When a company owner contemplates how to sell a company, they often consider fast strike tasks that can improve efficiency and, subsequently, business valuation.  You might not have the time, money or will for the massive tasks like enterprise-wide business procedure re-engineering project that encompasses large teams and sophisticated software.  Instead, consider scaled-down scale, targeted workflow improvements to improve business productivity and worth.

First, a few terms to evaluation.  A business process is a coordinated set of actions that produce a company result, and business process mapping is documenting them.  An example process will be opening a customer account or generating a purchase order.  The mapping objective is to capture how the various parts of an organization work with each other to serve clients.

The result is a process map, or a visible representation of a process that displays inputs, outputs, tasks performed, and task sequence.  There is very a set of nomenclature and equipment close to this, along with be set off.  For very easy and small projects, we have utilized post-it notes and a very large wall.

When first launching a work flow enhancement work, you should choose which work flows to redesign.  Just a couple things to consider include when making that choice:

  • Follow the money… Which processes are crucial in making revenue? Which use a high level of means exactly where cost reduction possibilities might exist? What process brings the most value to the client.
  • Where are the problems? What procedure or organization appears to trigger the most problems? Where is there a strong quality enhancement require? Which of these operations appear to possess the highest impact?
  • Where can technology produce a significant procedure enhancement?
  • Which processes cross the most organizations within the business?
  • What improvement would possess the greatest positive effect on marketing the company and its business valuation?

Process mapping has become a crucial company analysis and quality improvement device.  It builds an realizing of the process as it is currently performed, then identify gaps, risks, and possibilities to boost it.  At a high level, we are asking the basic questions:

  • What is happening?
  • When it is happening?
  • Who is performing it?
  • Where it is going on?
  • How long does it take?
  • How is it being carried out?
  • Why is it being carried out?

                                            
It is via seeing a visible representation of complex activities that we can discover methods to streamline perform flow and enhance business overall performance.  Once you see it, you can work on it.

There are numerous components to capture when mapping and redesigning workflows:

  1. The process objective and owner.
  2. Inputs – what is coming to the process
  3. Group – it is possible to framework of the process
  4. Operations – what group of activities to think about out and in of scope, and what individuals activities are
  5. Individuals – the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the process
  6. Items – what is being processed (products, customers, patients)
  7. Outputs – what is being subtracted from the program
  8. Outcomes – the effect of the outputs
  9. Feedback – constant information about how what you are doing

Quick pointers include organizing around outputs, not duties, functions or products.  Design processes for simultaneous processing and link steps in real time.  Capture all essential info once and at the supply.  Think about such as the customer in the operation improvement effort.

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While you document the processes, maintain an issues list of difficulties, and possibilities for good change.  After you have the current processes documented, start to evaluation how to boost them.  While you evaluation the visuals and the issues checklist, some changes might be obvious.  Other thought provoking queries to think about are:

 

  1. Are there greatest practices we should be considering?
  2. Is there a technology that could make a dramatic improvement and or would carry out best practices?
  3. If time, cash, labor, technologies, along with other resources were not really a concern, what would the perfect process seem like?  What are the barriers and risks to implementing it, and how could they be mitigated?
  4. What in the operation is considered high worth and a differentiator by the marketplace and by a possible purchaser?
  5. What do we have to say is our core competency?  What can we outsource?

Even though this has been a brutally brief overview of procedure improvement, it ought to demystify it for you.  Small process improvements can be quick hit projects that may enhance the overall performance and valuation of your own organization as you move to sell a business.

I invite you to use these suggestions during your journey to sell a business.

Marian Cook is a highly sought after business transition expert and speaker with over 25 years experience helping business owners design their best-life exit strategy, and improve their business performance and valuation.  She is the co-author of “Selling Your Business For More:  Maximizing Returns For You, Your Family and Your Business” (published by Macmillan).  If you are ready to sell a business and jump-start your business sale process, connect with Marian via her free tips, articles, checklists and blog at Business Transition Experts.

 

 

 

 

 







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