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O P I N I O N
Why is your firm for sale? If you figure out the answer to that all-important question on the front end, you’ll have a great chance of closing on the right M&A deal.
O ne of the key responsibilities of any business owner is to lead their firm on a path for solid, sustainable growth – and to be open to evolving as the market demands and opportunities arise. Steady growth can mean organic growth – expansion by developing your own resources, or inorganic growth – expansion through M&A. But in order to convince someone else to join your firm, you need to be able to clearly communicate the vision you have for what the future could be like if the firms join forces.
Jamie Claire Kiser
able to effectively explain to potential buyers why the future would be better for the buyer if they combined entities. Establishing the reason for the conversation and aligning each firm on why this decision makes sense can help both sides ease the tension that inevitably comes from exposing your business to the scrutiny of an outsider, and can help keep the focus on the future, not just on the past. “One of the first questions that potential buyers ask us when we contact them on behalf of sellers is the motivation for the sale.”
Failing to communicate the vision and the strategic fit is a common misstep that does not apply just to buyers. Too often, we hear sellers that do not really know what they bring to the table. It is very hard to pitch a firm to a prospective buyer when we have no idea what we are “selling.” Is it capability? Expertise? A niche? Why this particular buyer? Why are they interesting to the seller? The selling company’s CEO needs to be “In order to convince someone else to join your firm, you need to be able to clearly communicate the vision you have for what the future could be like if the firms join forces.”
See JAMIE CLAIRE KISER, page 8
THE ZWEIG LETTER August 8, 2016, ISSUE 1163
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