Be ready to say yes the day the offer arrives.
“I sold my first business at four times earnings. My second was ready to sell any day of the week, which is why we could say yes when an unexpected offer arrived.”
Build a business that could be handed over tomorrow.
Always be ready.
The Exit Strategy Group
Where does your business sit?
Where your business sits on the curve is what you get if the ending arrives tomorrow. Readiness is not a project you start at least two years out. It is the ground you hold.
Hover or tap a state to hold it. Wherever the dashed line falls is what you get.
The business is you. If you stopped for ninety days, it would stop with you.
If the ending arrives here: nothing to sellOperations hold up but growth, the key relationships and every judgement call still route back through you.
If the ending arrives here: heavy discount, you stayIt could change hands, or you could step back to a chair role and the value would not walk out with you.
If the ending arrives here: full value, on your termsYou do not have to hand it over. Staying is a decision rather than a default.
If the ending arrives here: you chooseThe four states a business can be in
Every business sits in one of four states on the way to an exit.
Trapped
The business is you. Every significant relationship is with you personally, nothing is written down and if you stopped for 90 days it would stop with you.
Tethered
Some systems exist. Operations hold up but growth, the key relationships and every judgement call still route back through you.
Transferable
It could change hands, or you could step back to a chair role and the value would not walk out with you.
Optional
You do not have to hand it over. You have a date, the people around you know it and staying is a decision rather than a default.
The Readiness Scorecard · 20 questions · six minutes
If you only think about an exit when you're ready to leave, you don't have an exit strategy. You have a hope strategy.
Kerry Boulton
The Exit Strategy Group
Find out where you actually stand
Two free checks. One shows you which step you are standing on. The other puts a number on the gap.
The Readiness Scorecard
Free · 20 questions · six minutes
In six minutes you know which of the four states you are in and the one thing holding you there. So the next quarter focuses on the work that moves you.
The Value Gap Check
Free · three numbers · two minutes
Put a real number on the business today and see the gap to the number you actually need. Three numbers, two minutes.
I have been on your side of this
I have done it three times.
I bought a business that was losing almost $1 million a year. Nine years later it went to a trade buyer at four times earnings. Then I spent 25 years building one that was ready to sell any day of the week.
So I get paid the same whether you stay or go. Most owners I work with never go anywhere. They stop being trapped.
The numbers behind the exit
The Sellable Business Advantage
What actually gets discounted, why it is almost never the revenue and the three scales your ending is designed on.
Score yourself on three levers as you go and you finish knowing where your gaps are.
What people actually said
Every name here is real and every quote is word for word. Nothing on this page is written on Kerry's behalf.
Kerry is a powerhouse of clarity and strategy. Her ability to cut through complexity and guide with wisdom and care is unmatched. I've had the privilege of learning from Kerry during key stages of business growth and succession planning and her insights have had a lasting impact on both my confidence and direction. She's direct when needed, kind when it counts and always focused on real outcomes. Anyone working with Kerry is in incredibly capable hands.
Kerry is the person who can help you get your business sale ready whether you plan to sell or not. We have been really impressed with the step by step program Kerry is taking us through. Kerry brings a wealth of experience and a wealth of connections that have already proved valuable.
Kerry Boulton's insight and experience has been of great value to our business. Her ability to personally connect with the key stakeholders was invaluable to the successful merger of our two businesses, setting us up for significant growth moving forward.
Direct and reassuring, never pushy, a fantastic listener and decipher of the things that matter to businesses, repeatable processes, cash flow on the top line whilst keeping an eagle eye on the bottom line. Cannot recommend Kerry highly enough.
In their own words, on camera
In the press
“Buyout thrives on total service.” Business Review Weekly wrote up the management buyout in October 1992. It is the earliest record of the thing she now teaches: she bought the business she was running, then built it to be worth buying.
“Boulton is an exceptional executive on every count.”Tony Thomas, Business Review Weekly
- 81staff in five Australian capital cities
- $35Ma year paid through to airlines and shipping lines
- $250ka year on staff training, more than 10% of the wages bill
- 1stprize for total quality management, Telecom and Victorian Government small business awards
Also interviewed on
- Qantas Talking Businesswith Alan Kohler
- Team Guru Podcastaudio and transcript
- Better Living Podcastaudio and transcript
Choose your next step
Start wherever you are.
The Readiness Scorecard
Just lookingFree · six minutes
See which of the four states your business is in today.
The Sellable Business Advantage
LearningFree training · watch any time
What buyers actually discount and why it is almost never the revenue.
Book a call with Kerry
Ready to talkThirty minutes · by application
Her honest read on where you stand and what would move you.
Talk it through with Kerry
Thirty minutes. At the end she gives you her honest read on where you stand. If she cannot help, she says so.
Australia and New Zealand. $1.3M to $30M revenue, five to ten years in.