Your business means everything to you.
It may well represent your life’s work.
Or you may have recently become its proud owner.
In any case, you may not want to sell right now but you understand that a business should always be poised and ready to sell. You want to position it for future growth, and you seek the very best professional guidance you can get.
This is when working with a professional business advisor can make the difference between just getting by in the business or building it to sell for the very best price and terms.
Main Ascent provides pre & post acquisition advisory services to help business owners optimize the value of their company, prepare the company for acquisition, help assure a smooth transition from one owner to another, and / or start out as a new owner on a strong company foundation.
While every situation and company’s needs are as unique and individual as the owners themselves, Main Ascent’s advisory services are focused on helping current owners to prepare their organization for an ownership transition and new owners to successfully take control of and continue to grow the acquired business. This means looking at and addressing the key areas that may be impediments to prospective buyers, such as:
- Financial Performance: Are your financial records in appropriate order? Are anomalies in the numbers transparent and explainable to potential buyers? Are there any positive / negative financial trends that require any short- / medium-term corrective action or substantiated explanation?
- Organizational / Leadership Structure: Is management of the business dependent on a small number of individuals or even solely on the current owner, and how will the sale of the company impact operations? What adjustments to the organization (staff or structure) or the management team (go-forward leadership team) are needed to enhance the company’s appeal or to support a smooth transition to new ownership?
- Tribal Knowledge vs. Documentation: Have key operational processes and/or trade-secret details been documented in a way that can be adequately trained and transferred to a new owner or new management team? Are any short-term adjustments needed prior to a sale? What, if any, part of them are proprietary and a value-add for your business?
- Strategy / Tactical Plan: Is there a defined business strategy and clearly defined tactical plans to support the future of the business? Can past success be a reasonable indicator of future success following current strategic / tactical plans or processes? Have growth opportunities been identified per product/service extensions, geographic expansion, refined competitive differentiation and/or improved sales & marketing deployment? Are there any tailwinds or headwinds to be further studied and addressed?
- Facilities (office environment, structure, appearances, etc.): Is the facility in need of attention to improve performance, appearance, and safety and/or to otherwise enhance the perspective of the business itself?
- Cultural Development: Are there any elements of the company culture that should be accentuated to increase appeal of the company or challenges that must be addressed prior to listing? Do employees stay? Is morale high?
- Concentration/Dependency: Is your company reliant on only a few top customers and/or vendors?
- Competitive Landscape: What is your key differentiator(s)? Who and how strong are your competitors?
- Company Reviews and Reputation: How are you perceived with your customer base? Do customers return and refer you to others?
- Pricing strategy: Is pricing transparent internally and with customers? Have prices been raised in line with the regular increases of cost of living. Are you priced higher or lower than the competition? Are there options offered that encourage loyalty and recurring/repeat business?
