Weekly Bulletin September 2011
Having made the decision to sell your business, you will be very aware that once a strategic plan has been agreed in order to achieve a trade sale, this will inevitably start an internal change process which will need to be managed effectively and sensitively from start to finish. This plan, albeit with certain confidential objectives, will start to provide a very clear direction for the future.
The change process only produces positive results through effective management. It is not an option when managing change to allow any part of the business sale to become out of control. At all times during the sale of a business, you must consult with and involve the people in your business that will be affected by the changes.
You may find the seven steps below a useful guide to helping ensure that the strategic plan becomes an effective vehicle for creating and managing positive change.
- Communications are vital to managing change. Any communication either internal or external that relates to ‘selling a business’ is crucially important. Many of us already know the negative impact of poor communication in a business.
- Leadership is the fountainhead to managing change.
- Effective implementation and positive change will rest on you being able to delegate responsibility and accountability down into the company. Those employees already doing a full-time job could find that the extra work burden placed on them to prepare a business for sale can actually lead to decreased productivity and effectiveness.
- Change will raise the critical balance between employee consent and compliance. It will highlight the need to start to move from central power to delegated manager authority.
- Do not underestimate the difficulties in managing change or regard it to be a one off event, rather look at it as a continuous process of improvement.
- Growth puts demands and created strains on structure and reporting channels. Therefore, you need periodically to rethink structure and reporting relationships.
- During the leadership process, the business owner should remember that their behaviour acts as a powerful role model.
Most businesses are very inexperienced when it comes to managing the Sale of a Business. They often lack the methodologies, tools and relevant experience to manage the sale successfully without the help of an outside consultant.
If you are looking to prepare your business for a successful sale in the near future, and need the help of a software business expert and mentor, contact me on 01536 771440 or visit my website.
