In Good Companies

You poured your heart and soul into making your business the best that it can be. Now that you’re ready to move on, you deserve a return that reflects all that hard work. So, let’s merge our experiences and acquire some new knowledge on the art of selling a business.

Show Notes

You poured your heart and soul into making your business the best that it can be. Now that you’re ready to move on, you deserve a return that reflects all that hard work. But the process of selling a business is complicated: where do you find the right person to buy it, and how do you agree on a fair price? To complicate matters, for most business owners, this will be the first and last time they conduct a transaction of this magnitude. So, it’s important to get the advice of people who have been there before. 

BJ Green sees all sorts of sales from his role as Cadence Bank’s Georgia Commercial Banking Executive. As for Mark Loeffler, Co-Founder and Managing Director of boutique investment bank VRA Partners, his job is to actually run these sales processes for small and mid-sized businesses. Together, they have a wealth of knowledge on valuations, mergers, and acquisitions—what BJ calls: “The Art of the Possible.” So, if midsize M&A is an art, consider these two da Vinci and Michaelangelo. 

On this episode, we’ll cover the timeline and steps of the M&A process, ways to improve your valuation, and how to find the right partners. You’ll learn how to identify your objectives, navigate your team through a sales process and keep your business humming during it all. So, let’s merge our experiences and acquire some new knowledge on the art of selling a business. 

Highlights:
  • What are your goals in selling the business? (3:55)
  • How to handle unsolicited offers (5:59)
  • Valuation: what goes into it (9:05)
  • Why valuations are currently high (12:41)
  • “The secret sauce”: What makes a company attractive to buyers (14:34)
  • How preparation can improve your company’s value (15:58)
  • Think like a buyer (18:47)
  • A sale is a team effort (19:11)
  • M&A is really creating a new partnership (24:39)
  • Sale timeline and process (26:11)
  • Managing your business during a sale (31:19)
  • Give yourself a head start (35:30)
Links:
·       Cadence Bank Website
·       Cadence Bank Twitter
·       Cadence Bank LinkedIn
·       BJ Green LinkedIn
·       VRA Partners Website
·       Mark Loeffler LinkedIn
       
Feedback:
If you have questions about the show or topics you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producers, sheena.cochran@cadencebank.com or danielle.kernell@cadencebank.com 

What is In Good Companies?

Starting and running a business or managing one isn’t for the faint of heart. You’re balancing internal and external forces in a continually changing landscape. You’re building strategies, and banking on the future – no matter what it holds. This is where Cadence Bank’s In Good Companies comes in. We share our wealth of knowledge, and insights from noted industry experts, to guide you through the forces shaping business today.

We’re back for Season 6, and this time, we’re setting our sights on the future of work. We’re asking the big questions, like:

What will your career look like in 2030? Or 2050, even?
How is ESG shaping the future of companies?
And how can we leverage AI to our advantage?

We bring together experts from across the board, from Silicon Valley to multinationals like EY, to help you stay on the cutting edge of business. And we get to know those who are building the future of our companies; because at Cadence Bank, we want to hear the human side of every success story.

Hosting our stellar range of guests this season is our new host, Ari Marin. He is a Cadence Bank Senior Vice President and family enterprise advisor, whose specialty is consulting with family-owned and small businesses. Ari’s idea of “good company” is being around creative, insightful people with unique and inspirational stories. For Season 6, he brings in his curiosity and ambition to In Good Companies, to lead discussions with our guests, and bring listeners across the U.S. all the information they need, in one place, in under 30 minutes.

Ready to launch into the future? Then join us!