When selling a business, how are you going to get advice from business owners in the same scenario?  Who will a frontrunner turn to? A leader should forever look the part:  confident and knowledgeable.  The reality is, however, that once you sell your business, you are doubtless doing it for the first time and facing obstacles and choices that aren’t taught in any classroom.

How will you make sure all options have been discovered and thought through? The impact of your choices can be dramatic on you, your family, the business and your employees, and the strain can be tremendous.  Who can you depend upon that has been in these shoes before?  One way is Peer Advisory Boards.

After we founded Peer Advisory Boards with a curriculum specifically for transitioning business owners, they are embraced wholeheartedly.  The business owners provide and receive a wealth of advice and support both personally and professionally for each other.  It is a safe haven where other selling business owners faced with similar personal and professional challenges gather to share experiences and confer with each other in absolute confidence. Group members provide one another objectives, high quality, relevant professional counsel and direct insights. They hold each other accountable to their goals, and are dedicated to supporting each other's distinctive dreams for their own future and for selling the company.

Usually speaking, a Peer Advisory Board may be a small, fastidiously selected group of people who meet together regularly to assist each other.  The participants may be from one or a variety of companies, small business owners, or professionals in any field.

We have held them for business owners, for ‘rising leaders’ or high performing individuals at intervals one company or in another state of affairs with multiple companies coming together in the same forum.  We have led them with executives from different companies in Europe, Asia and Africa.  In each instance, participants embrace and respond enthusiastically the opportunity to be told from their peers  in a  safe and confidential environment.

The aim of each group is unique as a result of it sets its own goals, agenda and time frame.  It will not need to be centered on selling a business.  Irrespective of what the subject, they assist members achieve particular goals, solve issues, brainstorm opportunities, exchange best practices and improve business performance.  Valuable for all levels, for those at the top of their organizations, it is particularly so.  When selling a business, they will not only be set up for peer business owners, but also internally, inside the business being sold for the business’s top executives.

There are multiple rewards for involvement in a Peer Advisory Board.  As an example, rather than accessing the knowledge and thinking of only one individual, as in having solely one mentor, a Peer Advisory Board offers the knowledge of many minds and years of experience.

By making a think tank surroundings, group brainstorming and sharing best practices and tools will resolve issues and find opportunities that otherwise might have been overlooked.  This is often practical, affordable business and private advice that can raise the performance of all participants.  In a business sale scenario, ideas and solutions can help to lift business valuation.

Accountability is another key benefit.  The group holds its members responsible to the plans they share with each other.  Frequently the Peer Advisory Board is instrumental in the development of those plans. They acknowledge accomplishments, and inspire each other’s progress.  The group catalyzes achievement by helping develop plans and empower their implementation.

Peer Advisory Boards are a self-designed mentoring program to address issues, challenges, and opportunities with others during a confidential setting.   They are a customized channel for self-improvement, encouragement and friendship that is most enjoyable and rewarding.

You must not expect a mentor, particularly during the highly stressful method of selling a business.   As fellow business owners looking to enter a replacement phase of their life when selling their business, you will have peers sharing their similar experiences, offering suggestions and tools, and celebrating you obtaining the simplest deal possible. 

I invite you to use these ideas throughout your journey to sell a business.

Marian Cook is a highly sought after business transition expert and speaker with over 25 years experience helping business owners design their best-life exit strategy, and improve their business performance and valuation.  She is the co-author of “Selling Your Business For More:  Maximizing Returns For You, Your Family and Your Business” (published by Macmillan).  If you are ready to sell a business and jump-start your business sale process, connect with Marian via her free tips, articles, checklists and blog at Business Transition Experts.

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