10 Ways to Make Your Business More Valuable Than Your Industry Peers

There are many benefits to being the authority in your industry sector: both employees and customers tend to congregate with the market leader, price leadership impacts profit and can deter competitors, along with competitive advantage benefits that impact revenue, sales, and reputation.

If your goal is to have your business recognised as a leader in your industry sector, consider working on the following areas.

1.    Recurring revenue

The more revenue you have from automatically recurring contracts or subscriptions the more valuable your business will be to a buyer.

2.    Something different

Companies with a unique product or service that is difficult for a competitor to knock off, are more valuable than a company that sells the same commodity as everyone else in their industry.

3.    Growth

Acquirers looking to fuel their top line revenue growth through acquisition will pay a premium for a business if it is growing much faster than your industry overall.

4.    Cache

Tired old companies often try to buy sex appeal through the acquisition of a trendy young company in their industry.

5.    Location

If you have a great location with natural physical characteristics that are difficult to replicate, you'll have buyers who understand your industry, interested in your location as well as your business.

6.    Diversity

Ensure no customer amounts to more than 10% of your revenue and your company will be more valuable than an industry peer with just a few big customers.

7.    Predictability

If you've mastered a way to win customers and documented your sales funnel with a predictable set of conversion rates, your secret customer-acquiring formula will make your business more valuable to the acquirer.

8.    Clean Books

Companies that invest in audited statements have financials that are generally viewed by acquirers as more trustworthy and therefore worth more.

9.    A 2IC

Companies with a second in command who has agreed to stay on post sale are more valuable than businesses where all the power and knowledge is in the hands of the owner.

10. Happy Customers

Being able to objectively demonstrate that your customers are happy and intend to re-purchase in the future will make your business more valuable.

In addition to the operating benefits of industry leadership, that final big payment, the sale of your business will be typically enhanced, both in the level of offer and the number of offers to be considered.