When it comes to making your business as attractive as possible to potential buyers, anything you can do to reduce their perception of risk is going to command a higher offer. Think about the risk profile of a potential buyer. How can you mitigate their perceived risk?
The answer is predictability. Having predictable business processes, revenue streams, and customer data is critical. It’s often more important than growth or even profitability in the minds of many buyers.
What is a Buyer Looking For?
You have consistent, predictable revenue streams. Buyers need to feel comfortable that you’ve established reliable and diverse streams of income that won’t disappear when the sale goes through.
You have documented systems and processes that anyone could adopt. If your rockstar VP of Sales leaves the company, is his or her sales process documented in detail? How does she do her reporting? How does she process a lead? How does she conduct weekly meetings with her team? You’ll want to be able to hand over an Operating Manual on how to run your business covering every major function including accounting, sales, marketing, customer service, and even how you use your tech stack.
You have long term customer relationships. It’s incredibly valuable to see a well-served and well-established customer base. You’ll want to cultivate this as early as possible.
