Creating Your Formula For Selling a Small Business

Creating Your Formula For Selling a Small Business

FOCUSING ON THE NUMBERS

USING YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF NUMBERS TO DRIVE YOUR SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS SALE (PART 3 OF 3)

In the first part of this blog series, I made the case that empirical data on your business is a primary tool for overcoming buyer fear and driving a successful formula for selling a small business.  In the second part of the series, I discussed the kinds of information you need to be getting.  Now in the last part we want to talk about what to do with the information.

This could be a huge topic but I’m going to make it very, very easy for you.  Use it to manage your business.  Yes.  Just that.  Use it to manage your business.

What is going to make a buyer want your business before any others?  They’ll want it if you have a nice upward trend of sales and profits.  They will want it if you can show that you know who your customers are and your strategies for getting more of them.  They will want your business if you are consistently improving your operations, becoming more effective, and getting more out of your assets and people.

The numbers, the data you start collecting gives you the ability to work with your team so everyone knows just what is happening. There’s an axiom that says, “What we measure, we accomplish.”  If everyone knows what the key data is and what it represents, it is not a huge step to go to the discussion of what is being done and how that affects the data.  Think of it like being an athlete.  They’re always measuring their performance because it is the only way they know if their work is producing the results they want.

Businesses that have data, understand what the data says about what they are doing, and use the data with their teams to improve performance are highly desirable businesses to buyers.

Do you find this intimidating?  Maybe this kind of process doesn’t come to you naturally?  On the other hand, do you want the successful formula for selling a small business?  Then (as stated in Part 2) look for help and be willing to accept it.  There are all kinds of professionals who specialize in helping businesses make just these types of improvements.  It can make all the difference in getting the successful sale of your business.