Last week, I met a distributor friend (Dilip Phadke) and we had an interesting conversation.

Dilip said, “I have been thinking about selling but I guess I am not ready to sell.”

I told him, “That’s great Dilip, but I guess you have made an assumption that someone indeed wants to buy your business and more importantly you will get whatever value you are seeking…You are not thinking about the most important questions.”

The most important questions are:

a. Is my business saleable?

b. Will anyone be interested in buying this?

c. What will people actually buy (if I exit given that I am a solo professional)?

Human relationships are not quickly transferrable. My best friend does not become your best friend and vice-versa.

d. How do I make my business attractive for let’s say Warren Buffett or other buyers?”

There are many who confuse between preparing a business for sale (making it attractive/future-ready) and getting ready to sell the business. Making a business attractive and future ready is all about building value in the business. It’s not an activity to be done when you are ready to sell. In fact, this is an activity that needs to be started way early in the lifecycle of your business.

It’s ironic that we tell our clients and prospects – ‘The best time to invest was several years ago; the next best time is Now’ – but we seem to miss out this obvious thing that the next best time for us to make our business valuable and attractive is now.