Exiting your business might not be the first thing that came to mind when you started your venture. We usually hear success stories of entrepreneurs setting up businesses, but not so many about exits.
Selling the business that you’ve worked hard to grow is just one of the options available to you when it comes to deciding how you want to leave the business. The truth is, you’re going to leave your business in one way or another, whether it’s through your own choice or not.
Ideally, you want it to be on your terms, right?
According to a report by UBS, 41% of business owners expect to exit their business in the next five years.
But how can you make sure that you’re not part of the 25% of directors aged over 66, who’ve failed to sell their businesses before their planned retirement? This has resulted in them feeling trapped in their business for much longer than they anticipated.
In this blog, you’ll get insights into how building your brand can benefit your business, especially when the time comes to sell it. You’ll learn:
- The benefits of exiting your business.
- What is a brand?
- Why do you need to build your brand?
- How can you build your brand?
- How to prepare for a successful business exit?
- Ways to exit your business
But first, let’s address the point, why should you sell your business? To most business owners, the business is like their baby. It’s a culmination of years of hard work and dedication, so why should you even consider exiting it?
Benefits of exiting your business
Let’s talk about some of the benefits of exiting your business:
- Financial gain: The most obvious benefit is the financial gain you’ll receive from the sale of your company. This can provide a significant financial return on your investment, effort and hard work over the years, assuming you’ve made it attractive enough to the right buyer
- Exit strategy: If you’ve been running your company for a while, selling it can provide an exit strategy and a way to transition out of the business. Especially if you want to focus on other things.
- Increased resources: By becoming part of another (potentially larger) company, your business and employees can gain access to increased resources and expertise. This can include advanced technology, marketing, and other resources.
- Career advancement: A sale can provide new career opportunities and professional growth for your employees.
Now that you have a better understanding of the benefits of exiting your business, let’s have a look at how you can build your brand to attract the right buyers.
What is a brand?
In simple terms, a brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one company’s goods or services from another.
However, when it comes to marketing, your brand is much more than just your logo. Your brand is the entire personality of your business, it’s the way you communicate (through content) with your target audience.
Why do you need to build your brand?
Your brand dictates how people perceive your business, which means it needs to be consistent across all platforms.
Delivering a consistent brand personality across all platforms helps build trust, authority and loyalty – but most of all, allows your business to be immediately recognised by the right clients, leading to greater brand awareness.
In fact, according to a survey done by Nielson, 59% of consumers prefer to buy products from brands they are familiar with.
Building a brand also future-proofs your business from new competitors, pricing wars, becoming irrelevant, and other external threats. If you want to make a lasting impact with your business, then your brand needs to be bigger than whatever it is you’re selling.
Building your brand can also give you more freedom as a business owner. How you may ask? Well, if you’re solely relying on word-of-mouth marketing at the moment, you don’t have a scalable business.
Word-of-mouth and relationship marketing is great, however, they will leave you stuck, because it means people only buy from your business because they know you as the CEO or director of the company.
This requires 1-on-1 relationship building and is not scalable. When you leave the business, what happens then? Can the business run without you being in it 100% of the time?
Building a business brand can allow you to step out and gain more freedom because now, it’s the brand that people are buying from, not you.
So let’s look at a few examples of brand building in action.
B2C brand example: Apple
A great example is Apple, the people that are loyal to the Apple brand will always buy from them, regardless of what competitors come out with, or at what price point.
That’s the power of building a brand that resonates and speaks directly to your target audience.
A lot can be learned from what Apple has done to build a powerful brand, this includes:
- Focus on design – Apple has worked hard to build a reputation for creating sleek, simple, minimalist, yet visually appealing products for their consumers. Their emphasis on good design is what differentiates them from their competitors, and their customers know it. It’s this reputation that creates a loyal following.
- Strong brand identity – They have built a strong identity through consistent use of their logo, messaging and marketing campaigns. Whoever you are, you’ll instantly recognise an ad or social media post by Apple. Consistency in branding, imagery and messaging across all platforms, is what can set you apart from your competitors.
- Create community – Apple has created a community of loyal customers, who are passionate about the brand and its products. They’ve done this by building anticipation through product launches, and social media engagement, as well as providing excellent customer service through all their channels.
B2B brand example: Rockwell Collins
Rockwell Collins was a company that designed and manufactured avionics and information technology systems for aircraft. It was founded in 1933 and grew to become a leader in the aerospace and defence industry, by building a strong brand and winning numerous awards and accolades for its technology, innovation and customer service.
Again, just like Apple, we can learn a lot from what Rockwell Collins did to build their brand to become the market leader:
- Always innovating – They made significant investments in research and development, focussing on innovation and the development of cutting-edge technology. This positioned them as a market leader in a competitive industry such as aerospace.
- Prioritising customer service – They placed a strong emphasis on customer service, offering comprehensive support for its products. By building these strong relationships with its high-value clients it was able to earn their trust and loyalty. Taking care of your clients is important for long-term brand building.
- Focus on quality – They were known for their commitment to quality and highest standards in the design, manufacturing and testing of their products. By prioritising quality they established themselves as a trusted and reliable supplier and built a strong reputation for excellence.
- Leveraged thought leadership – Rockwell Collins positioned itself as the thought leader in their market, by sharing expertise and insights through industry events, publications and other marketing channels. Actively sharing thought leadership content meant they were seen as the leading authority on industry trends and best practices, which allowed them to build credibility and become a trusted partner for their clients.
Rockwell Collins’s brand-building efforts not only created a strong reputation, which helped them win large contracts with major airlines but also helped their acquisition in 2018 by United Technologies Corporation (UTC) for $30 billion.
As you can see, putting in the effort to build your brand not only helps you grow your business, but can also aid in creating a positive reputation, building trust with your clients, building loyalty, and showing your professionalism and expertise.
These loyal clients are like gold mines for businesses. They keep coming back, are willing to pay more, and are more likely to recommend your business to others.
Repeat clients are also more likely to trust your brand, and therefore provide a steady stream of revenue, which helps you to plan and make better business decisions. Plus depending on your industry acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one.
Now, brands are not built overnight, but the results are worth spending the time to build one. If you execute the steps correctly you can build your business into a solid brand that your target clients not only love but shout about.
Happy, loyal, clients lead to healthy profits which can set you up to attract the right buyers.
According to research done by Beauhurst, only 2% of companies they assessed over a 5-year period reached the exit/acquisition stage. That’s a very small number. So if you want to make sure your business doesn’t fall into that 2%, let’s now look at how you can build your brand.
How can you build your brand?
So how can you build your brand the right way, to not only attract your target customer but set you up for a lucrative exit, when you come to sell it?
Over the last 15+ years, we’ve developed a marketing methodology, which helps you plan out a systemised approach to building your brand online.
As you can see, brand and content form the heart of our SOLAR 7 model. It’s fundamental to your business.
So let’s look at how you can streamline the process of building a powerful brand that can attract the right clients and prospects:
- Define your brand: What’s your brand’s mission, vision, values, personality and key messages? This can serve as a guide to all your marketing efforts and create a consistent brand message. What do you want to build a reputation for? How do you want to be perceived in the marketplace? These are all things to consider at this stage.
- Know your audience: Understanding your target audience and their needs, wants and pain points will help you tailor your marketing efforts and messaging to their specific needs.
- Tailor your brand image: Develop a visual identity that reflects your brand’s personality and sets it apart from your competitors. This is the part that includes your logo, colour palette, typography and other design elements. Make sure this is consistent in all your communication channels.
- Content strategy: Create a content plan that includes blog posts, social media posts, video content, email campaigns and other marketing materials that deliver your brand message on a variety of channels.
- Strong web presence: Your website is your online storefront. Use it to showcase your brand, build authority and highlight your expertise in your industry.
- Brand loyalty: This can be achieved by providing a great customer experience and making sure that every interaction with your brand is a positive one. Loyal clients can be your biggest brand advocates.
You now have a starting point to start building a powerful brand. Want to dive deeper? Our SOLAR 7 methodology has helped many businesses demystify the chaos around building a brand, in today’s competitive digital landscape. It shows you how to approach your marketing the right way, to actually get results!
How to prepare for a successful business exit
Business exit planning can seem like a minefield. But there are a few things you can start putting in place, to make sure your business has the best chance at a successful exit.
The aim here is to look at how you can structure your business, so it can run without you as the business owner.
Processes
There are most likely certain processes that you follow to deliver reliable, sustainable results to your clients. Below are a few ways you can prepare your processes for a smoother transition:
Document them
Make sure all your processes are well-documented and up to date. This can include everything from financial reporting to customer service procedures. These are often known as your ‘standard operating procedures’. Having them in place can help the new owners understand how your business operates, and also deliver the same results.
Train your employees
Your employees should be trained on what processes to follow, and when. This will allow them to continue operating effectively without you, making it easier for the new owners.
Automate and productise
Consider automating as many processes as possible. Automation allows you to deliver the high-quality service your clients are used to, every single time. If you provide services, then think about how these can be productised into packages.
Streamlining your processes means fewer errors and misunderstandings, and helps you deliver services efficiently, to a high standard, every time.
People
The next thing to prepare when planning to exit your business is to consider how your people – your employees, clients, and suppliers – will be affected. Some steps you can take to prepare your people for the transition include:
Communicate early
This can be a worrying time for your people, so make sure you’re transparent about your plans. Keep them informed throughout the process, and be prepared to answer any questions or concerns they may have.
Address job security
Let your employees know what the exit may mean for their jobs. Will they be able to keep their jobs after the transition? If not, give them plenty of notice and inform them of any severance packages they may be entitled to. It may also help to give them a timeline of events so they can be prepared.
Training and support
If they’ll be working for new owners, provide them with help and support to adapt to the new changes. This could be anything from training on new processes to emotional support to deal with the changes.
Whatever you do, make sure to remain empathetic towards your people as this will no doubt be a difficult time for them, and can be the make or break of your business exit.
Finances
No one will want to buy a business that has broken or chaotic financial records. Make sure you take the time to prepare your finances so that any potential buyers can immediately see the benefit in purchasing your business. You can do this by:
Determining the value of your business
Before you can plan for an exit, you need to determine the value of your business. This not only helps you see what your business could be worth but also allows you to ask for the right price. You can do this by speaking to a business broker or specialist.
Reviewing your personal finances
You may not think about personal finances when it comes to a business sale, but this is very important. Reviewing your own finances allows you to work out how much you will need, post-exit, to support your lifestyle. You can then use this information to set the minimum price you’re willing to sell your business for.
Deciding on an exit strategy
There are different ways to exit a business (more on this below), including selling, transferring or closing the business. This is the point when you need to decide what strategy fits your personal and financial goals.
Organising your financial records
This one’s a biggie, make sure all records are organised. This includes HMRC tax returns, financial statements, legal documents or anything else that can help potential buyers get an accurate picture of your business’s financial health.
What next? Ways to exit your business
Now that you have built your brand to a point where it has regular clients and enough brand presence online, and you’ve prepared your business for sale, what next?
You might be attracting new buyers for your business, which is great news, but what are your options when it comes to selling your business?
There are a few choices when it comes to exiting your business. It’s important that you consider the best option for your business goals and needs. Let’s look at the different types of exit strategies:
Acquisition
Acquisition is the process of one company acquiring or buying another company. In this process, the acquiring company takes over the assets, operations, and ownership of the acquired company, making it a part of its own business.
Often, the goal of an acquisition is to increase the acquiring company’s (the company buying your business) market share, expand its product or service offerings, or gain new clients.
Initial Public Offering (IPO)
This is when a privately owned company goes public by selling shares to the public for the first time. It can allow you to exit your business and sell your shares in the company by cashing out your investments.
An IPO involves a lot of business exit planning and preparation and it can also mean that you have to deal with increased regulation and transparency, as a result of becoming a public company.
So make sure you’re prepared for these changes when considering this option.
Management Buyout
A management buyout is a type of business exit strategy where the existing management team buys out the company from its current owners.
The management team steps up to become the new owners and assumes responsibility for running the business and making key decisions going forward.
This is a stable option if your current management team can show they have the experience, skills, and vision to successfully grow and run your business.
Family Succession
This would be where you transfer ownership of your business to your family. The benefits of this exit strategy are – the continuation of the business, preserving your family’s wealth and preparing the next generation to lead the company into the future.
This may seem like an easy option compared to the others, but it should involve careful succession planning to ensure the proper transfer of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to the next generation, and also help reduce potential conflicts.
Exiting your business can be an exciting but stressful time, so be sure to consult specialists before embarking on this journey. But with a good business exit plan in place, it can be a seamless transition – one that hopefully, leaves you better off financially.
Let’s build your business brand together
Hopefully, you now have a deeper understanding of how building your brand can elevate your business in the eyes of potential future buyers. But we get it, all this can seem overwhelming, where do you begin?
We have many prospects approaching us with the same dilemma, they don’t have the time to keep up with the changing marketing landscape, they just want results!
Which is where we can help. Let us take the hassle of building your brand online, so you can focus on your clients and running your business. Why not get in touch with our team to see how we can help your business grow, let’s chat.
