I know you!
You have worked endless hours while sacrificing all other things in life for that one great decision you made. You decided to invest everything you had in to your personal dream.
There must have been situations when you thought that you won’t make it as an entrepreneur. The sleepless nights, during which all your thoughts circled around the challenges that you had to tackle the next day.
All the fights and the struggle that made you ask your self “ Why am I doing this?”
The financial burden that you put on your self and your family were weighing you down too many times to count.
People around you asking why you have changed so much and why you no longer have time for them and the fun that you used to have together. The friends that disappear because they concluded your world no longer fits in to theirs.
But then the reward comes and things start to flow. Your business growths and prospers beyond anything you originally imagined. Success proves you right.
Great job, you made it!
You deserve all the possible rewards you could get. You secure your wealth, you get the house that your wife dreamed about and your kids grow up in never thought to exist security and comfort.
But at a blink of an eye later you look around and find yourself in circumstances that no longer match your way forward.
Age has caught up with you, your interests are shifting, your needs are changing.
Maybe your children have no interest in the company you have built with your sweat and tears. And frankly spoken, why should they?
They could see your efforts first hand and you remember; a part of your motivation was to give your children just this freedom of choice.
So, now it is time to sell! –
If you have come to this point in your thought process, I hope for you that it is not too late.
You ask; “Why?”
Simply because, selling is about money, needs and choices. These principles are valid for anything you buy and anything that is sold, and it certainly includes companies as well.
For the same simple reason, you need to make sure that you are selling from a position of strength.
It is about accepting a buyers view rather than defending your personal choices.
Understanding that what you value highly, may be of secondary value for others.
Accepting that the hardware and buildings, that you have paid so much for, may not be the core value of your company for others.
We at TRENECO AB frequently work with clients that are looking for their exit and we know how to support and help these clients. Just yesterday I came out of a meeting with a client that I told the following: “ You are not ready to sell! Your business has a number of flaws that any investor would turn on you to squeeze your asking price. You would be disappointed about the price you can achieve. Either you invest in making your business appealing to others, or you accept to get what the market offers to you.”
We come across this a lot!
– A revenue stream is too much dependent on a single large customer.
– The products manufactured are not as competitive as you believe.
– Your productivity is too dependent on manual labor.
– Your organization is too dependent on your personal decisions.
– Your in-house logistics is no good.
– Your procurement is not competitive.
– The buildings that your business is in are old and worn.
– Your customer base is shrinking.
– Too many processes in your company are manual and not up to date.
– Too many of your customers are your personal friends.
– Investments in technology are needed.
– Things just flow but nobody can really tell why?
……. there are endless reasons why your business is much less worth than what you thought. Unless off course, you have that next great thing coming on the Internet. That thing that will make you Billions. … do you?
If not, this is where people like us come in.
We look at your business as a product. Plain and simple.
I know you don’t like to read this, but this is how any professional investor would look at your business. This is what his advisors would tell him to do.
Our job is to make sure your business looks good. Ideally our work will lead you to a choice of interested buyers.
Buyers that you feel good about, and who are willing to carry your legacy in to the future.
Buyers that will secure the future of the living souls that you were entrusted with when you hired them.
Buyers who share your vision and believe in your core values.
We often spend time in helping our clients correcting things, optimizing production, re-organizing teams, creating documents and collecting information. We help cleaning up, visualizing the benefits, and preparing information.
We make sure clients can answer any question a buyer might have. We are coaching and supporting on all possible questions aimed by the buyer’s team at lowering the sales price.
This is what we do and we do it well!
Don’t believe this is easy or that you can do this by yourself.
Understand that buyers are most of the time experienced in due diligences. Ask your self how much experience you have? If you come to the conclusion that you are not experienced in selling companies, get the support you need to level the playing field in your favor.
I sometimes explain to clients that it is a little bit like selling real estate. A good Realtor will help you to put your house in to the right light. They will watch out for timing and most likely have a client list of potential buyers. A good realtor will maximize the prize and give your home in to the right hands.
This is what we want to do for you.
Just remember one thing; „There may be a thousand reasons to sell your company, but there is not one reason why you should not get paid well for it!“
Call us and we tell you how we can do that with your company.