Our Process
Step 1 – Objectives
Selling your business starts with clear understanding of what you want to accomplish from the Exit Planning Process. Determining what you want is the most important step of the entire process.
- When do I want to sell my business?
- What is the annual after-tax income required I sell?
- Who will I sell my company to?
- What adjustments can I make now to improve my future sale price?
Step 2 – Business and Personal Financial Resources
Evaluating your personal assets, how much the business is worth in the open market and how much cash flow the business can generate for Exit Planning is the next step. The current value and projected cash flow, along with other non-business assets and income, are used to maximize the outcome of your planning.
Step 3 – Maximizing and Protecting Business Value
What elements build the value of a business or protect the value you have worked so hard to create are called Value Drivers. In Step Three, we identify which Value Drivers are most important to meet your exit objectives and we will articulate specific steps to maximize the impact of these Value Drivers.
Step 4 – Maximizing Sale Value to Third Parties
During Step Four, we will help identify a strategy that will results in the most beneficial sale price and terms. Not all business owners go through Step Four – those who don’t either retain their ownership long-term or skip to Step Five.
Step 5 – Transfers to Insiders
Step Five includes a detailed plan to transfer the business to insiders (children, key employees or co-owners). Careful planning in this step allows you to receive the desired value from your business while minimizing risk and the resources of the business, even if the buyer has little or no personal capital.
Step 6 – Business Continuity
Step Six prepares the owner for the contingencies that affect the business and its owners. A complete Exit Plan incorporates potential changes, such as death or permanent disability of an owner, so that the owner’s objectives will still be achieved if circumstances change.
Step 7 – Personal Wealth and Estate Planning
The sale of a business generates cash for owners, their families and the IRS. During Step Seven, you and your advisors create a plan that not only preserves wealth, but minimizes taxes using both lifetime and estate-planning tools.
Conclusion
Advanced Exit Planning will walk you though an entire process, specifically designed to help you protect and maximize the value of your company.