Your business reflects years of hard work and dedication. Now, you owe it to yourself to create a strategic succession strategy that aligns with your vision and goals for the future. Whether you’re handing over the reins to a family member or transferring it to a trusted partner, we can help you preserve your legacy and safeguard your desires for the next generation.

Exit planning is good business strategy. In a 2016 survey that was executed by the EPI (Exit planning institute) it was found that 40% of surveyed business owners want to sell their business in the next 5 years. Covid surely also added the pressure and desire to sell business.
It makes sense too! On average, 80-90% of owners wealth is tied up in the business. As a business owner and entrepreneur, your hard work in building this valuable asset should pay off at some point.

Either capitalizing off that value or leaving it to whoever you choose in order to continue the legacy. And yet only 79% of those surveyed have any sort of written transaction plan at all! On top of that, 70-90% of private businesses put out for sale don't sell! Most business owners have what is called a lifestyle business and not a value-based business. Which means that the business is highly dependent on the owner! The key is building a value-based business that is independent of the owner. Most businesses have just not done that.

This is just one reason of many why proper Exit planning is more important than ever.

Similar to when you started your business, there is a lot of opportunity that can be capitalized on here. Like other parts of the business making an intentional effort to understand the pieces of the business that add value, like the 4 intangible capitals, or protecting against the 5 Ds of unintentional transition can quickly increase what a potential buyer would pay for your business. Most business owners are leaving a large amount of cash on the table because they are not prioritizing increasing the right things.

By making an effort and focus on the enterprise value and not just income generation, a business owner will increase the potential value they would get from their exit than if they did not focus on the value. There is a lot of money on the table waiting to be picked up if you are willing to make the investment into increasing the value. The difference between what you want and what you will actually get is what we call the Value Gap.

This is one of the 3 Gaps we focus on in exit planning.

Our Exit planning process can help you find the additional value you are looking for. We use the Value Acceleration Methodology(R) to not only increase the value of your business but also help to balance your personal and financial value, so you can have the legacy and transition you desire.

The first step in the methodology is to have an Enterprise Value Assessment done. This will give a good indication of what a potential buyer would pay for the business as well as identify the 3 Gaps and other valuable information for what should be focused on in order to increase value.
The second step in the methodology is to prepare the business. This is where the value is increased and the business itself is worked on. A master plan is broken down, implemented, and iterated on in order to prepare the business and owner for a decision to Grow or Sell.

The final step is a pretty straightforward one and that is you the business owner deciding to either sell or continue to grow the business. This is not an easy choice, but by implementing the second step and repeating it as necessary we help lead you through this decision-making process on your own terms.

Exit planning is good business planning because it is an intentional and conscious decision to increase the value of the business you worked so hard to create, so you get what you want from it and not just settle on what you get.

Are you wondering whether now is the right time to sell your business, or what the stages of an effective succession plan actually include? We can help answer these questions and more, including:

• What are the three stages of succession planning?
  • They are discover, Prepare, and Decide. Discover is where you do a Enterprise Value Assessment to learn about your business and identify the 3 Gaps. Prepare is where you begin to work on your business to prepare it to sell by implementing 90 day “sprints” of actionable items intended to increase value. Decide is where the business owner decides if they want to continue working on increasing the value of the company or if they want to sell.Which options should I consider when planning for business ownership succession?
• Which options should I consider when planning for business ownership succession?
  • There are many options that can be considered for how you actually transition your business, but the more important part is to be very clear about why you are selling and what you want out of it. Then how it is done can be very flexible.How do I know how much my business is worth?
    
• How can you ensure that my succession plan aligns with my personal objectives?
  • In the Discover phase of the process, one of the things we go over is the personal side. Because as a business owner, the business is very personal! So part of discovery is to figure out what you are looking forward to in life after the business because that is what you will be doing! So a successful exit strategy HAS to align with your personal objective or in our opinion it is not successful.When is the right time to transfer or sell my business?
    
• How do I know how much my business is worth?
  • By doing an Enterprise value assessment, which we can help with!
• Will my succession plan reflect my business goals?
  • If you do exit planning intentionally, then yes it will. Unfortunately, that is the difference between an unintentional and an exit plan. If you have no choice but to sell, then most likely succession will not be aligned with your goals of the business.
• When is the right time to transfer or sell my business?
  • As soon as you and the exit plan are aligned.
• What happens if my partner unexpectedly exits the business?
  • This is a risk that needs to be covered. We call those risks the 5 Ds because it could trigger an unintentional exit. So how you avoid that is good protection around the business, so you are not subject to an unintentional exit.