Are You Ready?
Are You Ready?
If you woke up tomorrow morning and decided that you wanted to sell some of your accounts to free up cash to achieve your growth objectives or pay down your debt, would you be able to? If you decided that morning you wanted to retire or exit your business completely and sell your company, could you start the process of looking for a buyer immediately?
Do you know how to find the right buyer? And, are you confident that you could get the most value for your accounts and/or business?
Do you know what information the buyer will want to see regarding your company and accounts? Would you be able to provide this information quickly and easily during the due diligence process?
In other words: are you ready?
No matter what your timeline – tomorrow, next year, or in five or 10 years – the key to achieving your goals, both personal and business, is getting the most value for your business. And the key to maximizing your value during an acquisition requires good planning. Companies that consistently run their business operations according to a strategic end-game plan ultimately attain the most value for their accounts.
What does this mean in practice?
First, don’t wait to begin considering your liquidity options. While there are some basic requirements for selling accounts in the electronic security industry, a complete exit is a very different process from selling a portion of your accounts. Participating in a dealer program is very different from a one-time acquisition of some or all of your accounts
Second, when you’re ready to take action on your liquidity options, you’ll want to work with the right buyer – a trusted and experienced buyer, who will not only value your accounts and your business fairly, but will also recognize your unique situation and give you confidence that the deal structure will support the business you’ve built and follow through on your company’s commitment to integrity, superior service, and customer focus. To attract this kind of industry-leading buyer, you need to plan now to establish your company as a high-value business, who operates every day in a way that ensures your accounts are attractive, valuable, and ready to sell when you are.
Where do you start?
This checklist includes some critical steps to establish your company as the kind of high-value business in which buyers will want to invest:
- Identify the short and long-term goals for you and your company
- Decide on your growth and exit strategy
- Calculate and manage your gross attrition rate
- Set best practices for your operations
- Review your subscriber agreements
- Review central station and installation practices
- Consult with an insurance professional
Finally, following these steps will not only maximize the value of your accounts during the acquisition process, but also help to maximize your revenue, make your operations more efficient and company more profitable, in both the short and long term.
Are you ready to get started?
ACA has resources to help. Click here for a copy of our whitepaper Transforming Your Company into a High-Value Business. In the coming months, we will also be publishing blog posts explaining in greater depth the steps on the checklist, as well as other topics to help you get ready to achieve your personal and business goals.