The right coffee chat can put your company on the right track
A comment we often hear from sellers of companies is they wish they could turn back time and if they could, they would have done things differently in terms of preparing their business for a successful exit. This is most often because when the acquirer came in, the seller heard them asking for things that the seller was not prepared to impress them with. This can and should be avoided to help you reach your euphoric exit outcome.
In my prior life as a CEO of manufacturing and service businesses, I developed a process I refer to as “Coffee Chats”. A coffee chat is simply identifying the right target for a potential future acquirer, developing effective messaging to contact them and conducting an information gathering conversation with them that enables you to learn what the top value drivers are for a company like yours in their eyes. Having a few coffee chats with a cross section of future potential acquirers will give you an enormous amount of helpful information that you can use in building your business.
Coffee chats can help you learn what an acquirer will focus on when they place a valuation on your business. Every industry is different in terms of what the top value drivers are in the eyes of an acquirer. Is it specific to your financial results, is it your customer access and mix, is it your sales pipeline of future growth opportunities, is it your intellectual property and stickiness with your customers or is it your team? Or are there other things they will want to see in order to be willing to place an attractive valuation on your business. Acquirers in every industry have the top 5 value drivers they look for when considering an acquisition and those for your business shouldn’t be a mystery.
Don’t be one of those sellers that one day has regrets and is less than euphoric with the valuation you receive from an acquirer. Start at least 2 years prior to considering an exit by setting up some coffee chats. They could ultimately be the best cups of coffee you’ll ever have and will guide you on your way to a future euphoric exit. Contact us today if you want to know how to conduct coffee chats for your company.
