I was confused…
Did my wife and I switch places?
Was I facing the parent of a seven year old … angry that her precious little boy was having a hard time with his letters and numbers and so the teacher is at fault.
“You can’t ask him that.. he doesn’t have it and it’s not easy to get…” she argued.
In fact, I’m being unfair to seven year olds.
What I was asking of this person was actually much easier for someone in his position to provide than asking a 6 year old to multiply two numbers.
This person was the “head of finance” for the business.
The “mother” was the owner who was desperately trying to sell at the price she wanted so she could escape all this nonsense and retire halfway around the world in peace.
Her financial person.. let’s call him “Numbers” on the other hand was killing the process.
Numbers refused to provide the PNL for the last 36 months.
He wanted the last 3 calendar years which happened to reflect entirely the nice cave-in from Covid and ended at its lowest point.
The last 9 months on the other hand reflected the amazing progress she made to recover and illustrated a much different and exciting story then the 3 calendar years.
Numbers wanted Calendar years because those reports were already done and he didn’t know how to use the accounting software the mom had invested for the business.
His reputation and ego were more important to him than the woman and her business that had taken care of him.
The mom on the other hand didn’t want to rock the boat with Numbers.
I was told use the calendar years for the Teaser she wanted created for a potential buyer who contacted her.
I refused.
“Absolutely not”
Luckily, I convinced her to sit with me and by asking her about the business I was able to project the 9 months and the future pretty much right on target.
With the work we did on differentiation and highlighting her growth potential and using financials that reflected where her business was – she received the offer she wanted.
Our engagement ended (it was a limited special project) and despite my last warning, she decided to keep Numbers and go into the acquisition and eventual due diligence…
And true to form he fumbled the ball at the goal line – pretty much on every down.
7 figures left at the table…
And by the way, this woman was a very savvy and successful business woman.. tough and thrived in an industry stacked against her.
But it ended up being inches…
Are you giving away inches on your side?
Thinking About Selling Your Business
We know you’ve worked hard on your business. What if we told you there’s a way to make it even better, and position it to sell one day at the top price? With Socratic Scaling, we can show you how.
In as little as six months, we can help your business stand out, scale up, and become something others would have to pay top money to buy.
The best part is these benefits start today. Even if you don’t want to sell, your business will put more money in your pocket, free your time, and be more enjoyable to run.
But you need to start getting ready now. Don’t be like the 7 out of 10 business owners who put it off until tomorrow and then find out they’re stuck with profitable businesses that no investor wants to buy, or child wants to inherit.
Click here to transform your business to give you the life you want – starting today.