Successful
business acquisitions for both parties are often the result of strategic
planning and preparations made many years before the business goes up for sale.
Financial advisers will recommend the planning process starts at least two to
five years prior to listing the business for sale, with the intent to make your
business appealing to potential acquirers.
In
this excerpt from Building and Selling a
Successful Business, an education session lead by Andy Charles and Erin
Collins of Haven’s Candies during RCI’s 2015 Fall Regional Conference, Charles
outlined the following four areas to evaluate when molding a successful business
in preparation for acquisition.
- FinancesThe financial picture of a business being groomed for future
succession will look much different than a business that is operating to
sustain itself and grow. It is important to position your business in a way
that you are able to offer the best possible financial picture to future potential
buyers.
- Staffing
A self-sustaining operation is
more appealing to potential buyers. Begin training and nurturing your
staff to operate the business, whether you are there or not – which, by
the way, allows you to take a vacation now and then too.
- Facilities
& Equipment
A business that has been in
operation for any length of time is likely to have less than ideal facilities
or outdated equipment, which may have been tolerated through the years because
the business was focused on other areas. This doesn’t mean you should build
a new manufacturing facility or replace all of your equipment, but
consider how these elements of the business will appear to an outsider.
Then evaluate what is worth the investment to update and what’s not.
- Customers
and suppliers
When preparing your business
for an acquisition, assess what opportunities and risks exist? What impact
does a transition in ownership, both negative or positive, have on those
relationships and how will you manage that?
Time
and preparation offers the opportunity to position your business in a way that allows
for the highest return, as well as the ability to focus on what’s important to
you. For Charles, it was crucial to find a successor who would be a good steward
of the business, take care of the employees and customers and play an active
role in the community. Thanks to the due diligence performed years before the
acquisition, Charles was able to find the right fit for his business and
complete a successful transition between himself and Collins as the
owner-operator of Haven’s Candies.
RCI
members: Click here to login and view the complete presentation from Charles on
topic of succession planning, as well as Collins’ take on the acquisition and
transition process on our website.
