For Every Business Owner
Who Deserves The Ultimate Pay Day
ATTENTION BUSINESS OWNERS:
Do You Have An Exit Strategy?
Would You Like To Sell Your Business One Day?
How Much Is Your Business Worth and …
Will Someone Buy It?
For Business Owners who want to maximise the sale value of their
business, retire with more cash in the bank… and enjoy more
lifestyle choices… the time to act is now!
Family Business Succession Planning
Thinking about retirement is often the last thing any of us wants to do, but then sometimes fate steps in and forces your hand. That’s a terrible position to be in if you haven’t already made plans, so if you have a family business, it is very important that you dedicate some time to your succession planning.
What is family succession planning?
Succession planning is simply deciding who will take over the business, when, and why. You’ll need to define the specific circumstances where the plan should come into effect, and you should obviously decide early on who will be your successor.
Keep in mind that you can have multiple simultaneous successors, but be careful about how you divide things up. You can also have multiple tiers of succession, and you can create contingency plans for various scenarios that might play out.
Your ability to continue running your business could be snatched away from you at any moment. Obviously we hope that will never happen, and when it comes time for you to leave the business it will be of your own volition, but the essential point is that you need to be prepared either way.
If you are suddenly not able to continue running the business, chaos could ensue if you don’t have firm, formal written plans already in place.
Just planning is not enough
It’s no good making these plans if you don’t discuss them with your family. Don’t keep them in the dark about what you are planning. Keep it all out in the open so everybody knows what is going on right now and what should be happening in the future.
Failing to share your plans means those plans may never see the light of day. Everyone should be fully aware of every aspect of the succession plans. Besides that, you need to give people a chance to have their say.
It’s actually quite possible that the person you would like to be the successor in the business has no wish to take on that role. So you do need to make some time to discuss these plans with your family and make sure everyone is happy with the decisions that are made.
This will avoid trouble later, and it helps to ensure that your carefully thought out plans don’t go astray.
Succession planning may sound easy, but in reality it’s actually very complex. Fortunately help is just a phone call away, as you can set up a free consultation with experts from The Exit Strategy Group who can give you advice and answer your questions about family business succession planning.
Prepare your successors adequately
What this means is that well in advance of when you may be thinking about leaving the business, you should make sure your successors have the necessary training and experience they will need for the responsibilities they will be undertaking in the business.
Training could be a mix of formal and informal training, on the job experience, and even experience gained working in other similar companies. Actually this is always a very good idea, because there is a risk of family businesses becoming too internally focused, and it can be very helpful to have experience gained in an external business environment.
There is bound to be formalities to complete, even in a family business. Having all the necessary documentation prepared and ready to sign at a moment’s notice is definitely a smart move, because this way you’re never unprepared for whatever may arise.
Leaving the business you’ve worked hard to build can be difficult, but it’s made much less difficult when you have a clear succession plan and faith in the people you have chosen as your successors.
Family Business Succession Planning
If your purpose in building the business was to ensure that your family would always have a reasonable amount of wealth, then handing over executive control to an incompetent family member could rapidly lead to business collapse.
Therefore it is vital in family business succession planning to always ensure that executive control is passed to a competent person who can manage the business without destroying it. The actual shares in the business are a different story.
These can usually be transferred without remorse and will, if the rest of your business has been established appropriately, provide a continuing source of income for your family.
Of course if the family members have demonstrated competence in managing aspects of the business already, you should be able to feel confident in handing over the reins. You should be sure to consult the family members to make sure they actually want the responsibility that comes with running a business, however.
Don’t let your heart rule your head
It’s natural for people to want to pass control to their family members, but that is not always the best thing for the business or the family members. Normally ownership and executive control of a business go hand in glove, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way if the result would be detrimental.
It is possible to pass a financial interest without also passing executive control, but of course that won’t usually be a popular decision. Your desire to do things against the conventionally accepted way may be influenced by things like if you retain shares in the company, or if you have concerns about the well-being of loyal employees.
Family business succession planning is clearly not a light undertaking. You have to think carefully about what you’re aiming for. When your small business is not a family business, you’ll have different concerns.
In some ways, small business succession planning is easier than when dealing with family business succession, because there is typically less pressure on you to conform to expectations.
The Exit Strategy Group is ready to help you with all your succession planning needs. Call today to find out more about the many ways our service can help you.
The Exit Strategy Group can assist in working out how to calculate what your business is worth, how to value your business, business succession planning, how to sell a small business and transition planning.
In this breakthrough book, you will discover there’s more to a profitable
exit strategy than just selling your business…with answer to these and
many more myths believed by countless business owners :
Myth #1: I don’t need an exit strategy until I’m ready to sell my business
Myth #2: I can’t afford to dedicate the time involved with exit planning
Myth #3: The wealth of my business is defined by how much I earn
Myth #4: If I have a growth strategy, why do I need an exit strategy?
Kerry Boulton, CEO and Founder of The Exit Strategy Group and NEXUS Business
Coaching, is Australia’s most respected exit strategy advisor. With over 20 years in
business as an entrepreneur, transformative coach and consultant, sought-after
speaker and talented facilitator, Kerry wrote The Uncensored TRUTH About Exit
Strategies to help as many business owners as she can to monetise the wealth that’s lying in their businesses.
The Uncensored TRUTH About Exit Strategies details how to build a strong and
successful exit plan, which is an absolute must if you want to get full value from
any sale. Kerry exposes and debunks many myths and gives you practical advice. She
walks you through what most people don’t know – or refuse to believe – about the
process of planning their exit.
Kerry believes exit planning is a process, not a destination. She helps you overcome
challenges you’re likely to face as a business owner and most important, the steps to
ensure you find financial freedom and do not become just another statistic.
The Cold Hard Facts You NEED to Know If You Want To Sell Your Business Someday
81% of Australian business owners plan to retire in the next 10 years
53% of them have no exit strategy
22% will shut shop*
How To Increase The Value of Your Business By Up To 71%* In Just 24 Months …and Have the Biggest Pay Day of Your Life
*Based on actual client results to date
Are you ready for the huge wave of business sales looming on the horizon and a lot of potential competition? Buyers will be picking and choosing only the best. Email info@TheExitStrategyGroup.com.au and ask for your FREE Value Builder Report.
AND…when you order your FREE copy of my book, The Uncensored Truth About Exit Strategies” you’ll find out …
…there’s a lot more to your Exit Strategy
than a succession plan or just selling your business…
You’ve worked hard for years building your business. You know how much value you’ve created and it’s worth plenty to someone who can take it to the next level.
The question is – how do you even start thinking about your exit plan when you aren’t anywhere near ready to exit or sell your business?
The gap between the idea of selling – or creating any sort of succession plan – and actually getting the deal on the table on your terms and at the time you want – can be very wide and very deep.
The fact is…only 20% of business owners who say they plan to sell their business ever make it their ultimate pay day.
That’s a very sobering statistic. Will you be in the 20% who do?
Many business owners simply don’t know what they need to know to prepare for succession, transition of ownership and exit. Exit strategies are not just about making money, Business owners often have other goals such as establishing a legacy, ensuring the business remains in their family, or continuing to have a say in what happens in the business.
…No matter what exit strategy you choose – you can guarantee your best outcome by simply this: PLANNING IN ADVANCE. There are immediate benefits to getting started preparing your exit strategy. You don’t have to wait for the exit date before claiming more of your wealth!
Exit strategies are something every investor looks for… The questions are the same – no matter what the size of the business. How am I going to get my money out?And how much are you going to get as the owner?
Having an exit strategy worked out in advance helps ensure you like the answers to those questions and gives you some control over your business’s future.