Presidents Post – March

Time For A Change? Succession Planning – So the little voice in your head is making itself heard a bit more lately…..time for a change….let’s do that dream trip we’ve spoken about…let’s start enjoying the fruits of our labour, well it could be that time. The idea of selling a business and changing habits and routines can be a scary proposition to some of us but embracing change is the best way forward.  The old adage, “a failure to plan is a plan to fail”  …..

has always proven itself in my experience, so the first step in making change is to formulate a plan.
There are a number of key points to include in your plan, including business valuation, staff retention, new owners training etc. I would strongly recommend talking to a business advisor about these steps and working with them to develop this plan, as having the views and perceptions from someone outside the day-to-day of your business running gives you new insight into what your business portrays to a prospective new owner. I believe one of these key steps in the planning process is creating a new “face” for the business.
Most of us start out as a one-man show and in my case I stubbled along learning the basics of running a business as I went. So in essence the “Face” of the business was me. As our businesses grow, more staff, more equipment etc. Generally, that face stays the same rather than the business growing its own face or identity. When we sell our business it needs to have an identity of its own so the potential buyer sees they are taking over a strong business identity not losing the business’s identity or face when the old owner steps away. So as an example in my case, I needed clients to start to deal with and therefore recommend my business rather than Andy Lowe.
This change of face happens over time and can be a hard process so starting well before you plan to sell is advisable, to say the least.
Having the right people around you is of paramount importance to help build this new face. Ideally, a new owner wants to step in and take over with the least amount of upheaval in the day-to-day operations, therefore income, of the business so having a team they can become part of that is already operating autonomously is very appealing.
Develop sales and production processes that utilize the team entity ie: and company face rather than the boss mentality. This will require the ability to let go of the reigns and give more responsibility to your staff. The benefits of this transfer are twofold, less work for you the owner, and a stronger case for staff retention after the sale.
Let all your long-term customers know of the transition away from you the owner being their point of contact with the business and introduce your staff to them.
The successful creation of the business’s own identity gives the new owner confidence they are buying a business that is self-operating and successful in its own right rather than another person’s reputation who is no longer around and some plant and equipment. They can then step into a running entity and add their own personal touch as much as they want.