Plain and Simple: Bright Business Insights Summer 2019 | Page 8

LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR TRANSITION
How To Plan For What Comes Next
Only a decade ago, during The Great Recession, I was spending a didn’t invest enough time in the screening process found themselves
great deal of time counseling clients about the best tools and strategies at a higher risk of failure.
available to survive and mitigate risk. These days, more owners appear
to be thinking about some type of management transition, liquidity
When screening potential partners, don’t be afraid to ask the tough
event or exit strategy. Fortunately, when it comes to preparing your questions, including:
business for any one of these events, the best practices are no different •
from what they were a decade ago, which means it’s time for a refresher.
While it’s been great to witness the outstanding growth opportunities
that have been taking place over the past few years, it’s also been
permission to call the financing provider.
•
for transition, keep the following critical success factors at the top
of your mind.
Vet Your Partners
During the Recession, I saw many successful general contractors
and specialty trade contractors step up their screening process when
vetting potential partners. This involved financial and performance
evaluations when determining who to work for and with. Those who
Surety & insurance relationship – who are the providers and
what is the length of those relationships?
surprising to see that some of the lessons that were learned during the
last recession have already been forgotten. In order to best prepare
Credit availability – what is the financing situation? Get
•
CPA relationship – who is the provider, what is their reputation
and industry expertise?
It’s always been important to be critical of those with whom you work
because their shortcomings will ultimately impact your business’s
success. Unfortunately, I’m seeing situations where companies are
choosing to partner with unknown entities for the sake of securing a
new work. Of course, in order to grow and maximize your business,
there will be some situations where this is the case. But the key is to
limit unnecessary risks by taking proper precautionary measures.