Built to Sell Buchzusammenfassung - das Wichtigste aus Built to Sell

Zusammenfassung von Built to Sell

Name: Built to Sell
Rating: 4.1 (56 reviews)
Author: John Warrillow

John Warrillow

Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You

4.1 (56 Bewertungen)

15 Min.

Kurz zusammengefasst

Built to Sell by John Warrillow is a business book that teaches how to turn a service-based business into a product-based business. It offers practical advice for creating systems that can run without the owner and increase the value of the company.

Themen

Unternehmertum Strategie

Inhaltsübersicht

Built to Sell
in 8 Kernaussagen verstehen

Audio & Text in der Blinkist App

Kernaussage 1 von 8

What’s in it for me? Learn how to build a company that’ll be attractive to potential buyers.

If you’re an entrepreneur with a small service business, you might dream of selling your company some day. So what can you do to structure your business to prepare it for a successful acquisition that gets you the best possible price? These blinks answer these questions through the story of Alex Stapleton, who wants to sell his marketing agency. Alex built up a small company with only a few employees, but wants to have more time with his family and is quite stressed by his work. Ted Gordon, an old friend and entrepreneur who has sold businesses successfully in the past, guides him through the process.

In addition, you’ll learn

why you should always have more than one salesperson;
what it takes to get your management team to stay with your company for a long time; and
how to find a broker that’ll get you the best possible deal on your company.

Business success lies in specialization in a single service.

Let’s say you’re an entrepreneur who’s just launched a service business, like a design agency. How can you make it successful? Should you concentrate on one service or take any business you can get – even offers requiring services that aren’t your speciality?

Some people would accept every offer. But that’s not the right strategy for long-term success.

Here’s why: A focus on one service allows clients to see the company’s core strengths. As a result, people will come to you with specific problems that you can solve better than anyone else.

When clients can’t go to other firms to receive the same quality of service, you’re positioned to negotiate higher prices.

Furthermore, when the results are good, clients will recommend you. Word of mouth will earn you new business.

Here’s an example: Alex’s business used to fulfill a broad range of requests – designing brochures, copywriting and search engine optimization. Taking a friend’s advice, Alex decided to concentrate on designing logos. He excelled at the work and his clients loved the product. As a result, Alex became a top logo designer.

There’s another benefit to specializing: It allows you to hire the best people for the job.

Why? Firms that provide multiple services have to hire experts for different fields. Smaller firms can’t afford to hire as many experts. Instead, they hire generalists to execute different tasks.

However, since the employees don’t concentrate on a single field, they can’t deliver the best possible product. The quality never matches what’s produced by other firms, which can employ experts.

Luckily, there’s a solution for smaller companies: by specializing, they can hire a few experts in a single area.

Specializing helps your company produce excellent work, which puts you in a better position to negotiate with clients.

And, perhaps more importantly, your company will run smoothly without too much oversight from you, because everyone will be responsible for discrete tasks.

For long-term success, build a business that can run without you.

When you start a business, it’s natural to feel ownership. And when a company’s young, the founder is often involved in almost every aspect of the operation. But in order for the business to grow, customers shouldn’t associate the company entirely with its founder.

What happens when you as a founder “become the business” in this way? When starting a company, you bear all the risks, so it’s understandable that you’ll want to handle many aspects of the operation on your own. Maybe you think that’s the best way to ensure that your employees don’t make mistakes.

Hire at least two salespeople who know how to sell your specific service.

It all comes down to the bottom line, as the saying goes. Thus, a solid sales team is crucial to your business. Because having employees dedicated to sales not only generates money, it also frees the founder to actually lead the business.

It’s vital to build a sales team comprising people who understand your service because they represent the firm to outsiders.

Overreliance on one big client puts your business at risk and makes it unattractive to potential buyers.

Most entrepreneurs dream of one day selling their companies. But to pull off a sale and get the best deal, it’s essential to show potential buyers that you have a growing business with growing profits.

One way to grow quickly is by finding big clients, but be careful about relying on them excessively.

Offering a standardized service will save you time, lead to better cash flow and make your company attractive to buyers.

In business, the customer is always right – but there are limits. Although every client might want a customized service, your small business will be better off if you offer standardized services.

That’s because customized services are costly. From the first meeting to product delivery, the whole process can take months. And during that time, you’re not paid.

Create incentives for managers to stay in the company even after it’s sold.

Up for a challenge? As an owner, it’s up to you to ensure that managers will want to stay with the company for a long time – even after it’s sold.

Why is this so important? The purchasers will want to know that the firm will continue to succeed after its acquisition. And the management team plays a crucial role in that.

The right broker will help you sell the company for the best price by arranging negotiations with different potential buyers.

Ready to sell your company? Make sure you don’t overlook a crucial factor: the broker.

The broker is the bridge between you and buyers. If he recommends you to the wrong companies, you won’t get a great price.

Think big and write a carefully worded plan to present your company favorably to potential buyers.

It’s a big decision to make, but when you’re ready to sell your business, you need to start by writing a plan detailing your business model and expected cash flow. Bigger companies will use this to decide whether to acquire you, so it should present your firm in the best light.

How should you do that? First: Think big!

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Worum geht es in Built to Sell?

Built to Sell details key strategies for growing a small service company and preparing the business for a future sale. These blinks illustrate these insights by telling the story of Alex Stapleton, owner of a marketing agency, and his advice-giving friend Ted Gordon, who is a successful entrepreneur.

Bestes Zitat aus Built to Sell

Clients will never know youre serious about specialization until you say no to other work.

—John Warrillow

Wer Built to Sell lesen sollte

Anyone who’s interested in entrepreneurship
Business owners thinking about selling their company in the future

Über den Autor

John Warrilow has launched and sold four companies on his own. He also devised The Sellability Score, a tool which evaluates how attractive companies are to potential buyers. Fortune and Inc. magazines rated Built to Sell one of the best business titles of 2011.

Kategorien mit Built to Sell

Marketing & Vertrieb Management & Leadership

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