Over the next 5-10 years, about 4.5 million businesses owned by baby-boomers will be put on the market. Around 80% of those businesses will not sell. So, there is an urgent need to get your business in top shape if you want it to be in the 20% of businesses that will actually sell. Just as important, as much as 80% or more of a business owner’s net worth is tied up in the business. If that business is not transferrable, retirement plans for your “next act” will be affected tremendously. This is why exit planning and value enhancement are critical. Here are just a few of the benefits of our methodology:
- Control HOW and WHEN you transition your business
- Maximize the value of the business, in good OR bad times
- Keep more of what you get rather than pay it to Uncle Sam
- Shorten due diligence and documentation periods
- Have better control over confidentiality
- Have multiple strategic options to choose from
- Know your future is secure
Our process involves thorough diagnostics on several levels. We start with a true valuation process conducted by our credentialed valuation professionals. This will offer a realistic picture of your company’s value from a buyer’s perspective. Next, we conduct assessments in two distinct areas: attractiveness and readiness. A business will not be successfully transitioned without both of these being considered. These diagnostics solidly benchmark your starting point.
At this point, we are poised to create your Value-driven Business. We move into strategic and tactical planning, conducting full-day clarity and consensus-building sessions with you and your key lieutenants. Success only comes when your key team members are involved in the process.
Of the many reasons business transitions derail, maybe the most common is what we call Expectation Gaps. These are blind spots and pot holes that, once discovered, prevent a business owner from confidently executing their plan. When the full team has clarity and agreement around the Expectation Gaps, momentum drives us to the next phase. We identify and prioritize Enhancement Initiatives: facilitated 90-day sprints in various areas that directly increase the value of your business. We increase the likelihood of success by implementing together, working closely with you and your key people to achieve desired results.
By focusing on increase in value, we expand your choices. Those who decide to keep their business find that the Enhancements that increase value likewise improve workplace dynamics and drive cash flow (who said you can’t have both?). For those owners who choose to transition the business internally, the Enhancements stabilize the company to thrive financially during and after the transition. For those owners who choose to transition the business to a third-party buyer, you now have a business that will demand a higher price because the Enhancements have made it easily transferable.
Through our process, Beacon Exit Advisors reminds you that you have the choice to gear up or back away. If the choice is to move forward for sale, our model helps you navigate choices around internal versus external, the whole company or in part. It helps ensure that you sell at the prime time and for the highest value. Many of our clients have told us that our process helped them move from a foggy fear of the unknown to a healthy sense of clarity. They have found that the relationship itself gives them a place to think.
We help closely-held businesses advance through the stages of business with Our Engagements including:
