Why Did My Business Sell?

In looking back on my sale of AM Bid to Bidding Limited in June 2023, there are 10 key reasons why I was able to achieve a successful business sale and exit. Sharing these should be helpful for business owners who would like to sell their businesses in the future.

1.????? Starting the business with the end clearly in view – When I launched AM Bid in October 2014, I was very clear that my plan was to sell within 8-10 years. This line of sight to the end goal influenced all my key business decisions. I also shared the goal with my staff but always highlighted the positives for them – they would be part of a rapidly expanding growth journey which would have their development at the heart of it (we were recognised by APMP (Association of Proposal Management Professionals) UK in 2019 as providing the Best People Development within UK bidding – beating O2 Telefonica and WSP in the final).

2.????? Developing a brand with a high profile – We won our first business award in 2016 and a string of awards and finalist shortlistings followed. One of the most prestigious was the Institute of Directors (IoD) Scotland Director of the Year Award in 2018 when the Judging Panel said: “Andrew is scaling a business with a clear view on succession planning and an obvious appetite for strong governance. He keeps as busy building the reputation of the business as he does growing it. Everything about his nomination was exemplary. He is an outstanding director.”

3.????? Focus on delivering outstanding results for clients – As a multi-sector bid specialist consultancy, the most important thing for our clients was helping them with delivering winning bids and proposals. We tracked our results and had these independently audited – we evidenced quarterly bid win rates between 78% and 89%, with a quarterly average bid win rate of 85%. This helped ensured that clients both returned and referred us to others.

4.????? Revenue from returning clients – 80% of our average monthly revenues came from existing clients. This also covered our costs, so we had a business that could pay for itself from existing clients.? Achieving 20% of revenues from new clients was not difficult.

5.????? Utilising LinkedIn to establish a thought leader position – I joined LinkedIn in 2006 (the platform started in 2003, so I was an early adopter!). Over the years, I have built up a large network and since launching AM Bid, I have actively shared work-winning insights. This led to me being the first bid professional in the world to be given a LinkedIn Live broadcasting licence (in July 2020) which was a key part of APMP giving me their inaugural Global Thought Leader of the Year Award in May 2022.

6.????? Having the involvement of experienced Non-Executive Directors – We formed a Board in April 2017 which included a Non-Executive Chairman and a Non-Executive Finance Director. Their guidance, mentorship and advice were invaluable as the business grew rapidly to ￡1.2 million annual revenues. While I generally followed their advice, sometimes I trusted my gut, which is also necessary for an entrepreneur.

7.????? Designing the business to work without me – I was fortunate to be able to engage David Gray just 2 years into the business journey – David was someone I had worked with previously for 5 years and was an outstanding Director in AM Bid. After 3 years, I promoted him to Managing Director, a post he held for 3 years before leaving to take up a senior role within Mitie. When David left, I did not resume the Managing Director role but instead promoted more staff into senior roles to share the responsibilities.

8.????? Getting ready in advance for due diligence – For 2 years prior to the sale, our Business Support Manager had preparing for due diligence as part of his responsibilities. This meant that we had the majority of the information easily to hand when the rigorous due diligence started – we were asked for nearly 600 documents! Being prepared also meant that we were not distracted during the due diligence process, performance did not slip, there were no unwelcome surprises and we did not suffer any price chips.

9.????? Having realistic expectations on the sale price – While most business owners have a notional figure in their head of how much their business is worth, this is often very different from what buyers are prepared to pay. 4 years before the sale, we had the business professionally valued. This helped us to understand the parameters that buyers would be using and enabled us to take actions that over time actively helped to boost our valuation. Without advertising the business for sale or using the services of a business broker, we received 4 approaches from interested buyers. 3 progressed to making offers for the business and we sold to the one that we considered the best fit. The price was within the range that we were looking for and my wife and I wanted to do the deal and move on to the next stage of our personal and business lives. Many business owners leave it too late – market changes can occur which decrease the value of a business; buyers may lose interest; in our case the march of Artificial Intelligence (AI) may have depressed our valuation if we had left it even another year; and personal circumstances may change meaning that the business owner does not get the opportunity to properly enjoy the fruits of their labours.

10. Being able to transition and exit smoothly – Your business becomes like a member of the family. It is something that takes up a very significant part of your life and thinking time. Imagining life without it is not easy for many business owners as it often such a big part of their identity. I was clear in what I wanted to achieve in my personal, family and business life post sale and this helped maintain my personal momentum towards the exit. I agreed a managed transition as part of the sale negotiations – full-time for 6 months to help ensure a smooth handover of the team, clients and systems/processes. This also helped me to continuing assisting with delivering the revenue (important since there was an earn-out proportion of the sale fee after 12 months – which was met in full). The next 6 months still saw me being paid at a part-time salary but my role was purely as an advisory consultant. The second year after sale has a 12-month restricted period which sees any bid-related work that I am asked to do being billed via Bidding Limited with an agreed daily rate in place for my time. From 1st July 2025 onwards there are no restrictions on the type of work I can take on. Throughout the post-sale period I have maintained contacts with the new owners as they take the business forward including with new products and services. ?

If you are interested in getting some confidential help and support with getting your business ready for sale, this can start with an initial free 30-minute introductory Teams call with me. Please contact me to arrange at:

[email protected]

There is also a lot of information on the Business Sale Basecamp website on this topic:

Business Sale Basecamp - Enabling you and your business to be sale ready