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Common misconceptions about selling a business

[Editor's Note:  I recently spoke to a group of business owners and CEOs about preparing businesses to maximize the value of the business in a transaction. I was surprised by how many misconceptions the group had about the process. I decided to publish this article again. I hope you find it useful.      -dpm]

I know the buyer - they are in my industry

Many business owners think they already know the prospective buyers - from their industry.  However, in many cases where a sales process is conducted by an investment banker, an "outlier" (either a strategic or financial buyer) surfaces with an offer significantly higher than from those you may know. Many times these come from outside your industry.

The market will be better next year

Procrastination can cost you. Sellers in 1999 or 2007 will tell you that they wished they had sold while the market was hot.

I don't want to sell until I have to (Dismal D's)

You want to sell when your business is healthy and when you don't have to sell. Life can take cruel twists and turns. Business owners without a plan can find themselves subject to the "Dismal D's" - Death, Disability, Divorce, Dissenting Owners, Declining market, Debt overload, or just pure burnout. It is hard work to sell your business. You'll need plenty of energy and motivation to maintain performance during the sales process.

The investment banker or M and A firm will build value.

No they won't - that's not their job! A good investment banker can help you yield value, attract a broader market of potential buyers and get a deal closed, but they don't have the skills or background to build value.  Some small M and A firms will offer services and advice in order to get your transactional business, but these are either very young, inexperienced associates or people who have not really run a business. They are very good at selling your business, but what they don't know can hurt you.

My lawyer (or CPA) (or Wealth Manager) will help me find a buyer

Finding a buyer is very different than finding the best buyer, the right buyer.  Investment bankers do this every day. Most professionals understand what they do well....and what they don't.  Find the right tool for the job!

I met a guy in my CEO peer group / My investors know a banking firm

Selling your business may be your most important business decision. Get help in making an informed decision about selecting an investment banker or other professionals. Learn about possible (but undisclosed) conflicts of interest, differences between firms, level of expertise that will work on your company, etc.  Have you checked with previous clients that were both successful and unsuccessful? Mead Consulting clients use a checklist of questions and we coach them so that they make the appropriate choice and the best fit for their business.

It only takes 6 months to exit a business

Nothing could be further from the truth. In order to realize the maximum value it may take you 1-2 years to prepare the business, 6 -12 months to do the transaction, and then you may have to remain for 3 more years with the company after the sale. Rushing a company to market without proper preparation will cost you as buyers will discount values for companies without an adequate strategic growth plan, strong management, or a clean review of due diligence issues. We call those issues that pop up during due diligence as "gotcha's".

Selling will only take some of my time

The biggest mistake business owners can make is to allow business performance to slip during a sales process. The primary reason for deals to either fall apart - or become heavily discounted - is because of deterioration of revenue and earnings. Business owners can dramatically underestimate the amount of time and energy it will take to both sell the business and maintain performance during the process.

Even if you are not planning to sell soon, the process of maximizing value will lead to a more profitable - and therefore more valuable - business.

The Mead Consulting Group helps business owners navigate through a successful sales process, including preparation, selection of the team (investment bankers, transaction attorneys, tax counsel, etc.), and the sale process itself. We focus on maximizing value and leverage the business owner's and management's time so that they can focus on maintaining business performance. Contact us for more information.

Benefits of a Strategic Business Coach - Someone who has been in your shoes

Benefits of a Strategic Business Coach

(Someone who has been in your shoes)

Over the past few years, I have been asked repeatedly why Mead Consulting Group does not promote the coaching we do with CEOs and business leaders. My response has typically been that the term “Coach” is much overused and “abused.” We have not wanted to be lumped into the bucket of people who bill themselves as business coaches but who have limited or no real life business experience.

For many years, helping company leaders execute and grow as leaders has been a core part of our DNA. Our entire consulting practice is built around helping companies reach the next level – helping them to get results. Leadership, communication, strategic thinking, setting priorities, motivation, team development, alignment, accountability, and personal development are all part of the process. These are developed by close interaction with our client’s leaders. We refer to it as CEO coaching or strategic coaching, but in truth it usually involves the entire senior team.

A recent conversation with a client brought back to mind my personal situation - when I was thrust into the CEO role by the death of the Founder. My best strategic coach was one of the Board members who took me under his wing. I was 27 and he was 73. He had lived quite a life, from growing and selling businesses to failed partnerships, lawsuits, large acquisitions, employee issues. He had forgotten more than most people ever experience. He was an irascible cuss and didn’t suffer any fools. I was able to leverage his failures and successes and his incredible perspective. He helped me achieve my goals, and made sure I was prepared for almost any situation that came my way. He was the person who helped me understand the importance of developing and focusing on strategic plans that can actually be executed.

I saw an article a number of years back that listed some reasons why business leaders could benefit from having an experienced strategic coach. Long ago I turned these into my own list – which I will outline below. It is this same focus that our senior consultants bring to every one of our clients.

Benefits of a Strategic Business Coach

• You gain a needed confidante
• Strategic Business coaches force you outside your comfort zone
• You get personal attention from someone who knows your business.
• You hear the hard truth - that people inside your company won’t share
• You get objective, unbiased opinions
• You learn how to turn your ideas into reality… Or hear why you are chasing too many shiny objects and need to focus
• You are held accountable for getting important things done – focus on strategic issues not what shade of mauve the office furniture will be.
• You get exposed to a huge external network
• You gain confidence in your decisions and actions

If you want more information about how we help CEOs and business leaders continue to grow and accomplish their goals, please contact me.

Strategic Plan Execution: Keys to Making It Happen

 

At an initial strategic planning kick-off session for a client company, the senior vice president of marketing spoke up: "I've been through these strategic planning processes before at other companies. Over the course of three months, our management team spent several days together, we put together a fantastic looking plan, then it sat on the shelf and it was never looked at again."

 I looked the seasoned executive in the eye and offered this challenge: "It's obvious to me that the CEO and management team at those companies may never have been truly committed to executing the strategic plan in the first place."

 "Oh, but we were!" he replied. "We just never converted the great strategic dialogue and consensus into strategic actions. Then we got so buried in our day-to-day duties that we never took the time to focus on executing the plan."

 

A good plan well executed is better than an excellent plan poorly executed.

The point is clear. To receive value for the time and money invested in strategic planning, you must employ a well-defined continuous process, execute strategic actions and routinely update and refresh your plan.

 

Seven key checkpoints

The key to securing this value is a CEO and executive team disciplined enough to ensure that the organization stays focused on plan execution. Value exists in the strategic process of analyzing current strategic direction and determining future strategic focus. However, this value is greatly reduced without commitment and focus to implement the plan.

 

Seven key checkpoints can ensure that you place adequate focus on strategic plan execution during the planning and development process.

 

1. CEO commitment from the outset

The first checkpoint: determine whether the CEO and management team are truly committed not only to developing the strategic plan, but also focusing resources on executing the strategic plan. Commitment to execution is particularly challenging for entrepreneurial-minded CEOs of closely held companies who tend to be very opportunistic. These CEOs often view the strategic plan process as limiting their ability to "jump at good opportunities." In other cases, significant company-based barriers and issues may exist that must be resolved before the CEO and management team can focus on strategic plan development and execution. Regardless, it's critical at the outset that the organization challenge itself to ensure that it is truly committed to strategic plan execution and follow-through.

 

2. Overcome the Barriers to Planning and Execution

Every organization has barriers that are built over time that prevent or limit their success with strategic planning and execution. These barriers include such things as a history of unreasonable objectives and unachievable goals, too many strategies, lack of management depth, lack of delegation and accountability, etc. (See the Mead Group eLetter -  Are Your Strategic Planning Efforts Doomed To Failure Before You Start

 Unless these barriers are overcome BEFORE an organization proceeds, it will be disappointed with the results.

 

3. Fewer, but better-defined strategies

Many CEO's want to take on more than the organization can absorb. Remember, a few key strategies well-executed are better than many initiatives that overwhelm your organization. This is a tough job for the CEO. It's easy to identify many strategies or initiatives that the organization should pursue. It's difficult to prioritize the three or four most important ones and remove the others from the company's plate.

  

 

4. Validate your plans with the market

Just because you decide on a sexy new strategy does not necessarily mean that your company can be successful implementing it. It is important that you understand how customers and prospects perceive your company and that you have an honest appraisal of your strengths, weaknesses, and core competencies. Suppose the strategic planning team at Kmart were to decide to that they needed to adopt a strategy to become a high price/high service retailer like Nordstrom. Do you really think the market would accept that from Kmart?

 

5. Translating strategic direction to strategic action plans

Before preparing to facilitate the strategic planning process, strategic planners often ask CEOs to produce a copy of their most recent strategic plan. Usually, a direct correlation exists between how long it took the CEO to find the document and whether the strategic plan included clearly defined strategic action steps.

Many strategic plans assess the current company situation, market, industry and competitive environment. These plans may also provide a clear strategic framework for the company. However, they often fall short in translating defined strategic direction into strategic actions. Without clear strategic actions that identify who's responsible, deadlines, strategic plan execution and follow-through, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve your goals.

 

6. Implementing a process for strategic plan follow-up and execution

More sophisticated organizations may implement integrated strategic execution processes. For example, the "Balanced Scorecard Approach" builds the strategic plan around key business success drivers. It links measurable corporate and business unit goals and related strategies with the performance management system. And it builds regular plan execution reporting into the process. However, many companies don't have the resources to develop and implement an integrated approach. If you fall into this group, consider the following options:

 

• Hold quarterly planning update sessions to review status against plan.

•  At key manager or board meetings, create a standard agenda item that requires some discussion/review of the strategic plan.

•  Report and update employees on major elements of the strategic plan. A commitment to employee communication will keep execution of strategic initiatives top-of-mind with the management team.

•  Assign a key member of the planning team to help the CEO keep execution of strategic initiatives foremost on the management team's "to do list."

• Create opportunities through strategic assessment tools that force the organization to periodically review results and performance against key strategic objectives (e.g., benchmarking, customer satisfaction surveys, etc.).

 7. Allow sufficient time for the process

Successful companies begin the process in June and July for the January 1^st new fiscal year. It takes time to overcome barriers to success, identify the best key strategies, develop clear and detailed action plans, assign accountability, gain organization buy-in, and integrate into next year's budget and business plan. However, some companies can compress the schedule and conduct the process in the fall. It's better to start a bit later than not to do anything.

 

A valuable asset to any organization

A continual strategic planning process can be tremendously valuable to any organization. However, its ultimate value is significantly reduced if there's a lack of commitment and focus on implementing the plan. Make certain that you can execute your plans in order to get the real benefits.   

Contact us at Mead Consulting for more information.

Prepare your company to be bought

Editor's Note: Over the last three years, several of our clients received unexpected offers to sell their businesses. Because they were prepared, they held the line and the prospective acquirers significantly bid up the offers to a range that the owners decided they could not refuse. Two of them closed in 60 days. Two companies decided to run a competitive process and generated exceptional interest from additional buyers. This is still a sellers' market. Well-prepared companies are receiving very high selling prices.

Many business owners fail to prepare their businesses for a sale either because they believe that a potential sale is far off in the future or because they are focused on current issues and do not consider preparation to be a priority. We would submit that companies need to be "prepared to be bought." Sometimes lucrative offers come unexpectedly for companies that are well-positioned. We typically recommend that a company engage an experienced investment banker to assist them in a sale - often even if they have received an offer - in order to generate a competitive environment.

Some business owners who have tried to "time the market" at some point off in the future have found that unpredictable events such as the 2007-2012 recession, credit and stock market crunches, tech bust(s), 9/11, industry issues, etc. can derail their ability to sell at maximum value. We recommend to our clients to work each year to make certain that their companies are currently desirable to buyers.      - dpm]

How best to position a company to be attractive to buyers:

1.   Demonstrate Strong Financial Performance

 

   a. Historical FinancialsConsistent revenue growth (at least upward trend)

• Recurring revenue is a plus
• Strong operating margins
• Increasing profitability
• Importance of last twelve months

  b. Operating Cash Flow

• Focus on hitting projected revenue and earnings numbers
• Review net profitability of customers and products

 2.    Maintain "clean" financials

  a. Audited or "auditable" Financial Statements

• Have your financial statements audited with a reputable firm to add credibility
• Use GAAP accounting. If not, identify how practices differ from GAAP
• Understand cash vs. accrual accounting - timing differences can be material

   b. Income Statement Adjustments and "Add-backs"

• Buyers are skeptical of earnings that rely on substantial add-backs (one-time, non-recurring charges, private company expenses, etc.)

 3.    Diversify your customer & supplier base

• Diversification signifies a healthy business and reduces risk
• Buyers will pay less for companies dominated by one or two customers
• Examine what % of sales your top 10 customers represent?
• How stable are your top suppliers? How stable are their terms?
• Do you have multiple suppliers for critical components/services?
• What % of total purchases does your top supplier represent? Top-5 combined?
• What % of the company's sales are related to a few key employees?

4.    Develop a Strategic Growth Plan

• Maintain a clear strategy and be able to demonstrate your history of execution
• Be able to articulate specific future growth opportunities
• Position your company to take advantage of them

 5.    Build a capable Management Team

• Invest in training and key strategic hires, if needed
• Motivate management to add value to the company through a potential sale
• Focus on building a deep management team that can thrive without your continued leadership

 6.    Eliminate potential "Gotchas"(these are items that could result in significant discounts to value)

• Maintain legal documentation (licenses, regulatory filings, contracts, intellectual property, incorporation, etc.)
• Clear title to all assets
• Document processes and procedures
• Resolve legal disputes

 7.    Build a team of Qualified Advisors 

• Minimize distractions from running your business effectively
• Get advice from professionals who have expertise in areas you do not and have done it before
• Beware of advisors that outstep their areas of expertise 

Are you and your company ready if a buyer appeared on the radar?

Most business owners who have executed a successful sale of their business will tell you the most important thing is: BE PREPARED.

Selling a business is very different than operating a business. As a business owner you know your industry, your product or service, your customers and your markets. Most business owners will only sell a business once in their lifetimes - and it can be by far the most important financial transaction of their lifetime.

 

The Mead Consulting Group  has been helping clients develop and execute Strategic Growth& Execution plans for many years. We focus on helping companies "prepare to be bought." Check out our website for descriptions of some client success stories.

 

If you would like to discuss how we might help your company begin the process, please contact us for a free consultation.

 

 What are your thoughts? Is your company as prepared as it should be?

Abundance vs. Scarcity Mindset. Which do you have?

Editor's Note: What kind of Leader or Team Member are you? In many cases it comes down to whether you have an "abundance" or "scarcity" mindset.  I thought these two graphics might be good for each of us to ponder.  -dpm]

Abundance vs. Scarcity Mindset. Which do you have?

Collaborator or "Smartest person in the room"; Embrace Change  or Fear Change; Seek the credit or Share the credit; Horde information or Share information. Whether you are building a team or a company, which traits/attributes do you want in yourself and others? The best organizations do not tolerate "scarcity mindsets" - they sap the energy and votality out of an oranization.

Individuals and Team Members

Leaders

What are your thoughts? 

The Need for Focus

Over the years we have found that the strategic planning processes for companies in the middle market vary widely and some are counterproductive. There are some common issues that are listed in this article. Do you recognize any of them? 

Too many strategies and initiatives

Often we see plans that have numerous strategies and initiatives. In one $60M revenue company, there were 17 major initiatives and strategies - so many that all of them couldn't be listed on an 11x14 sheet. When we asked the senior managers to list the top 3 priorities, we got a different answer from each of the managers. An organization can't tackle that many priorities at once. Not surprisingly, this organization had a history of not completing projects. 

Shiny Rocks - moving quickly from one idea to another                              

Sometimes the CEO has one great idea after another and overwhelms the team by abandoning one strategy or initiative to move to another. In these companies, strategies are never fully executed. There becomes a tendency for employees to just duck their heads down and wait for the current "new project" to blow over. There is little commitment to the "strategy du jour." These companies have flurries of activity, yet few accomplishments.  

No "what we are not going to do now" list

As important to narrow the focus of a company's strategic priorities, it is important to develop of list of things that the organization won't do. This is the most difficult task for companies. No one wants to move worthy projects or initiatives to this list. However, if an organization is to accomplish the top priorities, the others must be tabled - at least for the current cycle.  

No agreement on the priorities  

In some organizations, the plans are developed but there is no agreement among key functions and managers about the priorities. These organizations fail to mobilize to necessary resources to execute well.

Developing strategies that the organization cannot execute well

Many organizations develop strategies that either the market won't accept, or that the company does not have - nor can get - the resources or talent required to execute. I tell a story (somewhat tongue in cheek) about a mythical meeting at Kmart where some manager recommends a strategy to emulate the Nordstrom model. No matter how much money is spent, there is no way the market will accept Kmart adopting a Nordstrom model.

The Power of three 

We believe that for lower middle market companies, there should be no more than three major strategies undertaken in a planning cycle. When companies execute two of these strategies +well, they will be very successful.

The Mead Consulting Group has been helping clients develop and execute Strategic Growth& Execution plans for many years. Check out our website for descriptions of some client success stories.

If you would like to discuss how we might help your company begin the process of adding value and moving your company to the next level of performance, please contact us for a free consultation.

 What are your thoughts? Is your company as focused as it should be?