Value Engineering Series: Selling your company at a premium- Part 6- Grow Personally First Before Asking Others to Grow.

The articles presented here are adapted from my recent book, Value Engineering: Strategies to 10X the Value of Your Clinic & Dominate the Market. Even though these articles focus on healthcare company owners, the principles apply to all types of businesses looking to increase value and have a premium exit.

Part 6: Grow Personally First Before Asking Others to Grow

In 1999, I woke up one morning with a heart rate of 220+ beats/minute and was rushed to the hospital by my wife and parents. After trying all sorts of medications, the emergency room physician told me the only way to get my heart to stop beating so fast was to put me to sleep and shock my heart. The procedure is called a Cardioversion. Thankfully, I came out of it okay.

What happened over the next few months was very painful. It was not related to my physical health but my business. At the time, I owned a considerable sized, single location dental practice with 57 employees. The month before my health incident, my practice had topped $500K in monthly gross revenue. After I left the hospital, I decided to step back from my everyday stressful work and hire a so-called professional and an experienced manager. Within a month, practice income dropped below $200K, and within three months, we were struggling to pay our bills. The situation worsened as employees were quitting left and right, and my so-called successful enterprise became chaotic. Receptionists were embezzling our practice by stealing cash, destroying charts, and writing off balances. My Dentists were sleeping with our dental assistants. It was a mess.

This painful experience was the best thing that ever happened to me, which forced me to grow personally, and this story leads me into this chapter.?

As my leadership guru and mentor Dr. John Maxwell says, "The people on your team determine the potential of a company. "However, to have a team that can match our lofty dreams, we must first become a fully developed leader. Without maturing in leadership, it will be almost impossible to grow others within our leadership circle.

My health incident made me realize that I had no formal leadership training. I was born with some natural talents, but it was never enough to navigate my followers to a sustainable business that could operate without my presence. My intentional absence from the company and leaving it at the hands of a moderately qualified individual showed me how ill-prepared my business was without me at the helm.?

Ongoing study of leadership is a crucial component of growing and scaling any size company. It does not matter whether this is your first business or you have already a significant market presence.

It is one of the key areas in helping my clients transform their business from a family-owned and family-dependent business to a professionally operated company that can survive in the absence of a key stakeholder. As the company's top management mature in their leadership skills, the quality of those recruited improves, which, in turn, helps the company grow exponentially. However, studying leadership is not an event, such as attending a weekend seminar or reading a few books on the subject. Creating leaders is a process that takes time.

Investors are willing to pay more for a company that can show a stable and experienced leadership- management team and develops future leaders. A well- documented leadership training and development is essential to a company's growth and scores high on investor's check-list when it comes down to making an offer.?

Frequently Asked Questions From Previous Prospects or Clients?

Q. I don't understand how improving my leadership skills makes my business more valuable. Besides, I am not planning to stay long after I sell my business. Can you explain more?

A. Surely. First of all, you should not look at improving your leadership skills as a specific event but embrace it as a personal growth opportunity. Professional investors can judge an organization within minutes of interviewing employees as to whether or not a professional level of leadership is present. They will look for clues such as level of employee engagement, job ownership, communication mastery, listening skills, and resourcefulness. Additionally, you may change your mind in selling your business and walking away once you hone your leadership skills. Instead, you may decide to develop other leaders who can further expand your business without much of your daily operations involvement.

Q. Do I need to pay for the training of my employees? What if they leave?

A. This concern is a widespread objection I hear from many business owners. They are worried about investing in their employees because someday they may leave. I remember reading a quote where a CFO of a company asked the CEO the same question. "What if we spend the money on training our people and they leave?" The CEO answered, "Would you rather have untrained people stay with our company and expect our company to grow?" The fact you are asking this question tells me you lack the necessary leadership skills as these questions stem from personal insecurities of those new to leadership. Research and surveys have shown that consistently training and coaching employees encourages them become more engaged and they tend to stay loyal to their leadership team.

Q. I am a medical director of a multi-specialty physician group, and I often have conflicts with other physicians as they are challenging to lead; how can I get them to see from my point of view so we are all more aligned?

A. I think before you can lead others, you must make sure you can lead yourself first. Sometimes leading ourselves is more complicated than leading others. However, it is fundamental to any sustainable leadership. As leaders, we have blind spots that make us think others we want to lead are the problem. This thinking could stem from our insecurities, ego, or a weak character. Again, the intentional study of leadership is mandatory for any company that wants to grow and increase its market valuation.

Q. I have already achieved successful results with my dental group, and we currently have nearly 120 employees, and this year our revenue will top $18M in sales. Why should I focus on enhancing my leadership skills?

A. Congratulations, you certainly have achieved superior results, and it is worth celebrating. However, growing your company to a $50M or $100M revenue requires a different skillset. If you plan to grow your company, you must continue to grow as a leader.?

Dr. Nazeri has over 30 years of experience as a healthcare entrepreneur worldwide. He has been actively consulting leadership teams of some of the largest privately held and publicly listed companies on strategic growth and preparing them for an eventual successful exit. Dr. Allen has a Dental Degree from Creighton University and earned his MBA in M&A and Investment Banking from the University of Bedfordshire. He is the author of Value Engineering: Strategies to 10X the Value of Your Clinic and Dominate the Market!?Dr. Allen offers a Free Valuation to company owners who are ready for a partial or a complete exit.?You may contact him via [email protected]

This article is based on the author's professional opinion. American Healthcare Capital team of M&A advisors and management team, may or may not share the same opinion as the author.