When it comes to selling a business so many business owners seem to lose sight of the real purpose of what they are out to achieve. Let me draw an analogy for you. When it comes to selling your house, what are the he things you have at the forefront of your mind? Let us take the house sale. 

It was said some 2000 years ago that “When a man does not know which harbour he is heading for, no wind is the right wind.” Speaking to business owners today I would say, “Exit Planning for business owners must start with knowing your exit goals and objectives; otherwise, failure may be inevitable.”

It has been well-documented in existing management literature that “what is measured is managed,” and, conversely, “what is not measured merits little or no attention.” I would therefore suggest that it is critical to any business that in order to understand how your business is truly operating, you need to define those aspects of the business that are critical and then determine how you can measure their performance.

Are you like many business owners?

• Australian studies by groups such as CPA and KPMG show that as much as 70% closely held and family owned businesses will change hands within the next seven years¹; but
• Many Business Owners may not have taken active steps to transition out of ownership.

Greg is a Business Architect and Coach at Superb Coaching, a team of professional coaches and consultants working closely with family and medium businesses.

 

Why is this so important in business you might ask? I would suggest to you that all great leaders, be they social reformists, religious, political or business, can be seen to be driven by an absolute purpose of intent.

You may not wish to change the world or to be the conscience of mankind, but I would hope that you desire to be successful in your business.

This film has advocated that this is something that has long been hidden from the rest of the world and that it has only just now come to light. Might I suggest that ’The secret’ really never has been much of a secret. For anyone who has read Napolean Hill’s book ‘Think & Grow Rich’ you will see that he continually refers to the laws that have driven successful business leaders. His book is all about the Universal Law of Attraction – he just never quite calls it that. However, do not take this as me deriding the value of the book and film as I feel that this is one of the more powerful documentaries that I have ever seen. 

The big secret about it is that some people over the centuries have used ‘the secret’ without knowing they were using a powerful law–the Law of Attraction (LOA). and surely there were some who did know the law and tried to keep it to themselves.   Simply put, the LOA is aligning our thoughts, beliefs, feelings and actions to attract what we want. It’s not some hocus pocus that allows us to have everything we want without any effort on our part. It is about creating a clear and congruent vibration that allows us to attract, accept and create what we want.  

Have you ever met any one who seems to make all the right decisions in life effortlessly? How often do you find yourself pondering over your decisions or getting anxious about them only to find that they weren’t the best decision after all?

How often have you pondered over why some businesses excel while others seem to struggle to hard. They are in similar markets, have similar products or services and the owners work hard at being successful, yet some just make it and others don’t.It is not that the business owner is any less deserving. Have you ever this about yourself or maybe someone you know feels this frustration sometimes?

Sometimes it seems that people are angrier than ever. In the
USA, the Better Business Bureau recorded a nearly 25 per cent increase in customer complaints between 2002 and 2003. And when customers get mad, they can get even, telling their friends about lousy service they have received, and in some cases venting to a far larger audience via the internet.

Some say, diversify – Make sure you have every possible service and product available – Give yourself every opportunity to make a sale – Make your shop a ‘One Stop Shop!’

I don’t call this diversifying, I call it de’worse’ifying!!

The truth is, when you try and be everything to everyone, you spread yourself so thin, that you end up being, nothing to no-one.

Proceed with caution – One stop shops are for the big boys. The big players, with huge budgets to spend on marketing. In small business, the trick is to do exactly the opposite to one stop shops. And that is to specialize and become exceptionally good at this area.