In November 2012, I invited Trevor Thompson to speak to the CEO Institute in Melbourne at the Deloitte Private offices about his experiences establishing the Allied Medical Group with Dr. Geoffrey Edelsten and selling it as part of a planned succession.
It was an inspiring discussion where he unraveled the 17 key lessons that he learned from his experiences in buying and selling businesses over 30 years, and particularly from selling Allied:
Preparation
Rule 1 – Start at the start
Rule 2 – Look the part
Rule 3 – Don’t offer for sale until you are ready to sell; Value your business
Rule 4 – Use the right size advisors for the size of the job
Negotiation
Rule 5 – Always have a plan B
Rule 6 – Be congruent and a straight shooter
Rule 7 – Focus on the main deal and don’t sweat the small stuff
Rule 8 – Understand the key issues for the purchaser and prove them
Rule 9 – Minimise your warranties
Rule 10 – Have a deadline
Rule 11 – Keep key staff in the loop
Exit
Rule 12 – Once sold be prepared to let go
Rule 13 – Watch the side issues (your back)
Rule 14 – Exit gracefully
And Beyond
Rule 15 – The deal is not finished yet
Rule 16 – Your conduct and success of the deal may be one of your greatest references you will ever need, use and get
Rule 17 – What’s next? Do they need/want you and for how long?
Here are the notes from the presentation: [download id=”14″]
