What is Exit Planning?

Some may think that Exit Planning is contacting a Business Broker or M&A Advisor to tell them you want to sell your business and plan to retire in the next 6 months. It isn’t. If that is your goal, please contact a Business Broker or M&A Advisor ASAP.

Think of an Exit Plan as a Strategic Business Plan designed with future buyers in mind. It’s a completely new way to look at your business and should be started at least 3 years before you’d consider selling. Here are some of the items that a thoughtfully conceived Exit Plan or “Roadmap” will include:

Your potential buyers (and why they would buy your company)
How you will be valued by them
Determination of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that drive value
Plan for process/system mapping
Ways to build leverage
Ways to build IP (Intellectual Property)
Your strategic plan
Analysis of risks and plan to reduce or eliminate them
and much more

Some say “build a business you love and not a business you want to sell”. This is great advice when choosing what business you want to be in, but terrible advice when running your business. You will eventually want to exit or will have to exit. You don’t want to end up at retirement with a lucrative hobby business that no one else will value or that has no value without you. Exit Planning will ensure that you are building a strong, stable, and valuable business that can run without you.

Developing an Exit Plan with Manley Strategic, and following the plan, will make your business healthier and more valuable (and help you sleep better at night).