Why fire trucks always back in Have you ever noticed that fire trucks always back into the fire hall? Why don’t they just pull into their parking spot snout-forward like the rest of us? Backing in at the end of a shift saves them time when they have to get to a fire. They back […]

Picture a magic slot machine. Each time you pull the arm, you make back a multiple of whatever you wagered. How much time would you devote to cranking that arm? When it comes to the value of your business, you can make many bets, but only one has a virtually guaranteed return. Most companies are valued

Doctors in the developing world measure their progress not by the aggregate number of children who die in childbirth but by the infant mortality rate, a ratio of the number of births to deaths.  Similarly, baseball’s leadoff batters measure their “on-base percentage” – the number of times they get on base as a percentage of

A football defensive coordinator needs to protect against an “end run,” a tactical play where your opponent sends the running back wide around the offensive line to try to evade the oncoming tackle. Just like in football, you have to defend against an end run coming from a supplier that chooses to go around you

Many business owners believe the act of selling their business is similar to passing the baton in a 400 meter relay: once you’re finished running, you get to relax.  In reality, buyers will insist that you stay on for a transition period – anywhere from six months to five years – during which time you

If you’re looking to attract an investor or an acquirer one day, expect them to dig into your sales and marketing process. If you’re a company that sells to other businesses, an investor will want to know where you get your leads from and how much each costs you to generate. They’ll want to know

Whether you’re planning to sell your company sometime soon or sometime in the future; now is the time to ensure that your business isn’t all about you. From the latest Value Builder Score* research involving 2300 companies from around the globe, here are two key factors that are linked to the probability of getting an

Let’s say you’re in the market for buying a house and you go to view one that looks appealing in the ad. How does it look on the inside? The outside? What about the location? What is your general impression? Like your house, your business projects an image to potential buyers. When they come to

Most business owners think selling their business is a sprint, but the reality is it takes a long time to sell a company.  The sound of the gun sends blood flowing as you leap forward out of the blocks. Within five seconds you’re at top speed and within a dozen your eye is searching for

Why Bother Doing It The Hard Way? Whether you want to sell your business next year or a decade from now, you will have two basic options for an external sale: the financial or the strategic buyer. The Financial Buyer The financial buyer is buying the rights to your future profit stream, so the more