Exit Planning
Exit Planning helps business owners set, sort through, and achieve their exit objectives. It enables owners to leave their companies when they want, to the successors they want, and with the amount of cash they need.
Without exception, every owner leaves his or her company. Whether you do it in style depends on the specific exit planning actions you take before you leave.
If you see ownership change in your future, we can help you plan a successful business exit. We can help you answer the seven planning questions located on this page and identify qualified advisors to help you through the process.
At some point, virtually all closely-held and family-owned businesses will lose their primary owner to death or retirement.
What we offer business owners looking to transfer or sell their business
Guidance
We have guided many owners through the Exit Map Express 90 Day five meeting process, which begins with an initial business readiness assessment and results in the completion of a 100 page final report and action plan.
Relationships
We maintain relationships with professionals in other disciplines experienced in the Exit Planning process. We can help you to find the advisors you need.
Consultations
No-cost initial consultations to explain how the Exit Planning Process works.
Exit Planning Resources
Access to state-of-the-art Exit Planning resources.
Seminars
Through our affiliation with Business Enterprise Institute, we present seminars on a variety of Exit Planning topics.
Our Recommended Resources on Exit Planning
Our Exit Planning Experience
As a Member of the BEI Network Of Exit Planning Professionals™, we are guided through the process and tools in “Sell Or Transfer Your Business When You Want-For The Money You Want-To The People You Want. An Authoritative Guide.”
We present seminars through our affiliation with the Exit Planning Institute.
Download our 7 Steps to Leaving your Business “In Style”
Download our Farmers Marketing Report
Watch these interviews on why we believe Exit Planning is so important
Other interviews we have been part of.
Available White Papers
Business Valuation
This White Paper discusses having your business owner client use the services of an experienced business appraiser to value their company as they transfer it to successor may help them avoid an unpleasant encounter with the IRS and help them to reap all of the value of their life’s work. It also highlights the importance of how obtaining a value helps to dispel many of the common misconceptions that owners have about the value of their businesses and what the values mean to their overall exit plan.
Employee Incentive Planning
This White Paper discusses the paths which allow a business owner to leave a company in qualified hands. Incentives can be equity-based or cash-based, but all plans handcuff employees to the business and help it to accrue value. This White Paper explores several plan options so an owner can determine which path is best.
Business Continuity
This White Paper discusses four primary problems sole-owned and co-owned companies face when an owner dies or becomes disabled. It proposes solutions to each one of the four problems. This White Paper includes the “Business Continuity Instruction Form” for sole-owners.
ESOP Opportunities
This White Paper uses a fictional business owner to illustrate how an owner can use an ESOP to achieve three ownership objectives:
1) to cash out at fair market value;
2) to pay no taxes on the sale; and
3) to transfer the company to key employees.
While examining how ESOPs work, their advantages and disadvantages, readers learn that ESOPs do not work for all owners or for every company. They do, however, provide opportunity for some owners to leave their businesses in style.
The Impact of Unplanned Consequences on Business Values
Did you know that 50% of businesses fail because of unintended consequences?
These consequences can lead to bankruptcy, layoffs, and ultimately an unplanned exit as the business is forced to shut down or transfer at a price much less than what the owner wants, needs, or even deserves. Exit Planning Institute refers to these factors as the 5 Ds. Divorce, Disagreement, Disability, Distress, and Death.
This whitepaper will dive deep into the impacts these 5 Ds can have on business value, how professional advisors can help mitigate the risks associated with the 5 Ds, and provide a checklist to prepare owners for their eventual business exit.
Exit Routes
When owners think about exiting their companies, the number of exit routes might seem unending. In fact, there are only eight. This White Paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each one. Most importantly, it describes a process that enables owners to choose the best exit path for them.
Inevitabilities
At some point, every owner leaves his or her business – voluntarily or otherwise. This issue discusses the proven Seven-Step Exit Planning Process™ designed to achieve an owner’s financial and other goals.
Transferring Your Company To Key Employees
Owners wishing to sell their businesses to management (key employees) face one unpleasant fact: their employees have no money. Nor can they borrow any-at least not in sufficient quantity to cash out the owner. The transfer methods described in this White Paper employ a long-term installment buyout of the owner or use someone else’s money to affect the buyout.
Using Short Term Key Employee Incentives To Increase The Price
One of a business owner’s greatest challenges is to attract, motivate, and keep key employees. Keeping key employees is absolutely critical, however, if the business is to be sold at the highest possible price. This White Paper describes the design elements of a Stay Bonus Plan as well as how to convert a long-term key employee incentive plan into a short term plan.
Value Drives
It is the job of every business owner to create value in his or her business prior to any transfer or sale. Exactly how do owners do that? Read this White Paper to learn about those characteristics (or Value Drivers) that buyers look for when deciding how much to pay for a business.
Transferring Wealth To Children
Successful business owners often wrestle with the issue of how to pass wealth to children in a way that minimizes — legitimately — their tax bills. This White Paper explains to owners how such a transfer can be designed as well as: why fixing their own financial objective precedes any transfer; and, how to determine the amount (and if that amount is too much) to be transferred. This White Paper uses a case study to illustrate the plan design and includes an explanation of GRATs.
Headwinds: How to Deal With Tough Economic Times