Assembling a Team to Sell Your Business
You’ve spent your career building a valuable business, and now you’re ready to sell. You may even have an offer in hand! This monumental career milestone is one you deserve to move through with confidence–knowing you’re walking away from the sale with the best possible outcome for your future, employees, and legacy. How do you achieve that? By putting together a team of experts to help you sell your business.
In truth, the sale process can be long, taxing, time consuming, and complex, especially if you’re trying to bootstrap it without experience. Even if you’ve already received an offer, a stress-free exit is an unlikely outcome if you don’t have the right team of advisors in place.
Hiring an expert support team during a sale is an investment that pays for itself. The right partners will save countless hours, increase valuation, negotiate more favorable terms, prevent the deal from falling through, and provide the confidence you’re looking for. In this article, we discuss how to assemble a team to sell your business, including:
- Investment Bank
- Accountant
- Your Internal Management
- Wealth Manager and Tax Advisor
- Attorney
The Team You Need to Sell Your Business
Investment Bank
When you sell your business, the first member of your team is an investment bank. An investment bank like Skytale Group will become your go-to advisor, leading you step-by-step through the entire sale process.
With deep industry knowledge and transaction experience, an investment bank can create a strategic exit, favorable deal structure, and the highest value in your sale. (Often, we help clients who come to us with LOIs in hand achieve 40-50% higher values.) In addition, an investment bank is the only type of M&A broker or advisor that is also FINRA licensed, ensuring their services will be regulated to ensure fairness and honesty.
Through a sophisticated M&A process, an IB will get to know your business to find its true valuation, market your business to an extensive buyer network (75-100 buyers is typical for our clients), conduct due diligence, negotiate purchase terms, and more. They’ll communicate with buyers, attorneys, accountants, and internal management. Without the knowledge and experience of a banker, there are critical moments throughout the sale process where a deal can fall through. It’s essential to have a point-person to keep a sale moving forward.
There are many types of M&A brokers, but they don’t all come equipped with the same amount of experience. We break down the differences and consider the many advantages to working with an investment bank here.
Accountant
Much of the legwork in a sale will be in collecting financial data. You’ll need an accountant to provide accurate and timely updates of financial statements, give commentary on historical accounting practices, and support for financial diligence.
Financial data will ensure that your company’s value is supported by numbers. Your investment bank will work hand in hand with your accountant, CPA, and team to reduce your burden as the owner. It’s not critical that your accountant has M&A experience, but rather that they have a deep understanding of and access to your company’s financials.
Internal Management Team
One of the more challenging aspects of selling your business will be determining how and when to share the news with your management team and employees. News of a sale can be disruptive and emotional. It can create needless chaos if it gets out too early in the process.
Of course, some members of your management team will need to play a role in the sale process. (Your accountant, for example, will need to know before they begin providing financial statements.) How do you prepare your management team for a sale? Here are some considerations we recommend:
- Create alignment in your vision: You have a vision for selling your business. When it’s time to share the news with a key manager, make sure to help them buy-in to what you’re trying to achieve, the problem you’re hoping to solve, and your long term vision.
- Consider who needs to know (and when): It’s not in your best interest to tell team members about a sale too early. Instead, share the news on an as needed basis. For example, let in your accountant or CFO when you need to start gathering financial documents. If a person plays an instrumental role in operations, the buyers will eventually need them on board before closing. An advisor like an investment bank can help coach you through the timing and process.
- Have patience: There can be a lot of hurry-up-and-wait during a sale. You’ll kick off the process scrambling to collect data. Then, there may be one to two months of downtime as your investment bank fields calls from buyers. It’s all part of the process, so set expectations accordingly.
- Keep it positive: News of a sale can be emotional for employees. When it’s finally time to share the news company-wide, your team will play off your positive energy. You don’t want to transfer any of your own stress from the process to your team. A great team of advisors can help buffer the emotion and ensure the announcement goes well, which is in both the seller’s and the buyer’s best interest.
Wealth Manager/Tax Advisor
As investment bankers, we have a small snapshot into a seller’s overall financial picture. We see the offer, but not a client’s entire picture of wealth. A wealth manager can ensure that a business owner can continue their lifestyle based on the wealth and income post close. A tax advisor can set up structures to avoid taxes and get maximum gains.
If you don’t already have a wealth manager prior to the sale, start interviewing one when you see your first LOIs. It takes time to get your finances in place, and there are strategies your advisor can implement in real time to reduce your taxable income. Ask potential advisors if they have a dedicated tax team who understands the tax implications of the sale and your financial future.
Once you have a wealth manager in place, your investment bank will communicate with them throughout the sale process so they can set up a financial plan for you and your family post closing.
Attorney
The final member of your team will be legal counsel. An attorney will negotiate and review the many legal documents required for the sale of business and conduct legal diligence throughout the process. Never sign an LOI until you’ve had legal counsel review it.
As a healthcare practice owner, it’s critical to find legal counsel with both M&A and healthcare experience. Even if you have a family or personal attorney, you’ll need to hire an attorney who specializes in M&A and has extensive experience navigating transactions. Because healthcare comes with specific laws (like Corporate Practice of Medicine Doctrine) that impact ownership, you’ll need a lawyer who knows healthcare, too. While an attorney with this expertise may seem more expensive from a rate perspective, an attorney without it will spend many more hours (billable ones) getting up to speed.
Looking to hire an attorney to help you sell your business? Here are questions we advise you ask:
- What kind of law do you practice? Are you a dedicated M&A firm (or group)?
- Do you have healthcare, PPM, and CPOM experience?
- How is your team structured? (Understand what resources will be available to you.)
- Can you walk me through the transaction documents I can expect to be signing? (If they can’t explain them in a way you understand, that’s a red flag.)
A great attorney understands the deal process, your industry, and even your business. An attorney and investment bank have a symbiotic relationship, working closely together on your behalf to negotiate legal and business points in the deal.
Don’t Navigate a Sale on Your Own
You’ve carried your business this far. Now, surround yourself with the best possible team as you transition into the next phase of your career. From investment bankers to attorneys, put the right team in place to sell your business. Reach out to Skytale Group to learn more about how our investment banking team drives value for sellers.
