{"id":561292,"date":"2012-06-27T03:45:11","date_gmt":"2012-06-27T07:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vrbbd.wpengine.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/what-are-your-companys-weaknesses\/"},"modified":"2022-01-31T12:44:38","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T17:44:38","slug":"what-are-your-companys-weaknesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/what-are-your-companys-weaknesses\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Your Company’s Weaknesses?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Every company has weaknesses; the trick is to fix them.\u00a0 There is a saying that the test of a good company president or CEO is what happens to the company when he or she leaves.\u00a0 Some companies–on paper–may look the same, but one company may be much more valuable due to weaknesses in the other company.\u00a0 Not all problems or weaknesses can be resolved or fixed, but most can be mitigated.\u00a0 Fixing or lessening company weaknesses can not only significantly improve the value, but also increase the chances of finding the right buyer.\u00a0 Here are some common weaknesses that concern some buyers, causing them to look elsewhere for an acquisition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe One Man Band\u201d<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Many small companies were founded by the current president, and he has made all of the major decisions.\u00a0 Since he has not developed a succession plan, there is no one in place to take over if he gets hit by the proverbial truck.\u00a0 He is the typical one man band; and, as a result, the company is not an attractive target for acquisition.<\/p>\n

Declining Industry<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Companies that are in a declining market have to be smart enough to recognize the situation and make changes accordingly.\u00a0 A real-life example of a \u201csmart\u201d company is one that made ties, and, realizing the decline in this apparel item, switched over to making personalized polo shirts.\u00a0 A company can still make ties but has to have the foresight \u2013 and ability \u2013 to move into new product areas.<\/p>\n

Customer Concentration<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

This is a major concern of most buyers.\u00a0 It is not unusual for the one man band to focus on what made the company successful \u2013 one or two major customers.\u00a0 He has built the relationships over the years.\u00a0 These relationships are seldom transferable.\u00a0 Finding new customers may take time and money, but the effort is absolutely necessary should the owner eventually decide to sell.<\/p>\n

The One Product<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Many one man band run companies were based, and still are, on either the manufacture and sale of one product or the creation and development of a single service.\u00a0 Henry Ford made a wonderful car \u2013 the Model A \u2013 but that\u2019s all he made.\u00a0 General Motors decided that many people would like something different and were willing to pay for it.\u00a0 Fortunately, for Ford, he caught on quickly, but almost went out of business with the thinking that one model fits everyone.<\/p>\n

Aging Workforce\/Decaying Culture<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Young people are not entering the trades, leaving many jobs such as tool and die positions filled with \u201cold hands\u201d who will soon be retiring.\u00a0 Technology may be able to replace them, but that decision has to made and implemented.\u00a0 No one wants a business that will have idle machines with no one trained to operate them.<\/p>\n

There are many other areas that could be considered company weaknesses.\u00a0 If there is a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board, perhaps they can help the one man band create a succession plan and just as importantly \u2013 a successor.\u00a0 Certainly the time to act on all of this is before the decision to sell is made.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Whether current ownership plans on staying the course or eventually selling the company, the good news is that resolving company weaknesses is a win-win situation.<\/p>\n

If you are considering selling your company in the next year or so, the time to start is now.\u00a0 Planning ahead can significantly add to the eventual selling price.\u00a0 A visit with a professional business intermediary is the first step.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every company has weaknesses; the trick is to fix them.\u00a0 There is a saying that the test of a good company president or CEO is what happens to the company when he or she leaves.\u00a0 Some companies–on paper–may look the same, but one company may be much more valuable due to weaknesses in the other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-selling-a-business"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}