When planning to sell a company, your plan for improving your business and its valuation is a matter of discovering what you can do and deciding what’s most effective. Actions already discussed in previous “Selling A Company Prep Tips” should be part of that plan. And there are several additional ways to spot improvements to include in your presale thinking.

Asking Questions

Take the time to ask yourself and those around you:

• What are our biggest challenges, and why are we facing them? Are our primary problems in our strategy, structure, technical capabilities, and culture? What are we doing about them?
• Where are gaps in our strengths and capabilities? What are our most promising unexploited opportunities or leveragable high-quality resources, and how can we realize their potential?
• What are our formidable barriers to needed changes? Are they technical? Cultural? Political?
• What initiatives are currently under way? Do they align and integrate with our goal of selling a business, and with sale-related activities?
• Are all necessary functions in place? Are some unnecessary or better outsourced?
• If we were to make a major investment, where would it be and why?
• What can we do to serve clients better? Are we capturing feedback and new ideas, and acting on them?
• What information do we need and not have?  How could we get it?
• Why do we win or lose business?

Adopt from Competitors

You may unearth other ways to improve operations and increase selling price by studying your competitors. Go beyond your conventional definition of who your competitors are and consider nontraditional competitors that might be able to enter your business’s arena. This analysis also may help you to determine which competitors could be potential buyers.

Small Improvements

Don’t assume that all presale improvements require large teams, sophisticated software, and long time horizons. High-yield ways to improve the appeal of your business needn’t be grandiose and expensive. Post-It Note®’s on your wall to document work flow might be sufficient to guide you through simple and small enhancements.

For example, we have worked with companies on one, two or portfolios of quick hit business process improvement projects, such as accelerating proposal turnaround time, decreasing order errors, and improving product development processes and times. Business owners have found that small improvements are as beneficial as large improvements if they’re the right improvements.

I invite you to use these ideas during your journey to sell a business.

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