Article 5 in our Exit Planning series
If you find yourself at this stage of our series, then you should have a much better understanding of the elements you need to consider in a successful exit planning strategy. You will have:
- Decided that being prepared for the business exit is a priority and needs ongoing consideration in your business operations – Article 1
- Considered what an exit means for you personally and what you wish to achieve in the process and beyond – Article 2
- Understood the importance of gauging where your business stands in the market and what you will need to achieve the exit you want – Article 3
- Learned what adds value to your business and how improving intangible capital will increase transferability and make your business a more attractive acquisition – Article 4
Knowing all of this is great, but as we often say to clients, nothing is done until something is done. While the numbers show the odds of a successful sale are still stacked against you, there are plenty of examples of great outcomes to follow. If you want to join them, you need a proven framework and you need to start.
You need a team
You have read the theory, you understand what lies ahead and you are ready to begin your exit plan. So the key question becomes: how do you get things working in your favour?
The first step is assembling a team. Exit Planning requires different capabilities from a broad advisory group, many of whom you may already have in place. In our experience, you will need some or all of the following:
- Growth / Value Advisor – A consultant who helps embed value in the business by increasing intangible capital and improving transferability.
- Personal Wealth Advisor – Guides the financial side of your personal journey and helps prepare you for life beyond the business.
- Accountant – Provides the numbers that prospective buyers will scrutinise and that you should be using to develop the value purchasers seek.
- Lawyer – Ensures your legal framework aligns with your desired future, including updated agreements that reassure buyers of the business’s stability.
- Insurance Broker – Helps ensure you have appropriate cover for unexpected events that may affect you, the business, or partners.
- Funders – From banks to private equity and non-bank lenders. They play a role in the transition and can support buyer financing.
- Broker / M&A Specialist – Selling a business is a specialist discipline. An experienced advisor helps you realise the best possible outcome.
Your team needs a captain
The challenge is that these experts often work directly with you but independently of one another. That means one final role must be filled: the captain of your exit planning efforts.
You can take this role yourself, because no one knows the business better than you. But consider three questions before doing so:
- Do you have the time? Most owners already carry a full load running the day-to-day without coordinating a team and driving the business to become exitable.
- Do you have the expertise? Owners who have not been through an exit before typically benefit from someone who understands the process and can guide transferability.
- Can you prioritise the important over the urgent? Exit planning is important but rarely urgent. Daily pressures often push it to the backburner unless someone is accountable for progress.
The captain must take ownership, coordinate the team and keep progress moving. Choose someone with the time, expertise and discipline to bring the pieces together and adjust as needed to deliver your desired exit.
The team has one mission: to get you the exit you want. This includes building maximum value, identifying the right time to sell, choosing the right buyer and delivering the overall best option for you.
Make things happen: 90-day cycles
We opened this article by saying nothing gets done until something gets done. One of the best ways to make exit planning real is to adopt a framework and work in 90-day cycles.
There are many business books offering frameworks for growth, intangible capital and exit readiness. They differ in detail but share similar wisdom: you must start, and you must keep momentum.
That is where 90-day cycles work. The idea is simple: set what you will achieve over the next 90 days that moves you toward your long-term goals, execute with corrective action, then repeat. Ninety days is long enough to make progress but short enough to maintain focus.
Working in this rhythm creates clarity, ownership and pace. Reviewing progress quarterly gives enough time to learn what is working, what is not and what needs to shift.
At Strategic Specialists Group we use these principles and have built them into our Exit Planning and Discovery Roadmap™ services.
Are you ready to even the odds? The best time to start planning your exit was the day you started the business. The next-best time is now. It requires relentless execution. Take the first step and keep going.