Part of building to sell is knowing who you are going to sell to.
If you don’t start thinking about your potential buyers list early, you may end up growing an entire appendage of your business that an acquirer will neither want nor value.
Take Northern Lights as an example: Michael Glauser started Northern Lights to offer low-fat frozen yogurt through a growing wholesale distribution network of stores selling his desserts. At the same time, he built up a network of 60 company-owned stores under the Golden Spoon brand. The company-owned stores were expensive to start and complicated to manage.
Glauser went on to sell Northern Lights to Cool Brands International for five times net income. Cool Brands turned around and immediately sold or shut down the 60 company-owned stores because they wanted Northern Lights’ wholesale distribution channel – not a bunch of expensive retail stores.
During our interview, I couldn’t help but wonder how much more Glauser and his shareholders would have gotten for their company had Glauser figured out what a buyer would value and then invested all of his limited resources into building his brand and its wholesale distribution channel from the start. Listen to his full interview here.
Get Your Score
Creating a list of potential strategic buyers for your business is something we’ll do during Module 11 of The Value Builder Engagement – get started for free by getting your Value Builder Score.
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Whether you are looking to exit your privately held business, represent an acquisition-minded corporation, or are personally interested in owning your own company or franchise, Colonial Business Brokerage offers the professional services that successfully bring buyers and sellers together.
Call Colonial Business Brokerage today at (443) 982-7332.
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