M&A Talk, by Morgan & Westfield

Human performance directly impacts your company's bottom line and overall value. But how do we get the most and best out of ourselves and our team? Expert Darrell Gunter, president and CEO of Gunter Media Group, shares his knowledge and insights on improving performance in order to achieve the success that you desire for your business.

Ed and Sonia Ketchoyian, former owners of a PuroClean franchise in Sterling, Virginia, were prepared to sell their business in terms of the financial aspect and the negotiation. However, Ed realized that they were initially not ready to face the emotional aspect that came with the process of selling their company.

Find out on this episode of Deal Talk how Ed and Sonia had overcome the emotional challenges they encountered to eventually sell their company at the price they had always wanted. Ed Ketchoyian shares some enlightening insights and invaluable tips to help you deal with ‘unexpected’ emotional instances that might arise as you go through the process of selling your business.

What does a prospective buyer already know about your company? Why is it important that the buyer understands why you want to sell your company? How can you prevent certain issues from coming up that could nix the transaction completely? These are just a few of the questions that M&A folks help sellers understand every day.

Understanding the psychology of the participants in a deal is important in order to work toward the success of the transaction. Ed Murphy, former vice president for strategic transactions at SAIC is enjoying retired life, but he joins us on this edition of Deal Talk to help future sellers understand what a buyer may be thinking and what sellers should do and not do during the sales process.

As much as you may love what you do, you also have to get away and recharge. And one day, you will want to walk away once and for all. The question is, if it’s difficult for you to leave the business for a few days’ vacation with your family, how easy will it be for you to sell your business? 

The truth is:  Your business won’t sell unless it is ready to sell, and it won’t be ready to sell if a prospective buyer does not see a strong management team. Do you have a strong partner or manager whom you can trust to run the business when you’re not around? 

Our guest, Mark Oxenham, a business coach providing advice on exit planning and business sales, explains exactly how having a reliable Second in Charge could lift the value of your business.

You already know from listening to "Deal Talk" how important a valuation of your company can be in the due diligence stage of the M&A process or even for periodic assessment of where your company stands, and also for tax or even divorce-related reasons. However, if you're an entrepreneur, just how insightful might an appraisal of your new start-up or early-stage business be to help you determine where your business is at? According to our guest, Pieter Stam, a business appraiser at Amsterdam-based Troostvijk, an early valuation is not only insightful, but valuable, in terms of the impact it could have on the value of your business.

For the buyer, retirement funds can be accessed quickly and with a high success rate, whereas bank financing is often difficult to access. It is considerably easier for a seller to accept an offer that is contingent on a buyer accessing retirement funds to buy a business. Many offers are contingent on the buyer receiving bank financing to purchase a business. Most sellers are reluctant to accept these offers because of the traditionally high failure rate of obtaining a bank loan to purchase a business.

As a business owner, you dream of success, profits, satisfied customers, and--hopefully--of someday retiring to start that next chapter of your life. But not all business owners retire after selling their companies. As a young family man with a passion for life, art and startup businesses, Jeremy Wells had just sold a business, and now he's taking some much-deserved time-off before going on to his next big endeavor. Jeremy shares with us his experiences in selling his company during some challenging times. Was it as difficult as he thought it might be? Did he have any regrets? What can other business owners learn from his experiences? 

Relationships are important, especially the ones you have with each and every member of your supply chain. But sometimes, as our guest on this edition of "Deal Talk" might tell you, our long-term relationships can cloud our judgment when it comes to the bottom line. When was the last time you audited your distribution network or your supply chain as a whole? How much have rising costs chewed into your profits? When was the last time you put your materials or distribution needs up for bidding? Tim Van Mieghem, a partner at The ProAction Group in Chicago, has seen it all. Jeff Allen speaks with Tim about the warning signs and what you can do to help get your supply chain costs under control so more money goes to your bottom line.

With several exceptions, most of us have no interest in selling our businesses immediately because we have so much more we want to achieve with our companies. However, the simple fact is that "life happens." And sometimes that means circumstances beyond our control and even welcome surprises happen when we least expect them, making the need to sell our businesses sooner rather than later a pressing priority. That, according to our guest, is the reason why we need to get our businesses "sell-ready." Marc Borrelli, CFA, Vistage chair and accomplished global M&A advisor, talks with host Jeff Allen about the steps every business owner should begin to take now to get their businesses sell-ready as soon as possible, because you never know what the future will bring. 

If you like “free,” this program is for you, particularly if you’re looking for free advice on real ideas to help you improve the value of your business. You may already be doing a couple of the things on our list, but some of our guest expert’s suggestions may take you by surprise as the types of suggestions that you can actually begin to institute right away.  Ms. Anja Bernier is a Fortune 500 trained company sale and acquisition advisor. As the CEO of Efficient Evolutions LLC in Boston, MA, Ms. Bernier specializes in working with small businesses in all stages of the M&A process as well as those companies looking to grow.