“When looking to buy a company, investors want to know how much recurring revenue there is, and how dependent the business is on a single founder figure – so you need to reduce that dependence if you want to successfully sell.”
This week’s Hardcore MBA is a little different from our usual instalments. Our chief guest is John Warrillow, author of the great books Built to Sell and The Automatic Customer, and an expert on how to scale your business up, build a recurring customer base, and prepare for the sale of your business to allow you to live the freedom lifestyle. But after listening to John for the first half of the podcast, we bring in Lisa Campbell, owner of London’s Yotopia yoga studio, for a live consultation focusing on how she can increase her recurring customer base and make her business more attractive to investors.
In the podcast, John, Lisa, and I discuss:
- How long it takes to prepare a company for sale, from the day you decide to sell to the day you finally retire for good.
- The importance of keeping two or three top employees in the know about your plans, and the increase this can bring to your eventual sale price.
- And how to offer a greater value proposition to draw in recurring customers.
This week’s podcast is a little different from usual, but the range of practical tips and ideas you’ll get from it is just as great as ever. If you’d like to get a feeling of how a consultation with John might go, I urge you to take a listen. When you’re done, check out John’s books and website for more information.
Do you have any helpful ideas for how Lisa (or any other business owner) could increase the attractiveness of their deals and bring in more recurring customers? Share them in the comments below!
