"Most businesses owners never receive full value for their businesses. They fail to prepare the business properly for a sale and rarely develop the networks necessary to find the best buyer. A proactive strategy would:

• Generate internal support for the sale
• Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations
• Increase current and future profitability
• Reduce the inherent risks in the business
• Build a succession plan for the owner and senior management
• Build growth potential for the future buyer
• Actively involve qualified and knowledgeable professional advisors; and
• Have a personal plan for what they will do after they sell out

Tom McKaskill sets out a systematic and pragmatic process in his new book. He draws extensively on his own experience as a CPA, entrepreneur and academic as well as his personal experience selling several businesses to show business owners how to develop a realistic strategy for maximising their sales value. Tom combines his personal and professional knowledge with examples from successful entrepreneurs and advice from professional advisors to create his unique Proactive Exit Strategy and his Exit Ready Index

"Successful entrepreneurs understand that the value in a business is not the bricks and mortar but the ability and capacity of the business to generate future profits. The aim of the seller is to show the buyer just how easy that potential can be realised".

In 13 crisp chapters, Professor McKaskill sets out his breakthrough process.

Part A: A Proactive Strategy for Selling Your Business
1. The biggest deal of a lifetime
2. Being prepared is the key to a great deal
3. Conventional sale vs. Proactive Exit Strategy process
4. Leveraging the valuation model
5. Increasing sustainable profits
6. Building a platform for growth
7. Reducing risks to the buyer
8. Corporate divestments
9. Finding a buyer
10. The acquisition process
11. How to structure the deal
12. The role of professional services firms
13. Conclusion

Part B: Completing the Exit Ready Index
A. Alignment
B. Strategy
C. Execution

"Most entrepreneurs are frustrated with the lack of science in this area. Now for the first time, they are empowered by a systematic and pragmatic process that they can use to build value in their business, they can manage the process of sale themselves and they can capture the maximum benefit from the years of effort that they put into their business. Reading this book will open up their eyes to a new range of possibilities for how they can generate additional profits as well as facilitate growth in their business. Whether they proceed to sell their business or not, the process itself will have a very positive effect on their profitability and business resilience. "

The ULTIMATE DEAL 1 sets out a proactive process that will enable the entrepreneur to achieve the highest sales value for the business when selling to a financial buyer.

Few business owners understand how business valuation formulae work, how they can proactively increase value in their business or how to best prepare their business for sale. Business valuation has been long dominated by the belief that valuation is solely a calculation based on historical profits to the extent that few business owners truly believe they can influence what they will sell their business for. This book will fundamentally change that view. The process set out in The ULTIMATE DEAL 1 will enable the business owner to take control of the sales process to significantly improve the proceeds from the sale.

This book sets out a practical and structured treatment of the elements of business valuation and the various risk and profit components that create sales valuation. It also sets out a proactive process that will enable the business owner to reduce risk, improve profits and create growth potential for a financial buyer. This process can substantially improve valuation on sale, often 2 to 10 times that of a conventional valuation. It is based on well accepted valuation theories and incorporates the author's breakthrough insight into how growth potential can be used to increase sales proceeds.

Entrepreneurs want to know how they can improve the valuation of their business and especially desire to take control of the process of selling the business where they can positively influence the outcome. This book empowers the business owner to take charge of the sales process and sets out a clear strategy that will substantially improve the sales value through a program of risk reduction, enhanced forward profit visibility and resilience, higher profits through a systematic improvement process and lastly, higher valuation through the creation of growth potential.

The purpose of this book is to enable business owners to prepare their businesses for sale by showing them how various components of business valuation can be manipulated to increase value. It includes both business improvement and growth potential but also identifies how the business owner can proactively seek out and engage the best buyers. Whether the business owner has to sell, has an offer to purchase the business or desires to sell, this process will ensure that the maximum value is achieved for the business.

Business value is not simply a multiple of average, historical or projected earnings. The sales value is made up of a number of components which include risk, succession, current profit, business growth and business potential, all of which the business owner can manipulate to create higher value on sale. However, value is substantially impacted by the probability of achieving forward projected profits. This book sets out a series of activities that the business owner can implement to improve forward profit visibility, resilience and growth to substantially increase value - sometimes as much as TEN times a conventional valuation. This breakthrough process has been validated by business advisors, successful entrepreneurs and leading professional services firms.

The ULTIMATE DEAL 1 includes a Financial Sale Ready Index that allows the business owner to score their level of sale preparation across the three major stages of a sale process; Awareness and Alignment, Strategy and Operations Management. The Index provides a step by step guide to the business owner to allow them to take charge of the sale process. The Financial Sale Ready Index identifies to the business owner where they are in their sale preparation and then shows them what they need to do to improve their readiness for sale, which in turn should lead to a higher sale value.

Most businesses fail to prepare adequately for sale often resulting in sale proceeds of a small fraction of what they could otherwise have achieved. Few business owners appreciate the importance of clearly identifying the buyer in advance and of preparing their business so that the right buyer is empowered to exploit the potential in the business, which in turn leads to a much higher price on sale.

"Most business owners leave the task of selling their business to the last moment, often when they are in trouble, hand over the sales process to a stranger and then wonder why they achieve so little for a lifetime's work. If you understand how business value is constructed, you can proactively set out to dramatically increase that value, identify who is the best buyer and create a sales activity where both the buyer and seller are very pleased with the outcome. But such a result does not come without a deliberate strategy which puts the business in the right shape. It is potential profits that is the key to higher value, not historical results. Thus any business can be restructured to generate higher potential in the hands of the right buyer"

Dr McKaskill is a successful serial entrepreneur who has started, built and exited several ventures. His personal experience of selling businesses includes four high technology businesses that were all sold for significant premiums. His understanding of the process of generating a higher value on sale has been enhanced over the past few years through teaching entrepreneurs and this has assisted him in developing a clear and easy to understand explanation for how this process should be undertaken.

The ULTIMATE DEAL 1 offers the business owner advice on -

WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE BUSINESS VALUATION?
This book sets out how valuation formulae work and how the business owner can use this information to create a higher valuation on sale.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BEWEEN A FINANCIAL SALE AND A STRATEGIC SALE?
Some businesses are sold on inherent profitability and others on underlying strategic value. These different models are explained.

HOW DO I IMPLEMENT A STRATEGY TO REDUCE BUSINESS RISK FOR THE FINANCIAL BUYER?
Business risk is associated with the costs, stress, delays and impediments that the buyer experiences post sale. These can be negated, minimised or avoided through a series of proactive activities by the seller.

WHAT CAN I DO TO IMPROVE MY CURRENT PROFITABILITY?
Current profits can be improved through the use of various systematic business process improvement techniques and business strategies. This book explains how they work and where to get additional advice on implementation.

HOW CAN I CREATE HIGHER CUMULATIVE FUTURE PROFIT LEVELS?
Minor increments in profit are readily achieved with a systematic approach. This books show how this can be implemented.

HOW CAN I CREATE GROWTH POTENTIAL FOR THE BUSINESS?
Business profit potential can be substantially impacted by creating a 'platform for growth' in the business. This books shows how this can be done and how this will substantially improve the sales value.

HOW CAN I IDENTIFY AND CONNECT WITH POSSIBLE BUYERS FOR MY BUSINESS?
Financial buyers are typically individuals or larger firms within the industry that the business operates in, thus potential buyers can be readily identified with a proactive approach to business promotion, networking and engagement.

HOW SHOULD I CONSTRUCT AN EARN-OUT TO ACHIVE A HIGHER SALE VALUE?
Earnouts are used to bridge the gap between what the seller and buyer think the business is worth but they must be constructed with care. This books sets out guidelines for how earnouts should be used.

WHAT EXTERNAL ADVISORS AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES SHOULD I USE TO ASSIST ME?
Good advisors and quality professional service providers can significantly improve valuation and reduce risks for both buyer and seller. This books sets out the various roles for external advisors and assists the business owner to select the right ones.

TESTIMONIALS

"NOBODY SHOULD SELL THEIR BUSINESS - OR START A NEW ONE - BEFORE READING THIS BOOK"
Tony Featherstone, Former Managing Editor, Business Review Weekly

"This is a much needed resource for all business owners. Time and time again we see businesses placed on the market that just aren't ready for sale. As a result the entire sale process can be significantly delayed and frustrating accompanied with a final sale price that is well below the owner's expectation and businesses true worth. The Ultimate Deal provides business owner's with invaluable tools and knowledge to prepare their business for this inevitable event and maximise their opportunity to increase the businesses sale price."
Stephen Harvey
Principal
Barclays Business Services Network
Melbourne