What's it worth?

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder….this piece of art by Robert Ryman sold for over $20 million at a Christie’s auction, it’s called Bridge. Looks more like a ceiling tile to me, but of course I’m just a good ole boy from Arkansas who has no clue or appreciation for minimalist 20th century artwork.

As someone who has never sold art but has sold businesses, I found out that the sales price of your business is determined by the eye of the acquirer. To maximize that value, it is critical to put on the buyer’s glasses if you are going to successfully exit the business that you have worked so hard to build. 

I recently partnered with John Warrillow to write a foreword to his new book, The Art of Selling Your Business, John is well known for his best-selling books, Built to Sell and The Automatic Customer as well as the very popular Built to Sell Radio podcast.

Over the coming weeks, I will highlight winning strategies and secret hacks for selling your business from his book. 

Here is the foreword to The Art of Selling Your Business which describes my personal journey and previews John’s insights for exiting on top:

“The engine in my 1992 F-150 idled softly as I waited for the light to change at the busiest intersection in Fayetteville, Arkansas. My mind, on the other hand, raced into the future with a life-changing thought that will ring familiar to almost every entrepreneur who has ever lived.

You know, I might have another restaurant in me.

 Perhaps you can relate, even if your stop-light idea had nothing to do with a restaurant. Maybe it was a clothing store, an advertising agency, a bakery, or even a funeral home. Or maybe it was the moment when you decided to take over the family business. Regardless, it was that point when you knew you had committed to building a business, and taking any other path would have been a betrayal to your very soul.

 The last thing on my mind on that summer day in 1994 was the finer points of how to sell my not-yet-launched restaurant. And that’s the case for most small business owners. The drive into the great unknown is all-consuming, and it is years later, if you beat the odds and the business survives, that you start to consider an exit strategy.

 In August 1995, after a year of planning, raising money from investors, begging banks for a loan, and taking over for a contractor who went AWOL, we opened MarketPlace Grill in Springdale, Arkansas, just north of the University of Arkansas and within a short drive of the headquarters for J.B. Hunt Transport, Tyson Foods, and Walmart.

 We survived the dot.com bust, 9/11, and the Great Recession. Along the way, we opened several more stores and tried a few totally different concepts. My time and energy shifted from struggling to meet Friday payroll to managing growth. At our peak, we had seven stores and did almost $16 million in sales.

 As I approached sixty, however, I began thinking about the next act in my work play. It felt like I was being pulled a direction to do something else professionally, I figured I better jump on it. I also began thinking about the well-being of our MarketPlace family. In an industry with extraordinarily high turnover, we had a number of managers and employees who had been with us from the very start—more than twenty years! For them to continue to grow, MarketPlace needed more resources than I could provide.

 That’s when I decided to sell MarketPlace and transition into some type of career—I didn’t know what—that involved helping small business owners navigate their challenges.

 I knew where I wanted to go, but I had no earthly idea how to get there. So, I did what any other entrepreneurial spirit would do—I figured it out. And after about a year of negotiations, a private equity group purchased the business on November 13, 2018.

Not only did I survive the process, but I got so interested in it that now I make my living as an intermediary and consultant for business owners. I can say without question, however, that my path would have been easier, faster, less stressful, and far more efficient if I had come to know John Warrillow and his work earlier in my journey.

I reached out to John in 2019 when I was doing research on my new career, and we’ve become friends. If you want a roadmap for selling your business, then look no further. You’re holding it in your hands. The Art of Selling Your Business provides practical strategies and helpful tips from someone who has built and sold business and made a career of writing, speaking, and consulting on building successful businesses. John also has spent years interviewing owners who have sold their companies to glean their insights and learn from their experiences. He knows the journey, and he knows how to help you make the most of it.

When I first read the digital draft of this book, the highlighter function spun into overdrive. I marked passage after passage and made notes to myself about what I was learning and what I could use with my clients. I found myself not only drawn to things that spoke to my personal story, but also the countless ideas that I know will speak to many other business owners.

John begins by addressing the psychology of the transaction. We are all emotionally tied to our companies. We’ve poured years into it, and we are connected to both the work and the people. Following through on our decision to sell isn’t easy. Some of us feel a pull to move into another phase of life, but it’s still tough emotionally. Others are pushed into this position by health, family considerations, or some other circumstances, and letting go is even harder. John addresses these factors in ways that help you assess your motives for selling and find freedom by leaving on your own terms.

“One of the most important things you can do to ensure you sell your business well has nothing to do with how much money you get for your company,” he writes, “but it has everything to do with your reasons for wanting to sell in the first place.” 

He then pivots to the steps in the process of selling the business, speaking as an expert but not at a level that makes your head spin. He gives overviews and guidelines, but recognizes you almost always need an intermediary to walk you through the process of your specific deal. So, he tells you what to look for in the right intermediary and the value he or she should bring. For instance, they should create a buffer between you and potential buyers, create competition among suiters, and help you package your business in the best light.

John also outlines the other key aspects of the process—how you think through what type of buyers you want … how you assign the right value to your business … how and when you share news about the sale with employees … how to avoid traps like allowing potential buyers to drag their feet and get you to agree to a deal more because you’re tired of waiting than because it’s the best option.

Can you sell your business without this book? Sure, but I don’t recommend it. Frankly, I was fortunate to find good intermediaries who helped me sell the restaurant, but I would have benefited immensely from the wisdom in this book, and now it will become an essential resource for me as I work with other business owners. I will recommend they read it even if selling their business is something they don’t see for years in their future. And I will use it myself as a playbook for the advice I give.

No matter where you are in your business journey—even if you’ve just had that epiphany moment like I had at the stoplight in 1994—read this book and digest its pages. Let it soak in so that it shapes your thinking. Mark it up with highlights and notes. And revisit it often. It will help you right now, and it will prepare you for the future, regardless of what that future might bring.”

I help entrepreneurs buy and sell remarkable businesses as well as help them plan their exits. If you would like to learn more about how to maximize the value of your business at exit,  Click Here to schedule an introductory call with me. I will help you discover how to find out if it’s the right time to exit and help you ask a higher selling price for your business.  All information is managed in the strictest of confidentiality.