The five-year plan

What you can do today to ensure your business’ worth tomorrow.

You’ve been reading articles about business succession and exit; you’ve been to a seminar; you’ve have had the odd chat with close acquaintances in a similar position. You know you should be doing something, you just don’t know how or even where to start. Sound familiar?

As mentioned in previous columns, professional service providers specialising in particular areas can help in this this process:

• Your accountant can advise on the value of your business.
• Your lawyer can ensure you have the right contracts and that your business meets current compliance requirements.
• Your banker can help you protect your assets and fund further growth.
• Your business coach can help balance your priorities, clarify your goals and fine-tune your processes to achieve your objectives more consistently, confidently and efficiently.

The following key questions may apply to all these areas, to ensure you’re covering your bases and working towards your goals in a balanced, sustainable fashion.

1. Where are we now?
2. Where do we need to be – by when and why?
3. How are we going to get there?
4. What tools do we need to implement our plan?
5. What’s next?
6. How can we achieve traction to create positive momentum?
7. Is what we’re doing effective?

The most challenging part of the process can be getting started; the prospect of discussing your business and personal goals with an outside party can be a bit daunting.

It makes sense to deal with experts, who can help you to enhance the prosperity of your business. Clearly, the ability to maintain confidentiality and discretion is essential in overcoming initial hesitations.

It’s important that whoever you engage maintains confidentiality at all times – not because you have anything to hide, but so you can share detailed information for them to be of most assistance.

Once the professional services providers you’ve engaged have helped you find answers to each of the questions listed above, the next step is to apply key insights to enhance your business’ performance and prosperity.

Business coaches should customise the plan to your specific requirements and preferences, right from the start. The starting point is refining your own insights into your goals, your business, and (to use a term we’ve all heard too many times) where you want to be in five years’ time. You need to map a plan of how to get there, while maximising the return you could reasonably expect to get from the sale of, possibly, your biggest asset. After all, you have your retirement to plan for and fund.

” It’s important that whoever you engage maintains confidentiality at all times – not because you have anything to hide, but so you can share detailed information for them to be of most assistance

Once you’ve taken these steps, the business coaching process will likely comprise the following stages:

Business diagnostic

• In plain language, we want to find out what you know and don’t know and what you do and don’t do – warts and all.
• We also look at the performance of your business to unravel the route you’ve taken over the past few years to and to show you where it might go if you do nothing.

We also ask what you (and your accountant) think your business is realistically worth today, and what your expectations are for the future value. Do your expectations match such assessments?

Succession plan

• We work with you to prepare a plan detailing what you need to put right in the short term and the things you need to start putting in place for the medium and longer term – all leading to a successful succession and exit.
• The plan will also include fixed price costs, so you know exactly what each part of the plan will cost you to implement.
• This approach minimises the chance of surprises further down the track and ensures you are in control every step of the way.

Implementation

• The choice of what you do and the sequence in which you do it is entirely up to you; we are simply providing you with the information you need to make an informed decision.
• You might accept our plan, you might elect to modify it, you may engage us to lead you through the plan or you may elect to do so with another party – all these decisions are yours to make.
• It’s important to remember that, in order for you to derive maximum satisfaction and value from the process, it’s essential you maintain control.

This process is not just about making some of the changes and expecting the rest will take care of itself. You also have to hold it all together – especially in the short term – because some people don’t cope well with change. You may be one of those people. Some vital factors in establishing traction – and maintaining momentum – include the following:

• An appropriate strategy.
• Strong leadership.
• Engaged staff.
• Effective management and communication practices.
• Responsible governance.

All preliminary consultations with The Venn Group are offered on a complimentary and genuinely obligation-free basis. Once again, it’s your decision when you are ready to get stuck in and get on the front foot in terms of planning and implementing your business succession and exit processes.

About the Venn Group

Each member of the Venn Group has more than a decade’s experience in business coaching and related activities. We are well up to speed in enabling business owners and leaders – and their teams – to apply key insights to enhance their business performance and prosperity.

Every engagement is customised to each client’s specific requirements and preferences – right from the start. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this article in further detail, please make contact via the Venn Group website: www.venngroup.co.nz