. The Owner who has a realistic view on what his/her business might be worth, how much it might sell for. They may have spoken with their Accountant, a Business Broker, an M&A firm or a Consultant who specializes in selling businesses. Hopefully more than one. Insights from friends who have sold businesses within your industry may have some similarities between their situations and yours. They could be a reliable source. But need to be verified. Realists usually arrive at a value with about a 10 % margin of error. OWNER 2. The other Owner who has no idea what their business might be worth and they have not done any of the work to find out. They have a figure in mind derived by simply pulling it out of the air. Or the selling price is based on a need for X amount of dollars. What they think might be needed for an easier retirement. What they think they deserve after decades of building the business. Or they just have the desire to sell for this magic number. A number that comes from nowhere tangible. Typically the Owners who have manufactured a number tend to be way off. I speak to Owners all the time who are looking for a $6 million dollar payday. However, when you look at the mathematics of the business it's actually worth $600,000. Now that sounds like a big spread and it is. If you're going to dream, dream big. The reality is, Owners with a reasonable understanding of what their business might be worth and those that do not are two very different Sellers. Owners living in a fantasy world believe a Buyer should pay a lot for the opportunity the business offers. News flash, if it has so much opportunity why haven't you done it yourself? If I'm doing the work to seize the opportunity why would I pay you more than the business is worth today? Owners living in the real world are not frustrated by the selling process or disappointed by a lack of offers. The Selling process can be a rewarding and 'relatively' stress free experience. Or it could be the most painful, discouraging and debilitating experience of your life. Up to you. So the moral of the story with this weeks post is about being realistic. If you have no idea what your business might be worth give us a call. We'd be happy to help you work that number out. Truth counts and hurts sometimes. We will give you a realistic view of what the business could possibly sell for. You might not like what we have to say or you might be thrilled by what we have to tell you. We won't know until we look at the numbers. Which Owner are you? The realist, the dreamer or the one willing to hear the truth regardless of what it is. Before you run off and try to sell your business for X amount of dollars, it might be smart to get an accurate accounting for what your business could actually sell for. So click on one of the buttons below to DIY (do it yourself) or let us help you. Selling your business is typically not easy. It requires preparation of both the Owners personal stuff and the company items that need to be addressed. In fact the better prepared you are, the easier it is to sell and the more money you will get. Getting prepared starts with looking in the mirror. Coming face to face with your desire to prepare and a realization of how close or far you are from selling. Here is an Owner focused visual aid to quickly help bring your reality into focus.  Selling your business is typically not easy. It requires preparation of both the Owners personal stuff and the company items that need to be addressed. In fact the better prepared you are, the easier it is to sell and the more money you will get. Getting prepared starts with looking in the mirror. Coming face to face with your desire to prepare and a realization of how close or far you are from selling. Here is a company focused visual aid to quickly help bring your reality into focus.  Why Do You Require An Intermediary To Sell Your Business?
Intermediaries, bring Buyers and Sellers of businesses together and facilitate the process. Hopefully to a positive conclusion in the form of a successful and confidential transition. As a business Owner you're running the company day to day. You don't have the time for a steep business selling learning curve or to fulfill all the necessary requirements for documents, discussions, decisions, negotiations and tasks as outlined in our program. You require a transition team leader and/or Intermediary to complement you and take on all the other responsibilities for a successful transition. The Intermediary starts by working with you to fully understand what your expectations for a successful transition are. If they are not, in the Intermediaries experience, achievable you need to work together to come to a compromise or agreement. Remember the Intermediary should be on your side working for you. Not just trying to complete a transaction to get paid. Their next step is to gather information to determine a realistic timing and achievable selling price for your company. This is the opening challenge, coming to an agreement on these two items. If you can't do this then the exercise will be difficult and possibly not worthwhile for the Intermediary or the Seller. Seller's Job And Intermediary's Job During the transition process, the Seller’s job is to do what they do best, which is to run daily operations continuing to maximize profits. The Intermediary's Job is to prepare the presentation of company financials, corporate story, NDA, marketing materials ie Teaser or introduction document and CIM - Confidential Information Memorandum, market your business, identify, qualify and educate Buyers, and then negotiate the sale. All the while keeping the Seller 'sane' during a very stressful selling and transition process. At some point they may have to talk you down off the ledge. Determining An Achievable Fair Market Value For Your Company As a Seller you want to work with an Intermediary possessing a strong knowledge of current, up to date, market conditions. They will explain the different methodologies as to how businesses are valued in the current marketplace. After reviewing all the pertinent company information, your Intermediary will give you a range for what the market is currently paying for comparable businesses. If necessary they can arrange for a formal business appraisal from an accredited certified business Valuator. Facilitate The Negotiation With The Buyer Selling your business will likely be at least or more emotional than you might expect. Much like selling your home, there is a huge benefit in using an Intermediary to quarterback all aspects of the transaction while keeping both sides calm. The Intermediary will communicate your thinking to the Buyer without the emotion and return the favour by bringing the Buyer's thoughts back to you in a calm factual way. Confidentiality And Discretion Confidentiality outside your business and discretion within is crucial to the success of your relationship. A good Intermediary will be discrete about the sale of your company. Employees will get nervous when they learn your business is for sale. As well customers, competition and outside resources like suppliers and creditors may also react negatively if word gets out you're selling. Your Intermediary will secure the following from a prospective Buyer:
Marketing Your Business A good Intermediary will possess a data base of qualified Buyers and a network of resources to bring additional qualified Buyers to the table. Professional Advisors As well an Intermediary will have a curated list of professionals on their team to fill in the blanks for any required services your team does not have from valuations, legal, accounting, tax, insurance and wealth management to deal structuring and all the other things that can pop up. COULD THIS BE YOUR LEGACY?
In my experience, within the SMB world, some Owners are definitely looking at buying up their competition in order to grow or to eliminate them altogether. It might be that you are a $3-10 million company within a narrow specialty niche. Your competitors could be 3 or 4 players, also with boomer aged owners, all doing the same amount of business as you or a little less and all wanting to get out. Bob is 53 years old and his company has sales of $4 million annually. They have remained at this level for the past 10 years mainly because he and his partner were comfortable, made a good living and didn't need the perceived headaches of running a larger company. So little effort was made to grow the company. He believes his operations skills are superior to his competitors and he could therefore run their businesses better than they could. His partner Joe is 68 years old and wants out. He is not interested in growing. Bob thinks differently, he has another 10 years or more in him and the idea of going out on a high has gotten him re-energized about his own company. So Bob now has the opportunity to fast forward growth by buying out his partner and his competitors. Here are the next steps highlights as we have outlined for Bob to create an Exit Plan that will allow him to retire on a high note. Possibly with greater success than he had ever imagined.
Interested in talking about this kind of legacy for you? Contact Us This is an extremely optimum time frame and would require a very well prepared Seller, highly desirable company, a qualified Buyer and does not include the transition time to ease out of the company post sale. All in count on 3-5 years. Taken from Course 1 Preparing For Your Business Selling Journey part of the online program SellYourBusiness4More.com SELLING YOUR BUSINESS? Ask yourself these 20 questions. Be completely honest. It's a quick score and an easy way to see how a Buyer will perceive your company. Taken from Course 3 Thinking Deeply About The Company. part of the online program SellYourBusiness4More.com Attention Business Buyers: HACK our courses to enhance the transition of your acquisitions from Seller to Buyer. Visit www.syb4m.com
By Eric Gilboord A2E
1. Talk To Other Entrepreneurs. Talk to them about how they started a marketing program. You are not the first person to do this. Others have gone before you and are usually willing to share their experiences. Lessons can be learned and costly mistakes avoided. 2. Don’t Get Overwhelmed. Acquire a basic understanding of marketing to avoid being overwhelmed and to help reduce the fear and anxiety that occur when you enter an unfamiliar area. Read books on marketing and take marketing courses. Become familiar with marketing terminology and activities. Want To Know How To Run And Sell Your Business? Many Sellers have tried to stick to their normal workload and simultaneously run their business while attempting to sell it at the same time. This decision can end in failure or at the very least an exhausting and confusing experience. Click below to watch this 6 minute video lesson. Find out how to make it all work and reduce the stress in this free lesson from the Sell Your Business 4 More online program. |
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