Transitioning from your business

Every business owner will sooner or later have to transition from their business. The question is how and when.

Exploring business transition options
Every business owner (or owners) will at some stage want to explore what options are available. The earlier in the lifecycle of the business that is, the more options will present themselves. Business owners that leave this too late may sacrifice opportunities. If there is time to “prepare” the business for sale, then the transition process can be more strategic.

Ideally, business owners should have a conversation about transitioning early. Even if it does not immediately lead towards the next steps in the transition process, it does start to formulate thinking towards a strategy and that may alter the course of your business planning.

Pursuing an option
You may already have had someone who expressed interest in buying your business – they might be a customer, supplier, existing contact, one of your fellow owners or an employee. There may even be an offer on the table or it could be that the important part(s) of the negotiation is yet to be had.

The fact that you already have an option should not close other opportunities, in particular presenting the business in a way that increases the value or even going to market to encourage competition. I can provide market-based experience that provides the necessary support that is required at this stage of the transaction.

Executing the deal
Here you’re best to have an experienced person on your team that understands the legal and financial aspects of the complete negotiating environment and someone that has the experience and confidence to present your business to its full value during the negotiating process.

There are usually a series of well-defined steps that lead to ultimate success. The emphasis on each of these steps varies from case to case. My experience in completing many and varied business sales negotiations guides me in how to strategically execute each of these steps in order to achieve the best value for the transaction.