As a business owner, you have a full stable of professional advisors at your disposal to answer questions and highlight best practices regarding finances, accounting, legal issues and more. It’s easy to see how hiring a business consulting firm could be seen as redundant.
But the expertise and experience you get from a business consultant really is different, and in the right situation, such as preparing to sell your business, invaluable.
Most Business Owners Have Never Sold Their Business Before
Preparing your business for sale is unlike any other aspect of the business lifecycle in that it’s something most business owners do only once in their lives. It’s also a transaction that once complete, you can’t go back and make adjustments to do it right.
It’s difficult for owners to identify their best path to liquidity or business succession because they’ve never been in this position before. Business consultants have, and an experienced business consulting firm can help owners to gain perspective of how to achieve the most value for their business or how to mitigate taxes in the potential sale of their business.
The Value of Pre-Planning
Hiring an expert during the pre-planning phase of a business transition is when consulting services cost the least and materialize the greatest return. The sooner you decide on a pathway to execute, the sooner you can recognize where your focus should lie and clarify the goals that will need to be achieved prior to a successful exit.
The earlier you engage professional guidance in the business transition process, the higher the ROI. Simply put, starting long before you need to exit provides valuable time for implementing all the strategies that can increase the value of your business, the more likely it is you will realize a higher sales price as a result.
Additional Scenarios for Hiring a Business Consultant
While maximizing return from the sale of your business is one of the more common reasons for seeking expert advice, there are a number of circumstances where an outside perspective can illuminate the most effective course of action for your business.
- You have not identified an internal suitor to own and manage your business
- You have identified a qualified internal successor but don’t know how to obtain the necessary capital to achieve all stakeholders’ goals
- You have business initiatives planned but lack the in-house resources or expertise to implement the changes successfully or in a timely manner
- A major business decision must be made that will impact the long-term future of the company
- You are making a sizeable investment in the growth of your business
- Changes are being made to your leadership team
- Productivity or profitability is down, and you require a third-party audit of business processes and operations
- Labor costs are high and you need guidance for downsizing a bloated payroll
- You are coming into a positive trend in the business and the timing feels right to explore what’s possible
- You are exploring the possibility of a merger or acquisition
- You have yet to complete your family, life, exit, and estate planning
Experience Translates into Better Outcomes
Investing in resources that highlight the best course of action for any given business decision is the first step towards achieving the outcome you desire. The advantage of working with a business consulting firm is that you immediately bring experience to your team with the specific business problem you are looking to resolve.
Trusting the expertise of the firm is necessary to achieve the best results.
