In The Media

This episode will have Craig West explaining about how best to plan for the unknown and manage some of the challenges not only family businesses, but all small businesses face in a disruptive market.

Having the correct sales and marketing strategies in place can assist not only increasing your profits, but in maximising your Business Valuation.

On this episode of the Marketing Strategy Show we discuss the best sales and marketing strategies you need to have in place to maximise the value of your business as well as grow profits.

Sentry Group chief executive and chairman Murray Hills said the national licensee group had noticed succession planning was a significant challenge for Australian small to medium enterprise (SME) owners, particularly among the baby boomer generation.

“The depth of challenges facing baby boomers seeking to retire in the coming years is enormous, with the greatest [concern] being that of trying to sell a business in a buyers’ market,” Hills said.

Aligned product providers and competitors would see the most strategic value in purchasing a financial planning business and therefore should be considered as part of a business owner’s succession plan, according to Succession Plus.

Robust risk management and governance processes are cornerstones for financial planning practices seeking to develop and fulfil a succession plan for their businesses.

Speaking at the Succession Planning Day 2016 in Sydney, jointly hosted by Succession Plus and financialobserver, Succession Plus New South Wales partner David Cambridge said the most successful enterprises had and followed set processes.

The employee compensation practices of publicly listed companies are of great interest to employees, investors, business media and researchers alike.

They are also influential in shaping public expectations and by extension, the policies and practices of private companies.

In the third quarter of 2012, there were 20,000 businesses throughout Australia up for sale. Six months later, it was 32,500 and by the end of 2014, the number hit 41,200.

Some are calling it the sell-off of a generation; too many Baby Boomer sellers entering their mid to late 60s, wanting to get out of their respective games.

Craig West discusses the impact exit planners can have by helping prepare financial, business, and personal matters.

Brokers could be making more use of employee share plans to engage and motivate their employees to think and act more like business owners.

For every business there is a strategic buyer who will pay more for your business simply because they benefit more than most other buyers.

What do we need to prepare to attract the right buyer (who will pay more) and convince them of our value and finally make sure they sign the cheque?

Advisers need to position themselves as running either a boutique business or one that takes advantage of significant scale, according to a succession planning expert.

“Accounting practices and financial planning firms fit somewhere in the spectrum between boutique or scale,” Succession Plus chief executive Craig West told attendees at last Friday’s selfmanagedsuper NowInfinity SMSF Strategies Day in Sydney.

Last week we looked at the results of the 2013 MGI Australian Family and Private Business Survey (Read part 1).

Succession (or exit) will happen to you sooner or later, and it is important to take charge and manage the process rather than just let it happen to you. I have worked with many business owners who have successfully done this, and in so doing have devised excellent exit strategies.