Exit Planning as Easy as 1,2,3?

Or it is?

I work with a lot of businesses in various stages of their lifecycle but the area the really interests me is planning and helping business owners exit their business.

In the next 10 years there are going to be 100,000 businesses coming onto the market for sale in NZ. That is a massive number. What people often fail to realise is that over 75% of these businesses will not be sold but will end up being wound down or liquidated.

How do you become one of the 25% that execute the exit strategy?

The key is to start early. This means thinking about it at least 2 years before you want to bring the company to market.

So where does the 1,2,3 come in?

I believe there are three key words that will help you start formulating your exit strategy.

1) What

2) How

3) When

You can expand on the above as much as you wish but it you can answer some of the following questions under each heading then you have started on the right track.

• What you are trying to achieve?
• What are you selling?
• What do you want the business to look like when you sell it?
• What does the business look like now?
• What is the gap?
• How will you close the gap?
• How will you bring your company to market?
• How will you identify potential buyers?
• When do you want to sell?
• When do you want to start your exit strategy?

As you can see in themselves the above questions are easy to read but a lot harder to answer. In the first meeting I have with clients I say that we are going to focus on starting to answer the what, how and when. Most of the time in the first 2 hour period we haven't even got to the bottom of the what let alone started on the how and when.

I have helped business owners spend more time working on as opposed to in their business and spend more time looking at the view.

What do you believe are some of the key questions you think need to be answered when thinking about an exit strategy?

Want an exit strategy planned for your business? Get in touch today and book that free first 2 hour session.

Richard Goodall

Director and Owner

Liberate Business Group - Preparing your business for sale