The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top

by John Warrillow

Freedom.

It's the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want. It's the ultimate reward of selling your business. But selling a company can be confusing, and one wrong step can easily cost you dearly.

The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top is the last in a trilogy of books by author John Warrillow on building value. The first, Built to Sell, encouraged small business owners to begin thinking about their business as more than just a job. The Automatic Customer tagged recurring revenue as the core element in a valuable company and provided a blueprint for transforming almost any business into one with an ongoing annuity stream.

Warrillow completes the set with The Art of Selling Your Business. This essential guide to monetizing a business is based on interviews the author conducted on his podcast, Built to Sell Radio, with hundreds of successfully cashed-out founders.

What's the secret for harvesting the value you've created when it's time to sell? The Art of Selling Your Business answers important questions facing any founder, including—

• What's your business worth?

• When's the best time to sell?

• How do you create a bidding war?

• How can you position your company to maximize its attractiveness?

• Who will pay the most for your business?

• What’s the secret for punching above your weight in a negotiation to sell your company?

The Art of Selling Your Business provides a sleeves-rolled-up action plan for selling your business at a premium by an author with consummate credibility.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Management, Entrepreneurship, Startup, Money

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 12, 2021

Reviews

[Dustin Overbeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the insight the book gives to somebody who is thinking about selling their business. I got it as an audiobook, and feel the book is better suited as a physical book or kindle in order to take actual notes.

I could see quickly reviewing this book prior to speaking with a future acquirer. This book does give a lot of tips and insight into what could occur during an offer to purchase.

[T. Laane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is supposed to be to people with businesses valued over 10M but I’d say it’s a good one for everyone. Some points from the book:
* If you are the founder/owner, do not sell Your product, but always work on selling Your company (and growing the “story” buyers want to hear)
* Use people to negotiate for you, because You will probably stay on the company with golden handcuffs and it’s not good to “spoil” the relationships yourself. And Also intermediators are better at lying that you also have other offers :) Like “we got an offer but before selling we are investigating better strategic fits” (when there actually was no offer in the first place). And lie about the reasons You want to sell - “I like to start new things but i’m not good at scaling” not “I’m tired as fuck and don’t believe in this company any more”.
* Never, NEVER say the number yourself (what money you want). Always let them say the number - or nothing.
* Its all about what emotions You trigger in the buyer.
* If you have all due-diligence materials prepared, the buyer will presume You will be bought anyway and gets FOMO.
* Don’t show all the data. Just like a stripper, only tiny bits at a time. And there are examples of giving away the secret ingredient only after the money is transferred, because too many NDA signers actually are not interested in buying but just want to steal information. A LOT of them.
* the buyers always approach with a good nice person with nice talk. But are sharks in the inside and are trying to box You into the corner to abuse You. Most of them. They are professionals doing ONLY that. They will never care for YOUR business, but only about growing their own business. Presume everyone is like that. They only act nice. Let them do 90% of the talking. You just listen.
* You and Your web page etc must position Yourself as the LEADER in that field.
* Brings out a lot of bad stories where people end up with nothing when not taking 100% cash in the sale
* How ever low the offer You get, be nice and practice getting a better one.

[Nate Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This doubles down on some of the principles expressed in Built To Sell. It focuses much more on the specific deal and acts as a primer and checklist rather than a parable.

This book is, again, primarily based off of small entrepreneurs but does dive into some larger acquisition. The entrepreneurs in this book range from highly technical to highly tenacious. And the businesses truly do span the gambit, from marketplace consultancy to technology company. If ever building a small business, I would find this book incredibly helpful. The terms, the lingo, and the strategies in this book are laid out efficiently and effectively.

However, it does lack in some charm and, like most business books, is overly verbose, and could forego, perhaps, two out of every three sentences. I would only read this book after reading Built To Sell for that book is easier to read and defines the general principles.

[Zowie De Smet · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies Secret Hacks for Exiting On Top" by John Warrillow, a certified advisor in the field, is an interesting take made to inspire you about exiting a company by way of selling it to an external acquirer. The book, written on the foundation of numerous interviews, gives you the best general outtakes you need to succeed.The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies Secret Hacks for Exiting on TopJohn Warrillow

[Targe Movis · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's no doubt that selling your business is a formidable task, but the process can be more manageable with the proper preparation and help from a business financial consultant. Before you even consider selling your business, make sure you have a plan. This will help you stay focused and on track with what's important and not. Once you have a plan, do your research to know exactly what needs to be done to sell your business in a timeframe that fits your needs—for most owners, this is usually 12 months or less. If you look for professional advice on financial planning and retirement planning, contact a financial advisor in Portland https://interactive-wealth.com

[Rustam Eybatov · Rating 3 out of 5]

1) Strategic buyers can pay a good premium compare to financial or alternative ones, so its a wise move to understand who can be a buyer before launching the business.

2) Its an art to sell your business & the best artist for that is you. Delegate selling products, franchises, but learn how to sell your business.

3) Some estimate the business by x of EBITDA, some by turnover, some by amount of Clients, some by Assets, anyway, it`s always a good idea is to estimate by several(!) bids, which you can arrange through active selling.

[Nirmal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its a companion of built to sell. Worth reading for every entrepreneurs even though you don't have a plan to sell the business, just to get a different perspective and see what's available out there.
I enjoyed the negotiation part and thinking from others point of view which is critical in any sales anyway.

[Andrea Belzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recieved this book as part of a giveaway and I am glad I did! I am not close to selling my business, but this has given me many ideas of things to consider as I build it out. A good resource to go back to over time.

[John]

Great I won the giveaway, can't wait to start reading

[Kimberly Lopes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely the quintessential book on selling your business. Helps you feel prepared to begin the process of selling* your business.

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

good reference to things you need to consider when contemplating selling your business.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, quite interesting and very informative. Useful if you want to sell your business and would like some insight.

[Precious · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to convince clients to invest with you

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a lot of new information, just an obligatory follow up to the classic “Built to Sell”.

[Razvan Visan · Rating 5 out of 5]

- get a broker
- follow the process
- 4-20x your size
- tactics

[Zac Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate the content of this book and I love how I can refer to it when the time comes.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding! Clear and straightforward advice for negotiating the sale of a business. Recommended for every business owner, and anyone who might become one too.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exit...

The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exit... This book is very informative. This was. Goodreads giveaway winner.