Driving Miss Daisy

When it is time to sell your company, the question is not whether you will get to your destination – the question is how well you get there.

Too many sellers think value is determined at the finish line, when bids arrive. In reality, value is largely determined by how you drive the process from the very beginning. As in Driving Miss Daisy, the outcome depends less on the car and more on the driver.

You are not a passenger.

A common misconception among business owners is that once they hire an advisor, they can sit back and let the process run. That is not how aspirational prices are achieved. The highest-value outcomes occur when you take charge and work with your M&A Banker to lead your team through the process. Your management team needs you to help them stay engaged in the process, respond quickly and thoughtfully to buyer due diligence requests, maintain alignment, and work toward a common goal – selling for an aspirational price.

The role of your M&A Banker is to guide, coordinate, and apply experience—but you are still in the driver’s seat. When the owner takes a back seat, the probability of achieving an aspirational price declines dramatically. When the owner disengages, value erodes because buyer confidence declines, timelines slip, and momentum fades.

Stay engaged. Be a leader. Help drive the process. While you may not be an expert in M&A, you are an expert in managing your people and understanding the value that lies within your business. Take a leadership role in guiding and managing your entire team: management, M&A bankers, accountants, and legal counsel.

If you have any comments or questions on this Deal Note, or have a topic you would like us to write about, please don’t hesitate to let me know: wa@aldermanco.com

Have a great day everyone,