How do You Increase Your Business’s Value Drivers?

How Do You Increase Your Business’s Value ?

What are the key value drivers for your business? With the continuing economic uncertainty, I’m often asked how I help find great businesses to acquire. What are the ways you can make your business stand out from the crowd? As more baby boomers begin to sell their businesses, it becomes critical to position your business for sale.

I help my clients to develop a strategy to get their business ready for sale several years before they actually sell it.  With well over 100,000 baby boomer business owners retiring every month, you have to invest time getting your business ready to sell. It’s critical to position your business to attract the widest range of potential buyers.  You must do what you can to make it easier for your potential buyers to find you if you want to get the most out of your business when you sell it.

What might you work on to help position your business as a market leader?  These value drivers aren’t the only places you can work but I believe they give the greatest ROI for your time and money invested.  You receive three key benefits from working on these key value drivers.  The first benefit is increasing sales and profits to you while you’re getting your business ready for sale. The second benefit is that your business is more valuable when you sell it. The third and final benefit is that it puts the business owner in the position to decide when they choose to sell their business.  This third benefit is one that all my business owners relish.  It’s a triple win for my clients.

The first key value driver I’m working with clients on is their people. I work extensively to make sure all their people and their teams are building visibility and market leadership for my clients. Many of these people are thought leaders in their field. These individuals are one of the components to a midmarket success. These organizations have strong leaders but also a deep bench of individuals who are making a large contribution to the organization’s success.  Moving from a founder-based company to a team based thought leader organization provides significant value to the acquiring firm as they begin to take over the organization. We share how thought leadership is changing in future blogs, but today knowing that an organization is staffed well with capable people goes a long way to remove risk for the acquiring firm.

The second key value driver is your businesses brand. How is perceived in the market? Is it the premium brand in the market? When you think about your brand how does it support your position in the market? Leadership brands tend to demand a premium in the market. If you have been actively involved in your market, have you kept your brand out with current trends in your market? How strong is your connection to key clients and community?  If you’re currently a market leader, are you developing additional brand equity in new products you are rolling out?

The key value driver of your brand can be one of the greatest assets you have for your midmarket business.  Help potential buyers see how your product portfolio continues to grow and expand.  Many organizations are looking to buy businesses with strong durable brands in their markets. You must help them see why your brand is the right choice to expand their market share and profits. The concept of brands continues to change and evolve, but it will continue being a critical element for long term success of your market leading business.

Do you want to learn more about building an innovative culture in your business? You might enjoy How Steve Jobs Would Use Innovation to Grow Your Business

Next week we will discuss the final key value driver to help you make your business more valuable both today and when you sell it. We will discuss how your business systems can help you set up your business for success in both the short and long term for both you and the future owner. See you then.