A recent survey by The Sellability Score found companies that can perform well without their owner for a period of three months are 50% more likely to receive an acquisition offer when compared to more owner-dependent businesses. There is no better justification for taking a peaceful,...
The Mile-Wide Trap ensnares you when you do an excellent job serving a small number of great customers and they ask you to handle more of their work. You keep delivering, and they keep broadening the list of products and services they want you to...
If your company’s revenue has stalled after a period of rapid growth, you may have fallen into The Mile-Wide Trap. Consider the case of Kim (not her real name) who runs a public relations firm. Kim studied marketing at school and went on to work for...
Being a middleman (or woman) has become risky business. When was the last time you used a travel agent? Travel agencies have largely become irrelevant for most people given the rise of online travel booking. How about a record/CD store? iTunes and online music subscription services...
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For your business to be valuable – and sellable one day – you need some way to generate sales after you’re gone. Many business owners hire a superstar salesperson to replace themselves as a rainmaker but that’s a trap. By replacing yourself with a single salesperson,...
A recent article in M&A Today offered some observations concerning current and future M&A trends. “The business world is constantly changing. For the first half of the 20th century, vertical integration was the objective in which, oil companies, for example, owned the entire process from drilling...
Whether you’re planning to sell your company sometime soon or sometime in the future, now is the time to ensure that your business isn’t all about you. #1: You’re almost twice as likely to get an offer if your business can survive the “hit-by-a-bus” test. If you...
The representations and warranties on the Purchase and Sale agreement take effect the date of signing. According to the book, The Art of M&A – A Merger Acquisition Buyout Guide by Stanley Foster Reed, the conditions in the representations and warranties are: “…intended to disclose all...
The majority of sellers of small businesses will probably be dealing with individual buyers or partnerships. Often these buyers are mature veterans of the corporate world, ranging in age between 40 and 60. For these people, business ownership is not just a dream, but a...