Republished with permission from Built to Sell Inc.

Whether you’re planning to sell your company sometime soon or sometime in the future; now is the time to ensure that your business isn’t all about you. From the latest Sellability Score* research involving 2300 companies from around the globe, here are two key factors that are linked to the probability of getting an offer for your business when it’s time to sell.

Photo by: Tom Martin licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

#1: You’re almost twice as likely to get an offer if your business can survive the “hit-by-a-bus” test.

If you were out of action for three months and unable to work, would your business keep running smoothly? The more your staff and customers need you, the less valuable your company will be to a potential acquirer. One good way to start making your business more independent is to begin spending less time at the office.  Start by not working evenings or weekends, and don’t reply if employees call. Once they get the picture, the best ones will start making more decisions independently. The shift will also expose your weakest employees, the ones that need training or that need to find another job. As for you, it might come as a shock to find out how much your business has become such an essential part of you; but if you’re going to sell your business one day, you need to look at it as an inanimate economic engine, not as something that defines who you are.

#2: Companies with a management team (as opposed to a sole manager) are getting offers at almost twice the rate.

If you don’t have a management team, hiring a 2iC is a good first move. A second-in-command can help you balance the demands of running your company and advance your targeted exit time.

Here’s a four-step plan for hiring a 2iC, thanks to advice from Silicon-Valley-based Bob Sutton, author of Good Boss, Bad Boss. 

1: Identify someone internally. “The research is clear,” says Sutton. “Unless things are totally screwed up, internal candidates have a strong tendency to outperform external leaders.”

2: Give your 2iC prospect(s) a special project, one that allows them to demonstrate their leadership skills to you and the rest of your team. If your candidate or one of your candidates excels, it will be clear to your team why he or she was selected.

3: Communicate your choice. If you pick a 2iC from an internal pool, explain your choice to the rest of your team. At the same time, wrap your arms around those you passed over and make it clear how much you value their contribution.

4: Shift from manager to coach. “The transition from manager to coach is a gradual evolution where the goal is to ask more questions, spend more time listening, and spend less time talking and directing,” says Sutton.

*The Sellability Score is a cloud-based software tool that allows a business owner to assess the “sellability” of their company. The researchers at The Sellability Score analyze the data from 2300 companies in a variety of countries to understand trends in the business market, with a special focus on the liquidity of privately held businesses.

Why not find out now if your business is sellable?

This free online tool is the only no-risk step you can take to determine if your business is ready to get full value. Fast-track your analysis by taking advantage of this free, no-obligation free online tool.

This Sellability Score you instantly receive is a critical component to any business owner’s complete financial plan and is something that, until now, we have only made available to existing clients.

However, we recognized that there is value in knowing in advance of working with a financial planner whether or not your largest asset is ready to be exchanged for your retirement nest egg. Our view is that you are better to learn more about your businesses sellability today and find out how your business scores on the eight key attributes so that you can ensure you obtain full value.

If your business part of your retirement plan, finding out your sellability score will be the best 10 min. you could ever spend working “on” your business.

Take the Quiz here: The Business Sellability Audit

For more free information on Creating A Business Owner’s Dream Financial Plan, you can listen to a free, eight part series we did exclusively for business owners. The show is also available to subscribe to for free via iTunes.

Republished with permission from Built to Sell Inc.

You may be eager to sell your business, and happy to have an acquirer at your doorstep, but what’s it like when an acquirer starts looking inside every corner of your business?

Most professional acquirers will have a checklist of questions – both objective and subjective – that they need answered before getting serious about buying your company.

Examples of objective questions include:

• When does your lease expire and what are the terms?
• Do you have consistent, signed, up-to-date contracts with your customers and employees?
• Are your ideas, products and processes protected by patent or trademark?
• What kind of technology do you use, and are your software licenses up to date?
• What are the loan covenants on your credit agreements?
• How are your receivables? Do you have any late payers or deadbeat customers?
• Does your business require a license to operate, and if so, is your paperwork in order?
• Do you have any litigation pending?

Then they’ll try to get a subjective sense of your business, including figuring out just how integral you are personally to the success of your business. And that requires some investigative work as well as some tricks of the trade. For example:

Trick #1: Making last-minute changes

By asking to make a last-minute change to your meeting time, an acquirer gets clues as to how involved you are personally in serving customers. If you can’t accommodate the change request, the acquirer may probe to find out why and try to determine what part of the business is so dependent on you that you have to be there.

Trick #2: Checking to see if your business is vision impaired

An acquirer may ask you to explain your vision for the business, which is a question you should be well prepared to answer. However, he or she may ask the same question of your employees and key managers. If your staff members offer inconsistent answers, the acquirer may take it as a sign that the future of the business is in your head.

Trick #3: Asking your customers why they do business with you

A potential acquirer may ask to talk to some of your customers. He or she will expect you to select your most passionate and loyal customers and will therefore expect to hear good things. The customers may be asked a question like “Why do you do business with these guys?” The acquirer is trying to figure out where your customers’ loyalties lie. If your customers answer by describing the benefits of your product, service or company in general, that’s good. If they respond by explaining how much they like you personally, that’s bad.

Trick #4: Mystery shopping

Acquirers often conduct their first bit of research before you even know they are interested in buying your business. They may pose as a customer, visit your website, or come into your company to understand what it feels like to be one of your customers.

Make sure the experience your company offers a stranger is tight and consistent, and try to avoid being personally involved in finding or serving brand new customers. If a potential acquirer sees you personally as the key to wooing new customers, they’ll be concerned that business will dry up when you leave.

You may not be expecting an acquirer any time soon, but it’s never too early to ask yourself the questions an acquirer would be asking you – and your employees and customers – if he or she was thinking of buying your business.

Why not find out now if your business is sellable?

This free online tool is the only no-risk step you can take to determine if your business is ready to get full value. Fast-track your analysis by taking advantage of this free, no-obligation free online tool.

This Sellability Score you instantly receive is a critical component to any business owner’s complete financial plan and is something that, until now, we have only made available to existing clients.

However, we recognized that there is value in knowing in advance of working with a financial planner whether or not your largest asset is ready to be exchanged for your retirement nest egg. Our view is that you are better to learn more about your businesses sellability today and find out how your business scores on the eight key attributes so that you can ensure you obtain full value.

If your business part of your retirement plan, finding out your sellability score will be the best 10 min. you could ever spend working “on” your business.

Take the Quiz here: The Business Sellability Audit

For more free information on Creating A Business Owner’s Dream Financial Plan, you can listen to a free, eight part series we did exclusively for business owners. The show is also available to subscribe to for free via iTunes.

Republished with permission from Built to Sell Inc.

Photo by: Footage Firm, Inc.

One of the most intimidating aspects of selling your business can be facing the barrage of questions during the various management presentations you’ll be doing for potential acquirers. Be prepared to be grilled on all facets of your operations.

Of course every meeting will be different, but here are some questions you can expect to be asked when you’re in the hot seat:

1. Why do you want to sell your business?

It’s a slippery question because if your business truly does have a bright future—and you want the buyer to believe that’s the case—the obvious question is:  “Why do you want to sell it, and why do you want to sell it now?”

2. What is your cost per new customer acquired?

The potential acquirer wants to find out if you have a predictable, economical and scalable formula for finding new customers.

3. What is your market penetration rate?

The acquirer, with an eye to future growth, is trying to understand how big the potential market is for your product or service and what part of the field remains to be harvested.

4. Who are the critical members of your team?

The acquirer wants to understand the breadth and depth of your team and determine specifically which members need to be motivated and retained post-purchase.

5. Who buys what you sell?

Strategic buyers will be searching for any possible synergies between what you sell and what they sell. The more you know about your customer demographics, the better the buyer will be able to assess the strategic fit. If your customers are other businesses, a buyer will want to know what functional role (e.g., training manager, VP of sales and marketing) buys your product or service.

6. How do you make what you sell?

This question is asked in an effort to size up the uniqueness of your formula for creating your product or service. Potential buyers want to know if you have any proprietary systems that would be hard for a competitor to replicate. For various reasons, they will also want to understand if the creation of your product or service is dependent on any one person.

7. What makes your product truly unique?

A buyer is trying to understand how big the moat is around your business and what kind of protection it offers from competitors who may decide to compete with you in the future. What have you done to safeguard yourself against the competition?

8. Can you describe your back-office setup?

Most buyers will try to understand how easily they can integrate your back office into their operation. They’ll want to know what bookkeeping and billing software you use, how customers pay, and how you pay suppliers.

Of course this is not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good start when you’re preparing to represent your company to your potential buyers.

Why not find out now if your business is sellable?

This free online tool is the only no-risk step you can take to determine if your business is ready to get full value. Fast-track your analysis by taking advantage of this free, no-obligation free online tool.

This Sellability Score you instantly receive is a critical component to any business owner’s complete financial plan and is something that, until now, we have only made available to existing clients.

However, we recognized that there is value in knowing in advance of working with a financial planner whether or not your largest asset is ready to be exchanged for your retirement nest egg. Our view is that you are better to learn more about your businesses sellability today and find out how your business scores on the eight key attributes so that you can ensure you obtain full value.

If your business part of your retirement plan, finding out your sellability score will be the best 10 min. you could ever spend working “on” your business.

Take the Quiz here: The Business Sellability Audit

For more free information on Creating A Business Owner’s Dream Financial Plan, you can listen to a free, eight part series we did exclusively for business owners. The show is also available to subscribe to for free via iTunes.