Prepare Your Business For Your Ultimate Customer

Most business entrepreneurs would rather be in the drivers
seat than to be driven. Yet, surprisingly enough, many
business owners put little effort into planning to sell
to their biggest and ultimate customer... the person
(or company) that buys their business.

I've seen genuine hardworking people struggle and persevere
to build up a successful business, only to watch them fail
to reap their deserved rewards when they come to cash-out.
They don't know what to do, or where to go. They lack the
required skills to present their business effectively to
potential buyers. The end result; they get stressed-out
and bitterly disappointed with the outcome.

Don't fall into the same trap. The day will come when you
want to (or have to) sell your business and cash-out.
That might not be in the near future, but now is
the time to start planning for your ultimate sale.

Self-made millionaire entrepreneur Mal Emery, has bought,
developed and sold 14 businesses. Mal had this to say:

"Before I even consider buying a business, I must be able
to visualise or articulate a clear and concise picture of
what that business will look like when I sell out.

You see, I design all my businesses to sell. I call the
buyer of my business, my ultimate customer... the one who
puts me out of business."

Even if you are many years away from selling, it still pays
to plan an exit strategy, because that time will eventually
come. What would happen if you died unexpectedly?

If you haven’t got a workable exit strategy in place, your
heirs may have no choice but to place the business with
an agent and say "get what you can for it." The assets may
be liquidated and sold off piecemeal, getting virtually
nothing for the goodwill you’ve built up over the course
of many years.

Plan for the big change well before the signs of burn-out,
boredom or apathy start to show in your balance sheet.
A decline in the financial results will, more than likely,
scare buyers (and their lenders) away. You could get less
for your business than what it’s really worth.

You’ll have more chance of coming out on top, both
financially and personally, if you make an effort to
understand the steps to selling. You need to spend
time on careful planning, so that when you’re ready,
you can take the time to negotiate a price and terms
that will satisfy your reasons for selling.