Put Your Business Under The Microscope With John Warrillow: Find Out The Exact Steps You Can Take to Sell It For A Premium

Do any of these sound like you?

• You have a business and want to know how to position it to be A) Sellable and B) Sellable for the maximum amount of money possible.
• You've learned a lot of valuable strategies for building your business to sell on the Built to Sell blog and/or in the book Built to Sell, but you'd like some extra help figuring out how to apply these strategies to your unique business so you can ensure a big pay out when you're ready to sell.
• You want to give yourself every possible advantage in building your business to attract buyers who are willing to pay top dollar for your life's work, including learning about high level business selling strategies not found in the book Built to Sell or the blog posts on this site.
  
• You would like to meet, learn from, and brainstorm with other business owners who are designing their businesses to sell for a premium

If you answered "Yes" to any or all of these things, sign up for The Built to Sell workshop in New York City on October 19, 2012.

During this workshop, you'll get the opportunity to put your business under the microscope with Built to Sell author and four-time entrepreneur John Warrillow. Together, you'll uncover the steps you can take to make your business more attractive to potential buyers - whether you're looking to sell your business in the near future, or want to start ramping up the value of your business in order to sell it down the line.

This workshop is unique compared to any other training you'll find on the topic of selling a business in several critical ways: you'll be able to talk directly with John about your unique situation one-on-one in a small group format, you'll be able to mastermind with other successful business owners who are also building their businesses to sell, and you'll be able to expose yourself to high level strategies rarely discussed anywhere else (including in the book Built to Sell).

If you choose to come, you'll learn how to:

1. Put your business on auto-pilot:

One of the keys to successfully selling your business is to systematize and automate your processes, so you can walk away from the business after the sale and it can still run smoothly and generate a profit without you. Not only will you attract more buyers and be able to sell your business for more money if you have the right systems in place, you'll also benefit now by dramatically increasing your efficiency and results as the business owner. At the workshop, you'll find out how to:

• Create a reliable stream of recurring revenue so you can stop charging by the hour or project and be able to see how your revenue is looking months into the future - a key factor in creating a sellable business

• Reduce your reliance on a few big customers so you can stop grovelling for work and worrying they might leave one day

• Eliminate the need to respond to a Request For Proposal (RFP) and get customers to start giving you work without tendering

• Increase the number and quality of your referrals so you can grow more quickly and profitably through word of mouth

• Reward and retain key employees without making them a partner - that way you retain all of the equity

2. Maximize the value of your business

Whether you want to sell your business now or in ten years, it's nice to know you're building a valuable asset as opposed to just walking on a tread mill. At the workshop, you'll learn what drives up the value of your business and specific techniques to:

• Calculate the value of your company using the same methodology acquirers use so you'll know if you're getting low-balled

• Avoid the biggest mistake business owners make when getting their business ready to sell

• Structure your customer agreements to include one simple sentence that will allow you to sell your business for a premium

3. Negotiate with leverage

To get the best price (and deal terms) when you go to sell your business, you need to understand how to negotiate from a position of strength. Part of having a powerful negotiating position is being knowledgeable about the process, and it also means understanding the strategies you can use to:

• Shorten the length and importance of an "earn out" so you need not work for someone else

• Spot and interpret the second most important sentence on an offer to buy your company so you can clear more after tax cash from the sale of your business

• Get multiple competing offers for your business to drive up the price through competitive tension

The Agenda

Start: 9:00 am (coffee and pastries will be available)

Lunch: 12:00pm - 1:00pm

End: 4:00pm

John Warrillow will lead the workshop. He'll explain a concept and give you some exercises to help you apply each technique to your business. John will wander around and work directly with anyone who has a question or just wants a partner to brainstorm with. You'll be given a booklet to write your answers in so you'll have all of your key ideas and action items in one place at the end of the day. With just a handful of people in the room, you'll get plenty of one-on-one time together with John.

What business owners who attended this workshop thought

In January 2012, John held a similar workshop in Las Vegas. Here's what attendees had to say:

"This program is a "crash course" on how to better set up your business today to get the most value out of it when it comes time to sell."

"I got a very solid foundational understanding of the sales process, the pyschology behind it, the players...etc in a way that will help me one day sell the business, but also navigate and direct the course we take over the next several years in developing the company, regardless if we do eventually sell or not."

The unmistakable, glorious feeling of control

It's a special feeling going from grovelling for clients to owning a sellable company. John Warrillow's fellow Inc contributor, and 37signals co-founder Jason Fried went through a similar process. He started 37signals as a custom web development shop and made the switch to "productize" his business. He described the feeling of turning his firm into a sellable company as follows, "When you're a consulting business, you have to say yes to big clients, who end up telling you what to do. You become beholden to the giant corporation who is paying you $60,000 for a project. I love the feeling of control I have now".

To reserve your spot, scroll up to the top of this page and click the green "Order Now" button.

*PLEASE NOTE: the event is priced in Canadian dollars which are roughly equal to US dollars. You can use a US (or Canadain) credit card to register and your card will automatically make the conversion.