"Begin with the end in mind."
        -- Stephen R. Covey

The chapter with this title from Stephen Covey's excellent book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", begins with a request for the reader to consider his or her own funeral and to imagine what mourners will say during their eulogy.

The idea, of course, is to get you to look ahead at your departure date, and to consider what you would like to accomplish between now and then -- and what you would like to be remembered for. We're not speaking about your physical demise, but rather what your plan might be to exit from your business when you're either tired of operating it or just ready to turn the reins over to someone else.

Valuing with the end in mind

Now you might be asking, "What does this have to do with marketing my business?" The answer is "everything!" When you contemplate exiting from your business, usually this means bequeathing it to a son or daughter or selling it to someone not related to you.

Most business owners, when it comes time to sell their business, have in mind a price that reflects all of the sweat and pain they put into getting it started. They expect all of that plus a price that compensates them for the many years of sacrifice and investment they have made to gradually bring it to the point where it is now. Little wonder that few business sellers can find a buyer who will value it to that degree and see it the way they do. To get the price they have in mind, it will generally be necessary to greatly increase the perceived value,
and to effectively demonstrate that the business does indeed possess the productive potential required to justify that substantial selling price!

Marketing with the end in mind

Over the years I have bought and sold several houses. When I came close to the time I was ready to sell, I put an enormous amount of time and money into improving the house so I would get top dollar for the property. Your real exit date may be ten, fifteen, twenty, or more years down the road, but suppose you began to operate your shop now with that end in mind? Every prospective customer who comes into your place is -- in effect -- "buying" your business. They are either "sold" on the appearance, quality, service, value, and overall experience or they're not. If not, they may leave in search of a shop whose qualities they can "buy." Suppose you started now to make the improvements you would make to impress a prospective buyer of your entire business? Can you imagine a more powerful marketing move?

A buyer's viewpoint

You may think that someone considering the purchase of your shop will go to far greater lengths to learn about you and your business than any prospective collision repair customer, but you may be wrong. If a major insurance company, government agency, corporation or public service organization is considering your shop as a provider of long-term, major services, they may give you as much scrutiny as a prospective buyer.

Generally buyers do legal searches to check for liens, litigation, tax problems or other legal difficulties. They may also do a personal background check on you and key employees. If the prospective buyer isn't familiar with your industry, he or she will surely investigate your relative status in the industry as well as the long term viability of the entire industry. They may interview your key employees and vendors, not to mention your banker, broker, insurance provider, and possibly even a couple of competitors.

Would a major prospective corporate or institutional customer check you and your shop out to this degree? You shouldn't be surprised if they do. If you were about to turn a large portion of your business over to a sub-contractor, wouldn't you do the same thorough check? Perhaps part of your "exit preparation" should include complete disclosure documents that could also be used when soliciting a complex referral relationship such as a DRP.