Host Rob Ferguson brought Robert Sher onto the Business by Design show to talk about business valuation and the importance of having an acquisition element to your strategic plan, and an exit strategy.
How does Rob’s book, The Feel of the Deal, help business owners know what it feels like to buy a business? What does the transaction feel like? Callers ask questions and hear Robert respond.
To hear this audio, please click below.
Nobody can wear all the hats in an acquisition. Most CEOs need and want advisors to help them in their M&A efforts. How well you can work with those advisors may determine the outcome.
A purchase agreement in which the seller receives more if certain benchmarks are met by the buyer in the years following the sale is called an “earn-out”. Such devices hold the promise of giving the seller more from their sale over time, or setting performance standards for the buyer. But they’re tricky, unpredictable, and may poison the relationship.
There are major benefits in getting to know your competitors on a personal level. Leave your preconceptions at the door and engage with them as people. You have little to lose and a great deal to gain.
One of the most important things to understand about sellers is why they want to sell. Don’t expect that they’ll just tell you the true reason they are selling if they think it will hurt the price or likelihood of the sale. Here are two lists: good reasons to sell and the reasons that should set off alarm bells.
How does your company make decisions? Is your top team afflicted by one of these four illnesses? Learn how to curb the infection and mitigate the damage.
Robert Sher is founding principal of CEO to CEO, a consulting firm of former chief executives that improves the leadership infrastructure of midsized companies seeking to accelerate their performance. He was chief executive of Bentley Publishing Group from 1984 to 2006 and steered the firm to become a leading player in its industry (decorative art publishing).