In football there’s a flexible pylon four inches square and 18 inches high on the end of each goal line, it’s in-bounds and where the goal line meets the sideline. If a player dives, runs or pushes the ball through the pylon it’s a touchdown – as long as the player took off from the playing field (not from out of bounds).
Now, players don’t dance up to the pylon and tap the ball on it. They don’t plan their run to stop at the pylon. They go full speed through it. They attack it and violently go through it.
Business owners, you also need to violently attack the pylon when it comes to planning your exit.
I recently met with a wealth manager who told me that in his humble opinion nobody in the buy-sell industry cares about helping the owner get the business ready to sell for the maximum price. They all see a business for sale and don’t care if the business is ready or not if they think someone will buy it (in it’s present state).
Why would you want to sell your business before it gets to the end zone? Why would you want to simply nudge the pylon?
Nudging vs. attacking could be six or seven-figure mistake. Your failure to take care of those things you could and should do to increase your company’s value escalate the odds you’ll be selling because of a catastrophic event. The more catastrophic the event, the more a buyers market it becomes.
Take the time, be aggressive in your planning and attack the pylon.
“We’ll try and be very aggressive, we’ll try and speed up and change gears, and we’ll see who’s going to win.” Rafael Nadal