Photo by Robert Linder

Where do you see yourself and your company five years from now?

If the next chapter of your success story includes selling your business and embarking on a new beginning, you need to be positioned to execute with excellence.

Before you put the wheels in motion, the very first question that needs to be addressed is, do you actually have a company you can sell?

Before You Put Up the “For Sale” Sign: What You Need to Know

If you want to sell your business, your company needs to be process-driven, and those processes need to be crystal clear and readily repeatable, like a high school science experiment. 

I’ve been having this conversation with a few of my Catapult clients lately because the hard truth is that when you want to sell your company, your business needs to run like a well-oiled machine, even without you at the helm. 

And that requires groundwork that you aren’t going to want to put in when you’re ready to start your next passion project.

So, are you in a position to successfully sell your business?

Start by asking yourself three questions:

• Is your business positioned to survive and thrive without you? 
• Does your company offer a tangible product or service that is based on a proven methodology and a replicable set of protocols?
• Are your books in order?

In other words, you need to ensure that your company, your team, your clients, and the potential buyers are all set for success if you want to make the sale.

The Six Essential Elements of a Successfully Salable Business

These are the fundamental factors that make buying a business an appealing investment for prospective new owners.

#1. Established Leadership.

A company that is positioned to succeed without you has a leadership team in place is invested in the big-picture, accountable for daily operations, and aligned on the next steps to growth.

#2. Purpose-Driven Processes.

A process-driven business has clear strategies and established workflows that guide operations. These standard operating procedures and purpose-driven processes ensure the team is positioned to continue to execute with excellence. With or without you, they know exactly what problem they’re solving, what solutions they’re creating for clients, and they have a proven methodology to make it happen over and over again.

#3. Clear Communication Framework.

Your company has a defined communication strategy to guide client interactions, project progression, and internal development. There is an established structure in place that empowers the team, holds them accountable, and identifies how decisions are made and implemented.

#4. Curated Client Journey.

Every successfully salable company has a clear client journey that follows a standardized development process from the very first engagement. This process defines every step along the way – delineating who interacts with the client, how and when they connect, the actions that need to be taken at each stage, and what data, approvals, or outcome is required to move forward.

#5. Culture of Growth & Appreciation

The business is run by a dynamic team who are all in on the company vision, mission, and values statement and working together to bring them to life. This people-centric culture of recognition and belonging incentivizes innovation and collaboration alongside fulfilling and rewarding opportunities for individual development because if you leave and everybody quits, then you don’t have a business to sell.  

#6. Profitability.

Of course, it goes without saying that your company needs to be making a revenue that is not only attractive but profitable – and has room to grow.

Planning Your Next Steps

Selling your company is a major milestone in your personal and professional journey–and sometimes, it isn’t as straightforward as you might hope. 

Maybe there are still pieces that need to be put in place, processes to refine, or expectations that need to be explicitly defined. 

That doesn’t mean that you can’t sell your business; it just means that you have some work to do first so you can close this chapter with confidence. 

• Do you need a sounding board to help you move from CEO to successfully sold your company?
• Are you looking for a power partner to help you create a strategic action plan that will take your business from sales comps to salable?
• Do you want expert guidance to help you sell your company so that you can move on to your new beginning faster than if you try to do it alone?

Over decades of working exclusively with high-performing business owners, I’ve helped countless consultants, engineers, tech gurus, and real estate agents position themselves to successfully sell their businesses so they could start writing their next chapter.   

The key pieces you need to put in place to sell your business are the same pieces I work on with private clients in my flagship, one-on-one program – Catapult Immersion:

⇨ Establishing effective workflows

⇨ Streamlining operations for efficiency

⇨ Creating clear channels of communication

⇨ Building your A-team by hiring and training the best people for the job

⇨ Refining your offers to deliver exactly what your clients need

⇨ Defining processes and expectations to empower your team and hold them accountable

⇨ Maximizing profitability by aligning your pricing with the ROI that you provide for your clients  

When we work together, we’ll take strategic action to elevate your operations, empower your team, and set you up to sell your business for a profit margin that truly feels like a testament to your success.

Get ready to start checking items off your “To-Do List” so that you can sell your company.

Take the first step toward your next chapter. Apply for Catapult Immersion®