Why profit counts twice.
A business is usually valued at its yearly profit times a multiple: what a buyer pays for each dollar of yearly profit, usually a few times over. So every extra dollar of profit a year shows up once in your accounts, and again in the sale price.
Say you employ 30 people on an average of $70,000. Free up 1% of their time and that's worth around $21,000 a year. At a multiple of three, that's around $63,000 more when you sell.
That time only turns into profit if your team puts it into paid work, or it saves you hiring someone. Multiples vary by business, so check yours with your broker or accountant.
Start two or three years out.
The best time to set it up is two or three years before you sell, so the savings have time to show up in your accounts. A buyer looks at what the business has earned, not what it plans to earn.
Where to start
Start with the Read-Out, a two-week check of what your business is worth now, and what it could be worth. You and your managers each answer twenty questions on your own. I go through your figures and come back with three: what it's worth today, at the size you're aiming for, and at that size with more profit on each dollar of sales. The gap between them is where the work is. $2,500 + GST. If your broker sent you here, this is the place to start.
Then the Shift: a 90-day project where I find one big time-waster, build the fix and prove what it saved.
A job that took sixty hours a month → now takes a ten-minute check each morning
A job that took three days → now takes an afternoon
Common questions
How far ahead should I get ready to sell?
Two or three years, if you can. The savings need time to show up in your accounts before a buyer will pay for them.
Is the Read-Out a valuation?
No. It's a rough guide, not a formal valuation. For that, talk to your broker or accountant. The Read-Out shows where the value can come from, with a dollar figure on each saving.
My broker sent me here. Where do I start?
The Read-Out. It takes two weeks and costs $2,500 + GST.
What size of business do you work with?
Businesses and charities of 15 to 100 people, big enough to have managers.
Is this only for people selling?
No. Most of the businesses I work with aren't selling. What the business is worth is just the clearest way to measure what the work adds.
Give me a ring.
There's nothing to fill in first. Email or ring, whatever's easiest. If I can help, I'll tell you straight. If I can't, I'll usually know who can.