How can you make positive you will be thinking clearly concerning your goals for selling your company? Are you being detailed enough, considering all the angles and stakeholders for this momentous transaction? What have you been striving for this laborious after all these years for? Is it just about the cash? You know that is a simple answer, and it is not true. Looking at the reasons right becomes the inspiration for a successful sales process.
What do you invision as the foremost important outcome for you, your business, your family, your workers, and other stakeholders? As we have said many times to several business owners, your business is more than a source of income; it is a honor badge of identity, pride, purpose and relationships. Creating a leap to something new is daunting, especially if you haven’t taken the time to outline it. Who is not afraid of jumping into a fog?
Take that time, and have others part of discussion. Who can facilitate you figure out your exit strategy, that is to include designing your life post the sale? Bring in specialists, also in addition include people who each know you well, and have a surplus of experiences and perspectives. If the individual is just the same as you, it can be like talking to yourself!
Thinking about it solely financially is limiting yourself and the opportunity before you. Would you want to sell a portion of your business or all of it? Is it vital to cash out immediately, or would you consider keeping a portion of the investment within the newly sold company? Should you not retire or is it time you go, as the song says? If you stay, what role would you set forth for yourself? Would you wish to retain management and finance growth through recapitalization? Do you want to leave, and if so, within what timeframe?
Continuing on with the business, as an example, may be an attractive alternative financially and psychologically. Are you interested by a transitional consulting contract, staying on the board, or running the company as a division of a larger buyer for some years? Do you need a complete break from your company, or simply a sabbatical?
Do you expect to pursue another business chance, or are you departing the world of commerce entirely to reengage your expertise, time, and talent with a new approach with new thought, perhaps with a nonprofit or family foundation?
To sell a corporation is to sell a life’s work. Now what work can you do? Golf will get old fast. We have frequently seen that involvement of charities will replace the void, but typically it is not done strategically. Once the community realizes your talent is out there, many offers may come across the transom. It will be straightforward to refill your day, however is it scheduled in the manner you would like it to?
Take into account the larger and more holistic picture: the simplest-case picture of your future—work, family, activities, charities, adventures, religious and community commitment—after the sale. Run the numbers and confirm what money you will need to have it happen.
Whereas many business owners don’t realize it at first, these goals and objectives for the sale can influence the method to sell a business and conjointly the patrons to market. Verify how you outline success, and how selling a business will get you there.
I invite you to use these ideas to create goals for your exit strategy.
Marian Cook is a highly sought after business transition expert and speaker with over 25 years experience helping business owners design their best-life exit strategy, and improve their business performance and valuation. She is the co-author of “Selling Your Business For More: Maximizing Returns For You, Your Family and Your Business” (published by Macmillan). If you are ready to sell a business and jump-start your business sale process, connect with Marian via her free tips, articles, checklists and blog at Business Transition Experts.