Will you be able to sell your company?

Will the Great Boomer Business Retirement Migration Actually Happen?

“We’re ready to sell. You know, we’ve kind of done all we can and we’re tired. It’s time for some new blood. So my partner and I want $5 million out of the business. So what are our chances?”

We listened to Trevor a proud and accomplished silver haired 59 year old , the owner of a 15 million dollar industrial company and wondered whether he and his 58 year old partner, Paul realized what getting that exit buyout would require on their part.

“There is only one way you are going to find a buyer willing to invest that much in your business. It’s called Valuation Planning and it may take 2-3 years to complete before you’re ready to sell.” I looked over
at my consulting partners as we watched Paul and Trevor’s faces fall. We had seen this reaction many times before.

There is nothing more painful than seeing successful business owners suddenly realize their retirement dreams might remain only a fantasy.

With every phase of life, the baby boomers have had a profound influence on the movement of money across most aspects of our economy. But in their next phase of development will their luck with creating wealth run
out?

The numbers suggesting this is indeed possible are staggering.

By 2011, the first of 70 million boomers are going to turn 65 years old. There are more than 26 million businesses in North America, and 50 percent are owned by boomers, according to the Small Business Administration. And 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.

That represents $10 trillion in retirement value and 75 percent of that $10 trillion may not be realized according to Richard Jackim in his book “The Ten Trillion Opportunity – Designing Successful Exit Strategies for Middle Market Business Owners”.

Industry Canada and the US Small Business Administration are very concerned that boomer business owners are not paying attention to these statistics and secondly do not have a good understanding of what it takes to sell a business. They have alerted city economic development groups across the country like the City of Nanaimo, BC and the city of Chicago, IL who are now trying to come up with ways to alert owners and help them to get ready.

They are planning for the future to ensure their communities stay economically buoyant according to Jason Boyce in an article entitled “Get Ready for the Big One: Succession Facilitation & the Coming Demographic Wave of Change” published in Making Waves Magazine.

Spirit West Management advises owners what must be done to 
set their house in order.

“It’s much more than succession planning,”
says Lorraine Rieger McGregor, CEO and partner in Spirit West
Management. “It involves reorganizing the company so that an investor
sees the value. That sounds easy but really what is involved is to stand
 in the shoes of a buyer and ask yourself, would I buy this company? Can
I easily see that it will continue to grow if the owner leaves so that I
will benefit as the investor? Succession planning is all about how you
will retire. Valuation planning is all about how the business will be a
continued success after the owners leave, which is all important to buyers.”

Rieger McGregor of Spirit West offers these five tips for business
owners who are starting to think about finding a buyer in the coming
years. First Tip? Start NOW.

1. Change Your Mind Set
Let go of your business now, emotionally. It’s not a reflection of who
you are; it is an asset that has investment value. The more you can view
your business from the eyes of an investor, the easier it will be to
make the transition to improving it so it will be attractive to
investors. This is not to say stop being passionate about your business,
it says let it stand on its own two feet.

2. Think Like a Buyer
If you were to buy this company tomorrow, what clues would tell you that
it would continue to be a successful company? What would you look for to
tell you that if you didn’t know anything about the company? Buyers want
to see past evidence of growth: The plans, the result and the effect on
profits. They want to know the industries your company sells to are hale
and hearty especially in this challenging economy. Are your customers
loyal, buying more regularly and getting your best solutions? Do you
have a sales pipeline leading to increased revenue? What tools do you
use for decision making? All of these things show a buyer you run a
tight ship.

3. Transfer Knowledge and Power
Who will run the company if you’re not there? Can you disappear for six
weeks right now and be sure the company will still be humming when you
return? If not, you’ve got work to do. You may need a management team or
a CEO. You may need to start training and trusting your own people a lot
more than you do now. When you walk into your operation is the
atmosphere tighter than a drum or congenial, tense or excited? How come?

4. Clean Up the Files
For the next three years you’ve got to show increasing profit margins in
a consistent, steady uphill line. That means you will have to clean out
the personal items in your expense account, know where you are missing
the mark and losing money and fix the problem and then set goals and
targets that your team is accountable for. Then look at your agreements
and contracts and get them reviewed by a lawyer. Do your supply
agreements restrict geographic territory or activities? Do you have the
best suppliers on your team? Are your shareholder and management
agreements tight or misunderstood? Get the right kind of help to sort
these problems out.

5. Focus on Growth
When was the last time you expanded your market place, launched a new
product or rethought your solution set to better meet customer needs? Is
it easy for customers to switch from your product to some other company’s?
If so, you better find out why. Get to know your target market. Are
you solving their problems in the right way? There is opportunity for a
profit in every hassle you uncover in their business.

Buyers want to see a healthy pipeline of orders and opportunities for
the future. “This is not meant to tell owners what they’ve built isn’t
good enough.” Says Rieger McGregor. “It’s to let owners know that there
will be a huge number of businesses all wanting to sell in the coming
years. Investors will have their choice of plum opportunities and will
reject the rest. They will pick the investments where their risks of
failure have been reduced. Owners need to know how to make that sense of
certainty obvious and reliable.”

It can take 2-3 years to sort out some of these issues. The time flies 
fast. Owners will be resistant to this effort: There’s a business to run
and there might not be “know how” or time to try and get these ‘value’
improvements done properly and without business disruption.

Valuation
 planning and execution is something owners will need help with. They may
 need a consultant that can help them plan and execute these changes,
their accountant to help them with tax strategies and their account
files, a lawyer to iron out the agreements and contracts and a board of
advisors to keep them accountable.

If owners want to see their retirement plans realized, the time is now. By 2011, there will be a lot more competitors.

And what of Paul and Trevor. They are one year into their reorganization and have found a new passion for their business.

And they aren’t tired anymore.

The Right Exit Strategy – Management Buyout?

If you own a business and are thinking of getting out in the next few years, you might want to know your exit options. They are changing rapidly as the economy is on the decline and the number of boomers heading into retirement doubles the number of businesses for sale each year. This series illuminates the pros and cons of each type of liquidity option for business owners.

1. Management Buyout (MBO)

Pros – Your team knows the business. This is a good option for family members working in the business. It can be done in stages so that there isn’t a shock to the business or the buyer and seller.

Questions? Does the management team also know how to grow the business? Is your company’s balance sheet, income statement and future prospects strong enough to support this team to get bank financing or other investors to fund the buyout?

Cons – The MBO is rife with conflict of interest: The principal-agent problem and moral hazard can derail a company quickly if both parties haven’t worked out an agreement to protect their own and the business’ interests. Managing the conflicts during and after is critical to success. Each side in the transaction should have their own coach or counsel. Getting financing can be tough and time consuming. It may mean that the owner gets paid out over time as long as the company keeps making its goals. And if the company doesn’t?

Questions? What happens to the relationship you, the owner has with your management team during the negotiation process? If there is a fall out and you didn’t have an agreement as to how you would behave during the negotiation and afterward, you could lose your team. Then what? You have to run the business yourself and spend at least a year training someone else (if you can find the right person) before you and your company are in a position to look for another buyer.

Financing for MBOs may come from a bank or a private equity investor. Watch for the fact that the bank or the private equity investor may have different goals than the management team buying out the business. The management team has to have a crackerjack business plan for growth for a company that already should be growing. Be prepared for intense and detailed due diligence: investors want to know where the problems are and will be.

How to Prepare a Company for Sale

The Wall Street Journal has a great website on many issues about selling businesses including the weighty competing agendas of what to do with a family business .

Also at the Wall Street Journal site are a series of webcasts called SmartMoney TV This series is well worth listening to.

Does Leaving the Business to Family Continue to Build Wealth?

Apparently not, says Tom Deans, a former business owner who has been president of a large family business for almost a decade. Only a third of family businesses (90% of businesses today are family owned) succeed in passing along a business to the next generation and continue to build wealth. Why? It’s an emotional issue. If you’ve received the gift of a business, its very hard to sell it. Secondly, the responsibility of continuing the notion that they must leave a legacy makes wealth extraction very difficult. Thirdly, sons and daughters may lack the skill sets, the passion, and interest to effectively operate the business.

What’s the best solution? Sell the business, don’t gift it. Give money, not a business. The company should be valued at a fair price and if the next generation wants to buy in, then that is a more successful transaction, says Tom Deans. Read more from his book “Every Family’s Business” to understand how to communicate succession planning issues amongst family members.