Building a successful business requires a team approach. Navigating a sale is no different. While the process of a sale can seem daunting — possibly even more challenging than running the business itself — a strong team can make your M&A transaction feel easier and ultimately more effective.
At Symmetrical, we’ve acted as trusted consultants to business owners during sales and know how to work as key members of a team to achieve the best possible deal. As members of sales teams ourselves, here’s what we’ve learned about why leveraging a team can help make for a successful deal.
The Many Moving Pieces of M&A
There’s a lot that goes into the sale of a business behind the scenes: tax expertise, financial analysis, strategic planning, legal reviews, and more. That’s a lot for any one person to handle. In fact, by assembling a team with diverse skill sets, you can put yourself at an advantage by matching your team’s skills with the task at hand.
In our experience, there are a few key team members involved in any deal:
- M&A Advisors: An M&A advisor works with the seller on the strategic components of a deal. This can include scouting for prospective buyers, assisting with negotiations, and analyzing the state of the market to determine potential valuations.
- Accountants and Financial Analysts: One of the central elements of an M&A deal is due diligence. In this process, accountants and financial analysts research the underlying fundamentals of the business for sale. This analysis then forms the basis for the company valuation.
- Legal Advisors: Legal advisors are another important member of the M&A team, especially when it comes to due diligence. These advisors look into the regulatory framework of a deal and ensure that a transaction will proceed seamlessly. They may also assist in reviewing the final contract structure of a deal to ensure it meets the needs of both sides of the transaction.
The Benefits of a Team Approach
Selling your business is a major decision, and it’s important to be prepared. By assembling a team with financial, legal, tax, and strategic expertise, you’ll be able to run your negotiations more quickly and efficiently, producing a better deal overall.
You may also consider tapping existing employees to become part of your M&A advisory team. This can help generate employee buy-in to the deal, which is extremely helpful for company morale. Not only that, but your existing employees have greater familiarity with your business than outside advisors and can offer a key source of inside knowledge into the workings of the business and its strengths.
Finally, the team you assemble ultimately reflects on you as the seller. When the seller crafts a strong team, the buyer receives a kind of positive reinforcement that the transaction they’re pursuing is a smart and strategic choice . The best acquisitions are the ones with a seamless corporate fit — and your M&A team offers the first indication of your two sides working together.
We’re a Part of Your Team
We take a team approach to M&A. We don’t arrive on day one and start issuing orders about your business; we seek to integrate into your existing team, offering our insight along the way as we guide you through the sale process. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business through a sale.