The absence of real guidance and advice has caused a lack of growth planning, strategies to maximize enterprise value, failure to properly prepare for the sale and most importantly, no planning, for life after the sale. 

The Benefits to Pre-Sale Planning:

• Identifies, prioritizes, and minimizes risks/value detractors impacting Enterprise Value
• Allows you as the owner to see how a perspective buyer views and values your business
• Utilization of a detailed “Action Plan” that prioritizes solutions

The pre-sale preparedness process allows you allows you to see your business from a buyer’s perspective and the risk they associate with potentially owning your business

As the owner, it is important to identify issues in your business that can negatively impact the sale price of your business. It is more important to identify those issues before you sell. The second benefit of this process is utilizing it as the foundation to remedy issues identified in the business.  These issues are called “Value Detractors”. Value Detractors keep you as a business owner from realizing maximum value at sale.  

Maximizing net proceeds begins with creating and implementing a tax strategy before the sale. Transitioning ownership to an estate at lower valuations, earlier in the business cycle is one of the key drivers to increasing net proceeds. We have seen many business owners try to implement a tax plan later in process or right before deciding to sell. Waiting to implement your tax plan does not offer the flexibility needed to benefit from a well thought out estate plan. 

When selecting a wealth advisor there are several components of the engagement you will want to familiarize yourself with to ensure you have the right wealth advisor and plan in place. Before discussing the appropriate engagement, it is important to know that on average, 80% of business owners do not have a financial plan. This lack of financial planning can have a dramatic impact on the net proceeds of your exit (what you keep from the transaction after fees and taxes) and the overall result.