Build your company value or worth by showing you have a robust sales pipeline underpinning future sales growth
Two of the clients I'm working with have been prepping for the past 2 years and it's now "go time". Meaning, they have been working our 5 step campaign and are now ready to begin the process of talking to potential acquirers. Both company owners are quite happy that they started their sales and marketing teams on building and managing an effective sales opportunity pipeline back now for two years. The simple reason for this is the acquirers are coming in assuming that the sellers believe their businesses have reached their maximum growth potential and the owners are selling so as to avoid the pending downturn. This is the skeptical view of most potential acquirers so it's important that they be presented with a robust sales pipeline to show that there is plenty of growth runway left for your business. Both these businesses are now presenting robust sales opportunity pipelines and it's impressing the acquirers.
I've heard business owners say that when it's time to sell, they can "whip" together a sales pipeline and present that to the acquirer. The reason this approach is ineffective is because you won't be able to show a successful track record of your team managing opportunities and closing them successfully. Managing an effective and growing sales pipeline will prove to an acquirer that your team has the discipline and the muscle to identify opportunities and turn them in to revenue. Lacking such track record, the acquirer may discount any future growth you might be projecting and this discount will manifest itself in the purchase price they are willing to pay for your business.
So ensure today that your sales and marketing team is capturing your sales leads, tracking them effectively as your team moves them from suspects to propsects to customers and then monitoring win/loss data. As each quarter passes, you want to see this pipeline growing and you want to see your win rate either increasing or remaining at a healthy level. The more track record you can show, the greater the liklihood that the future acquirer will believe what your team is forecasting for future growth of the business. And this in turn may result in the acquirer willingness to place a greater valuation on your business and make you as the owner more likely to be euphoric at time of exit!