Exit your business in style
You’ve poured everything into your business. You’ve built it, nurtured it, lived with it, suffered with it, watched it mature and immersed yourself in it every day. But someday, you’ll want to exit your business—and you’ll want to do it in style.
To exit your business with the comfort and confidence you’ve worked so hard to earn, you need a solid exit plan that answers 3 important questions:
- How much longer do I want to work in the business?
- What is the annual income I want during retirement?
- Who do I want to transfer the business to?
At Erben Associates, we use a 7-step Exit Planning Process to help you establish simple exit objectives and clear retirement goals. We also give you a straightforward roadmap for getting there and walk you through every step of the way.
Business Succession
Can you afford to sell to your employees?
When it’s time to sell your business, who else can you trust to take care of it than the top employees who helped it grow? But while they may be great owners, they might not have the funds to pay you what you need so you can exit your business in style.
Erben Associates can help you sell your business to your key employees without leaving you holding the bag. We work with you to create a business succession plan that clearly maps out your exit objectives, minimizes risks and helps preserve and build the value of your business.
Business Continuity
How will your business continue when you can’t?
You may already have an exit plan for the day you plan to retire and pass on or sell your business. But what if the unthinkable happens and your business loses you tomorrow? What will happen to your business without YOU?
Protect your business and help ensure its success if something unexpected happens to you with a Business Continuity Plan. Erben Associates can give you the comfort and sense of financial wellbeing with a thorough and comprehensive plan that will:
- Help ensure your business transfers smoothly to future owners
- Help replace your skills and maintain relationships with vendors and customers
- Help ensure that key executives are taken care of and remain with the company
- Help provide for your family if your business sells or passes on to them
Executive Retention Strategies
Will your employees stick around after you’re gone?
It’s your business, but you couldn’t do it without the key employees who helped you build it. So, when you’re ready to sell or pass your business to your children, how will you make sure these key employees stick around?
Keep the employees who are vital to your business a part of your business when you’re gone with a clear Executive Retention Strategy. Erben Associates can help you create an Employee Incentive Plan that will make both you and your key employees feel good by:
- Providing substantial financial awards to key employees
- Creating specific and measurable performance standards
- Tying performance standards to increases in the company’s value
- Creating deferred bonuses subject to vesting
- Communicating the plan to key employees in clear, plain language
Third Party Sale
You’re ready to sell your business, but is it ready to be sold?
Most business owners underestimate how complicated selling a business can be until they’re well into negotiations. They leave the table wondering if they really got the best deal for both them and their business.
Erben Associates can help you take the right steps before you put your business on the market to make your sale as, fair, clean and straightforward as possible. You’ll rest easy knowing you got the deal you’ve earned with some simple preparation steps, which may include:
- Pre-sale due diligence
- Reducing company debt
- Choosing a tax planning strategy
- Identify potential buyers
- Creating Stay bonus plan for employees
- Business real estate options
Family Business Planning
A family business isn’t about business. It’s about family.
A business can only be successful if everyone is on the same page. That can be difficult in a family business when the interests of the family sometimes conflict with the interests of the business.
Erben Associates knows that the most important part of a family business is family. We create family business plans that honor the needs of each family member while encouraging smart business ownership. We’ll also help create a clear process that will preserve the business by supporting the long- and short-term goals of the family through the generations.