Change—the complete practice of selling a business is regarding change. Its quantity and degree depend on many factors: density and magnitude of your business, the deal structure, your preparation, how dependent your business is on you, and several more. Today many owners selling a company, you will have the wrong impression and underestimate the impact of this alteration on others. William Bridges, author of Managing Transitions, put it best:

Before you begin something new, you have got to finish what used to be. . . . Before you can become a different kind of person, you need to let go of your previous identity. Thus beginnings rely on endings. The problem is, people don’t like endings. However change and endings go hand in hand: change causes transition, and transition starts with an ending. If things change within a corporation, a minimum of some of the employees and managers are going to have to abandone something. It isn’t the changes themselves that the employees in these cases resist. It’s the losses and endings that that has been experienced and the change that they are resisting.

It does not matter of the size of your companies, both you and your team of managers will need to guide individuals beyond their hesitations and illustrate to them the opportunities that lay ahead, in an exceedingly skilled but sensitive manner. You need a change management method and skilled people to help you anticipate what lies ahead. In all cases, you would like to recognize that sale of your business brings important changes that individuals around you may see as threatening.

Some practitioners believe transition development and statement planning belong later in the sequence of selling a business . Our experience and competent strategies have shown us otherwise. Once you’ve decided to sell, it’s extremely important to understand, understand, and speak concerning how and when you will pass the torch to the new owners. Communicating to internal and external stakeholders correctly is essential. Finally, when planning the way to sell a business, embrace a contingency arrangement for identifying and mitigating risks of many types.

Selling a business   may be a complex, time-consuming project, and it’s seemingly the foremost important one among your business life. Although you won’t do all of the detailed work, work personally with all external and internal teams. You would like to guide their actions in the context of your selling arrangement and to document goals and track each component of them to completion. Since this is often probably the most important professional and financial event of your career, letting it get out of hand is not an option.

Sellers and buyers must perceive and respect the sophistication and impact of the effort. "Habit is habit," Mark Twain said, "and not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time." Your people can need your coaxing, because selling a business can disrupt everybody’s work and relationship "habits." Leading individuals through change takes time, and it’s a struggle to insert a threatening happening and new work into the regular stream of activities and habits that consume their business day.

Besides changes that happen because you’re selling the business, the method of selling it represents change. Selling a business—a brand new experience for many—may be a full-time activity placed upon people who have already got full-time jobs. You have got to take care not to kill the goose that’s laying your golden eggs simply as you are making an attempt to sell it. Overtaxing individuals with work or anxiety regarding their jobs will definitely decrease their productivity.

Managing the process properly, like any sophisticated project, is paramount, whether or not your business is a small one. It’s essential to have detailed project plans that identify resources and time frames specifically. Most businesses have not been through the selling method before and lack methodologies, tools, or institutional skills to draw upon. Calling on outside experts if need be can help to forge realistic plans and expectations and convey the support you may need.

As a onerous-charging entrepreneur, your initial reaction could be that we tend to exaggerate the difficulty and making an attempt to mollycoddle the employees. Not true. Our expertise has shown us that taking note of the employees aspect of the equation invariably pays off.  The people that have made your business a successful one are an important part of the business and its valuation, and deserve your thoughtful consideration when planning to sell a business.

I invite you to use these concepts during 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.

Be Sociable, Share!

•