Exit Planning for Business Owners
You will leave your company one day. Sold, handed down, stepped back from, or taken out of your hands by something you did not plan. Exit planning decides which of those it is.
Jeff Martin is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor and a Value Growth Advisor. He has also sold four companies of his own, which is a different kind of qualification.
Why Exit Planning Starts Long Before the Exit
An exit is inevitable for every business owner, whether it is decades away or already on the horizon. We treat exit strategy as good business strategy from day one, because a company that is healthy and attractive to a future buyer is simply a healthier company to run today. Being prepared, internally and externally, is the key to a healthy, wealthy exit.
Which means none of this is work you do instead of running the company. It is the work that makes the company better to own while you still own it.
An exit is inevitable. Being ready for it is what makes a company better to own today.
What a Certified Exit Planning Advisor Actually Does
A Certified Exit Planning Advisor is trained to work on the company and the owner's plan at the same time, so the business is ready to sell and the owner is ready to leave. In practice it comes down to four moves.
Find out what a buyer would actually pay for
Two companies with identical profit can sell for wildly different numbers. The difference is the multiple, and the multiple is built, not negotiated. Step one is an honest read on where yours sits today.
Decide how and when you want out
Most owners exit exactly once, with no practice runs. Decide the shape of it now, before health, burnout, or a partner who wants out decides it for you, and name the likely buyer while you still have time to become attractive to them.
Close the gap between the two
Strong financial controls. A customer base diversified enough that losing one account is not a crisis. A growth strategy a buyer can underwrite. A company that runs without you in it, which is the single largest discount a buyer applies when it is missing.
Line the exit up with the life on the other side
A wealthy exit is not much of a win if you have nothing to exit into. Deciding what you want your time to look like afterward is part of the plan, not an afterthought to it.
The Systems Behind It: The Profit Phase
Exit planning is not a separate discipline bolted onto the Company Growth System. It is the third phase of it, Build Value, where people work and process work turn into an asset somebody else would want to own. Three systems carry it.
The Max Multiple Method
Take the actions that increase the value of your company and make it more attractive to potential investors and buyers.
Exit Preparation
Build a clear, actionable plan for how and when you'll exit your company, so the decision is made on your timeline, not forced by circumstance.
Personal Scoreboard
Align your company with your personal values and life purpose, so the business you build funds the life you actually want.
Run together, they aim at one thing: a Healthy, Wealthy Exit.
Who This Is For
Owners of established service-based companies who intend to leave well, on a timeline they picked. Some are five years out. Some are twenty. A few have a buyer already circling and no idea whether the number on the table is a good one.
Second-generation owners land here often. They took something someone else built, pushed it further than the generation before them, and now have to decide what happens to it next.
And exiting does not have to mean selling. Whether you want to exit your company or exit your role, you deserve a return on your investment of time, energy, and money.
Why Jeff
- Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), Exit Planning Institute
- Value Growth Advisor
- More than 35 years building companies, in real estate, paramedical services, DNA testing, and e-commerce
- Four companies founded, grown, and sold
- Author of Business Mulligan: How to Give Your Business and Your Life a Second Chance in a Changing World
Exit Planning Questions Owners Ask
What is exit planning for a business owner?
Exit planning is the work of making your company ready to change hands and making you ready to hand it over. It covers what the business is worth, what a buyer would pay a premium for, how and when you want to leave, and what your own plan looks like afterward. Done early it is a growth strategy. Done late it is damage control.
When should a business owner start an exit planning advisory?
Exit planning should begin years before you plan to sell or step away. The ideal time is when the business is healthy and growing. Early planning increases business value, reduces risk, and creates more options, whether you plan to sell, transition leadership, or step back gradually.
What is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor?
A Certified Exit Planning Advisor, or CEPA, is credentialed by the Exit Planning Institute to coordinate the business side and the owner's side of an exit together rather than treating them as separate projects. Jeff Martin is a CEPA and a Value Growth Advisor, and he has sold four of his own companies.
Do I have to be selling my company to work on this?
No. Whether you want to exit your company or exit your role, you deserve a return on your investment of time, energy, and money. Plenty of owners do this work to stop being the bottleneck and keep the company, which is the same work a sale would require anyway.
How does exit planning fit into the Company Growth System?
It is the third phase, Build Value, and its three systems are The Max Multiple Method, Exit Preparation, and Personal Scoreboard. The phases before it develop your people and simplify your processes, which is what makes profits predictable. Predictable profit is what a buyer pays a multiple for.
Find Out Where Your Company Stands
Bring the company you have and the exit you want, and Jeff will tell you what sits between them. No valuation theater, no pitch deck. If the honest answer is that you are five years too early to sell but exactly on time to start building value, he will say that.
