Most companies are not saleable in their current state. With the flood of boomers poised to retire and rethinking their futures, many owners think they can find a buyer when they finally feel like selling. With 50% of every business in North America owned by boomers, it is a buyers’ market, and they are choosy.

Fast Track Secrets for Making Your Business Saleable is the first book to show business owners what is in the minds of investors and acquirers when they look at buying or financing a company. Owners will learn and develop a plan for the four steps to making their businesses saleable so they will attract the right kind of buyer.

Coming Soon: Publishing date September 15, 2011. Want to pre-order your copy? Send your request to info@spiritwest.com Can’t wait that long because of your time frame to retirement? Go to www.MakeYourBusinessSaleable.com

Here is what the experts are saying about the McGregor’s book and workbook:

Every Private Client Advisor (or wealth advisor, relationship manager) should provide their clients who own a business, a copy of this extraordinary book….

This book is a fantastic breakthrough resource for preparing to sell your business at maximum value.

If your client owns a business, they need to have this book…they will thank you endlessly and never move their wealth to another advisor ☺

Thomas R. Sweet, Former VP Consumer Marketing, City National Bank, Beverly Hills, CA and Former VP Marketing, Nevada State Bank

Supply and demand are critical to every business owner. You started your business to be able to supply a product, or service, to fill a need in your marketplace. Once you start to plan to sell your business it’s the SAME thing!

You will need to once again become part of the supply-demand chain and if you are not properly prepared, the buyers will quickly move on to a business that is. It’s your choice. No, it’s your responsibility…to actively and aggressively plan for that date one day when you will be ready to sell out to the best possible buyer at the best possible price.

Randy West, Certified Financial Planner, The Villages, Florida

In my view, to maximize enterprise value, the key thing the seller needs to have sorted before they start a process to sell their business is to have thought through and implemented an organizational structure that does not include them.

Too many times in small owner-managed businesses, the roles and responsibilities are not well-defined and ultimately every key decision comes to the owner or his right hand person. That is not a scalable business model which sophisticated buyers will see and thus feel the need to bring on additional management resources which is an additional cost to the business.

Martin B. Carsky, CEO Con-Space Communications, Ltd and former EVP, Anthem Capital

Insightful! What a great roadmap for maximizing the sale of a business. As a business lawyer, we often see overwhelming challenges for business owners who do not prepare for the sale in advance. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and there is a ton of information in this book that will help sellers quickly turn their business into one that is “saleable.”

I plan on recommending this book to every client who is thinking about selling a business or even just starting a business and wants to build it right from the start. Not only will it make business owners smarter about selling a business, it will make them smarter about running a business!

Roger P. Glovsky, Esq. Venture Attorney, Indigo Venture Law Offices and founder of the Seminar ‐ “How to Save Thousands of Dollars on Legal and Professional Fees by Preparing in Advance for the Sale of a Business”

“Fast Track Secrets for Making your Business Saleable is an outstanding roadmap every owner or manager selling a business will want, to control the process and maximize returns. Suitable for any type of business, this step-by-step approach teaches the business and mindset requirements for success, including ‘what you don’t know that you don’t know’ which can jeopardize results. Buy this book if you want maximum profits and peace of mind!”

Susan Rosenthal, President World Markets Group, Former Vice President, Global Marketing CitiBusiness™ for Citigroup

Lorraine Rieger McGregor was interviewed by the “It’s Your Money” radio hosts, Raymond James’ Randy West and Gregg Collier for WLBE AM790.

The 25 minute show on how business owners can adequately prepare the business for the highest valuation focused on the fact that with the baby boomer boomer bulge nearing retirement, the number of businesses coming up for sale is set to increase by 100%.

This fact means those company owners wanting to sell or transition ownership will have to do a lot more than just “paint and install granite counters” to find an investor willing to buy them out or a lender able to bankroll a management buy out.

click the icon at the top of this article to play the radio show

Spirit West Management Launches Seminar Aimed at Baby Boomer Business Owners -

Will they get what they think the company is worth when its time to cash out?

July 14th, 2008–

There are 17 million businesses in the US and 1.7 million in Canada according to Dun and Bradstreet. 50% of them are owned by Baby Boomers. 7 out of 10 of these owners will want to sell their business over the next 10 years, according to the Association for Mergers and Acquisitions Advisors. The supply of offerings will continue to grow substantially.

According to anecdotal evidence from investment bankers and private equity investors, business owners are unaware of the work that must be done to prepare to sell their company. They have unrealistic expectations and have not done the preparation necessary to reorganize the company so it can operate and grow under professional management.

To help baby boomers adequately prepare for the day they do want to sell to investors, employees or other companies, Spirit West Management is offering a one day workshop on how to restructure a company so that it is exactly what investors look for. “How to Maximize Your Company’s Worth: The CEO’s Guide to Becoming Prepared for Investment” will teach owners how to see their company through the eyes of investors and lenders.

“A company might be operating just fine under owner management, but will it continue to operate successfully when the owner leaves?” says Lorraine Rieger McGregor, CEO of Spirit West Management. “There are many hidden issues that an investor sees and for every one that doesn’t have a solution, the value of that company is reduced. It can be a very humbling experience for business owners to come to this time in their life and think that they can sell in the next six months. It just doesn’t happen like that. Restructuring can take 2 or 3 years depending on the issues we are dealing with. Owners need to take the time to get the right advisors and consultants to help them get prepared for this investment transition.”

The one day seminar, open to company owners that did at least $7 million in revenue last year, will be held March 19, 2009 at the EagleQuest Coyote Creek Golf Club in Surrey, BC. Owners will have the opportunity to get a reality check on the state of their business, hear from other owners who are selling or who have sold, meet private equity investors and strategic buyers as well as learn the ins and outs of the mergers and acquisitions process.

Read More Information on the seminar

For Contact:

Lorraine Rieger McGregor

Spirit West Management, Ltd
events@spiritwest.com or Tel: 604-306-7707