When a business owner is on the offramp to exiting the company, an important part of the planning and communication involves questions around what the company will look like when he or she departs. 
If the owner is a hands-on strategist, customer relations point person or rainmaker, thought must be given to how those functions will be maintained when the owner is gone. How will relationships be transitioned to others in the company? What strengths will the new owner, assuming the company is for sale, bring to the table?
Selling a company to a competitor in the same industry can help answer these and other questions. Operational issues would be immediately understood by the new owner, as well as the norms around customer relations and business strategy.
The Importance of Key Managers
But there’s an important piece to the puzzle of replacing a departing owner’s strengths that must be remembered and acknowledged during an ownership transition. Every prosperous business owes its success to a team of managers and workers, even if the owner is a hands-on strategist or rainmaker. And the owner’s exit is a time when the team’s strengths and contributions should be placed front and center, particularly if the business is being sold to an outside party.
It’s human nature for you, as an owner who has spent your career building a business in an industry you know intimately, to focus on your own achievements as you prepare to exit, and to equate the company’s success with your own efforts. But this is a time to shine the light on your key managers and talented individuals who have helped you grow the company to where it is today.
It’s not only the right thing to do. It could have ramifications for your negotiations as you try to sell the company. If a prospective buyer hears only what you have done to grow the company and doesn’t hear anything about the strength of the management bench, you could end up leaving money on the table. After all, buyers want to know that strong, capable key managers will come along with the sale in order to keep the company on its upward trajectory. If they have doubts about that, they will likely low-ball their offer on the assumption that they will have to spend time and money to recruit new key managers to run business development, operations, product quality and vendor relations.
So talk up your people during negotiations with a potential buyer. Even though you may have founded it, you are not the business. The new owner will make some tweaks and run things a little differently, and your key managers may have ideas for making changes that can help set the company on a new trajectory.
An Emotional Time
Every business owner becomes emotional as they approach exit, and many don’t realize it will be so difficult.
Listening to your managers’ ideas about change and sharing them with the buyer can help you become a change agent as you transition the company to new ownership. It can help you deal with any natural feelings of loss you may have around selling the business if you feel you’re helping set it up for new successes. Most importantly, it can help you shift your focus to the future, both for your company and your personal life.
As you transition your company, it’s a time to also think about transitioning your life. What will you do in retirement? Some people want to be on the golf course or fishing every day. Others want to travel the world. And some want to spend time with their grandchildren.
The important thing is to be intentional about your retirement. Don’t just go home after the retirement party and wake up the next day saying, “Well, what now?” Envision the life you want.
Remember, you ran a company. Chances are you are a good decision maker, you’re organized and you understand financials. There are many volunteer organizations looking for those skills on their boards.
In summary, taking an intentional, forward-looking approach to both exiting your company and planning your retirement lifestyle can help you achieve success that benefits you and your former employees, as well.
The key is to take your ego out of the equation
