Joe Polish interviewed Rob Follows (watch it here) on his expertise around helping Entrepreneurs achieve maximum value when selling their businesses. Rob has been involved with or led $100B in transaction value, so when he was asked about some of the fundamentals around selling a business, he didn’t hesitate.

Rob points out a mistake you can avoid when getting your company ready for sale: Taking your eye off operations. “If you’re going to sell your business, keep your eye on operations and continue to increase your sales, manage your expenses, and increase the strength of your management team,” explains Rob.

The idea is to keep operating your business as if you’re NOT going to sell it so the performance continues to go up. If the performance drops off, buyers will not stay in the race. Also, Rob explains how you do not want to be seen as integral to the business. Why? Because if you’re too involved in the business, the new owners can’t put somebody else in effectively. As the owner of the business, you want to be viewed as not required for the day-to-day operations.

Rob also laid out how to hire a great advisor to help sell your company. If you’re looking to maximize value, you do NOT want to go to someone who simply uses standard industry numbers as benchmarks for valuation. You want to find someone focused on maximizing value. According to Rob, it’s not about the numbers which have been done before, but about understanding the value drivers in your business and crafting a strategic story to buyers who can verify what you’re telling them.

As Rob says, “You want an advisor who understands sound strategy and knows how to work with strategic buyers and help them be assured they won’t make a mistake.” The right advisor will try and understand what YOU really want as a seller and what the required outcomes will be. This also helps the advisor position the strengths of your business so the buyer will see the benefit to them and give you what you want.

As far as ramp up time to sale goes, Rob says a process of selling to a strategic buyer could take 9 months to 1 year on average. Some sales can be quicker if they are identified and ready to go. Some can be longer if the buyer or seller aren’t ready. “If you start preparing a couple years in advance – if your management team is set, the statements are audited, and the preparation work is done ahead of time – this allows you to focus on the creativity of the interaction with the buyers and not on the preparation.”

Selling your business as an Entrepreneur can be extremely exciting AND stressful. It’s worth asking yourself: What do you need to prepare for? What can you start putting in place now? How will you run your business to keep it operating effectively during the acquisition process? And, maybe most importantly, what do you want your life to look like AFTER the sale? “Before you go into the process of selling your business, you should be very clear about what you’re going to do after the sale,” says Rob. “The more energy, clarity, and planning you can give that, the more comfortable you will be getting your deal done.”

P.S. I've created a resource page as a central guide with access to valuable resources available to you right now. Check it out at www.GeniusNetwork.com/Vision-Insight. Bookmark this page. This is where I will post every new update.

P.P.S. Whenever you're ready... here are 3 more ways I can help you make YOUR business and life more E.L.F. (Easy, Lucrative, and Fun!):

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3. I'm often asked what books I recommend. So, I've put together a collection of books and products in 9 specific categories. These are resources we've shared in Genius Network to help improve life and business... To check them out visit www.JoePolish.com/Books-Vision

P.P.P.S. If You Or Someone You Know Is Struggling With Addiction, visit www.GeniusRecovery.org/Vision-Letter
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