Business sale preparation is crucial for creating value and successfully selling a business, often representing the ultimate achievement for entrepreneurs. However, a staggering 70% plus of business sales fail. We have worked with sellers for over 30 years and can help prepare your company for a rewarding sale or increase shareholder value for a better business.
At AVSTR, we champion purposeful capitalism and meaningful change through bold, innovative thinking. Guided by trust, teamwork, agility, and employee focus, we go beyond traditional financial advising. We listen, learn, and adapt, building transparent partnerships with our clients to understand their needs and empower them to succeed in a complex world.
There are many reasons why companies fail to sell, and the following are what we consider to be the key issues to address:
1 – Lack of understanding of the buyer’s perspective: Many entrepreneurs fail to grasp how potential buyers evaluate businesses and without accurately identifying what buyers need, sellers struggle to position their businesses effectively.
2 – Leadership and resource challenges: Poor resources and expertise can hinder preparation and diminish the attractiveness of the business to potential buyers.
3 – Inadequate pre-sale due diligence and planning: Rushing into the sales process without thorough due diligence and strategic planning can result in missed opportunities.
4 – Poor presentation and information: Incomplete or unclear documentation discourages buyers.
5 – Overconfidence: An entrepreneur may become overly attached to their business, leading to overestimating its value. This can make sellers blind to reality and result in a failure to address weaknesses or flaws that may deter buyers.
6 – Business design and insufficient margin: Also ran businesses with flawed operating models and low margins will struggle to excite buyers. A detailed analysis of the business model will help to identify, for example, which product lines should be culled or extended, which problem contracts and/or supply chains should be renegotiated, which technology and automation can improve the sale process or to simply target higher value customers.
7 – Poor fundamentals: Buyers seek businesses with strong fundamentals and potential. This means that it is essential for sellers to identify and address any shortcomings in their business model before entering into a sale process.
Creating shareholder value requires a different skill set to running a business just for profit. It takes time, resources and understanding. Selling a company is often poetically just and punishes the unprepared.
Our AV consultants are seasoned deal makers and business sale preparation advisers with significant knowledge of buyer psychology and the key factors that make companies more attractive and valuable. Our approach includes:
- Guidance and advice to help you create a more valuable business.
- Personalised and tailored consulting – no faff, no apps and no checklists.
- Vendor due diligence – we identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business model.
- Current and future valuation analysis to assess value expectations.
- We take the time to understand you, your business, your team, and your aspirations.
- Cost reduction, operating model inspiration.
- Frank and the best advice to prepare your business for sale.
“We would thoroughly recommend Avondale to any company currently in the position we were in two years ago of knowing you need to do ‘something’, perhaps feeling that you do not want to and certainly not knowing what ‘something’ might be or look like! Their preparation and guidance to increase shareholder value was invaluable.” – Januarys
“From day one, Avondale helped me increase the value of my business. Over two years they worked with me to increase my profit levels and ensure the company was as desirable as possible to buyers.” – Fast Technology
