Why you should tune up your business before selling
Want to make your business worth up to 87% more? Follow our tried and tested programme.
When was the last time you let anyone look under the bonnet of your business? Are you pleased with how smoothly it runs? Does it still purr along reliably when the going isn’t so smooth? And how would it perform if you really floored the pedal?
If you answered those questions in the affirmative, it’s likely you have an impressive Business Operating System.
A Business Operating System is the engine of your company. How it functions is what makes your business profitable.
But – perhaps more importantly – it goes a long way to determining how you exit the business.
Have you thought about this? Because if you haven’t already, the next best time is now. Because to be brutally honest, there are only 4 ways you can get out of your business:
Exit 1. Leave in a box
Exit 2. Wind it up
Exit 3. Pass it on to family members
Exit 4. Sell it
So if you want to get any reward at all for the hard work you’ve put in, you’ll be aiming for Exit 4.
But that’s easier said than done because you’re far from the only one queueing up for that way out. There are around one and a half million self-employed people aged over 55 in the UK*. And you can bet most of these will be thinking about taking the scenic route out in the next few years. So if you want to sell – and not settle for a lower price than you really want – it’s worth asking yourself a few hard questions.
One of these questions is “How well does the business run without you?”.
If it were a car, would you be able to just hand over the keys and walk away with a clear conscience? Or would you constantly get phone calls about how to start it in the morning and keep it going, and how to stop that annoying whining noise that comes from Accounts?
Because if your business isn’t humming along without constant tinkering from you, you’re not just limiting your prospective buyers, you’re also wasting valuable time that you could be enjoying.
As Michael Gerber says in The E-Myth:
“If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business—you have a job. And it’s the worst job in the world because you’re working for a lunatic!”
So how do you build a Business Operating System that keeps your business tuned and ready for the day it comes to be sold?
Xeinadin’s Systems for Growth module is part of our hugely popular Rise programme for entrepreneurs. Among other things, it’ll help you create an Operating System that helps you:
Manage time better
Cut out time-consuming tasks that add no value to your business, and focus on the revenue-generating activities that will take your business to the next level.
Reduce mistakes
Effective systems and processes drive clarity and alignment, and will give you a predictable, consistent outcome 99% of the time.
Make quality more consistent
With step-by-step processes in place for each task, everyone knows exactly what to do and how to do it. That means consistent results every time, which can do wonders for your reputation and customer satisfaction.
Increase value
In a recent survey, thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), said they’d be willing to pay an average of 86.77% more for a business with efficient systems in place.
In short – if your business isn’t well-systemised, you could be leaving a lot of money on the table!
So before you waste another moment on tasks that aren’t going to make you wealthy, download and read Xeinadin’s Systems for Growth White paper.
It’s an easy read that takes you step-by-step through how to build a systematic company that will do all the above and more.
It’ll help you work shorter hours, take longer holidays, and live the life you choose, knowing that your business will run smoothly even when you’re not behind the wheel. It’ll show you how to steer your life in the direction you want – so that when you’re ready to retire, you’ll have maximised your business’s value so you can sail off into the sunset and enjoy a more comfortable retirement.
Click HERE to download the White Paper right now and open up the road to a better retirement, before one of those time-guzzling admin tasks sucks you into a side alley.
*Source: ONS
