Reap the rewards of your labours
Planning. Preparation. Presentation. The three Ps are essential to most aspects of running a business. And they’re absolutely vital if you are to reap the maximum rewards from your hard labours when you come to sell or retire from the business you have spent years building.
Planning
It has probably taken years to build and develop, so why do so many business owners take so little time to plan how to sell or retire from the business? Most successful business owners will have planned carefully its growth and development, so why stop now? Exit planning is just as important and valuable.
Preparation
Looking ahead and grooming the business to broaden the avenues for an eventual sale or retirement always pays dividends. Whichever way you look at it, whether you are simply selling or retiring, the better placed the business is to carry on without you, the better your prospects of achieving a good price. Make sure that the business is well positioned to continue and not about to run out of steam.
Presentation
You wouldn’t expect to get the best price for your car without cleaning off the mud and giving it a polish. It’s in our nature to make it look as good as possible, to make it attractive and reduce reasons for being knocked down. So how good will your business look when you try to find a buyer? After all the planning and preparation that has gone into the sale, you can’t afford to let the side down with a shabby presentation of the business.
Personal
One more ‘P’. Retirement rarely catches people unawares nowadays, so there’s no excuse for not thinking ahead. Whatever the reason for selling, considerations go beyond getting the best price for your business. How can you shelter the hard-earned rewards of your business endeavours from Gordon Brown? Personal tax planning will be as important as getting the business into shape with the three P’s.
