Hello Reader,

Happy New Year!

I hope 2025 is off to a fantastic start for you, and I wish you success in all your plans this year.

By the way, did you manage to utilise December to build a good foundation for this year?

Either way, by now, I’m sure you know that every Saturday, I deliver the best advice I have on sales – right to your inbox. And if you’ve been here a long time, you’ll know I’m all for growing your business through sales – the right way.

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Besides growing your business, sales growth is also an essential factor if you choose to sell your business.

Because buyers buy future revenue growth.

So, today, for the start of 2025, I want to talk about that and take it one step further…

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What happens after you’ve grown?

Yes, you need to continue growing. But what else should you do?

What comes next?

And how do you plan for it?

For example, if you choose to sell your business, do you think you’ll get a price based on your turnover? (I’ll answer this in a moment…)

This “next chapter” you embark on can be challenging.

I know many business owners and directors that have the following ideas:

• “I want to exit my business.”
• “I want to sell my business.”
• “I want to pass on my business.”

And the reasons for this can be:

• Wanting to retire
• Wanting to move on to something else (and need funding)
• Wanting to travel
• Wanting to bring children into the business
• Etc.

But the reality (that many business owners don’t know until it’s too late) is that this is an extremely long, complicated, and often an emotional roller coaster of an experience.

Even if you’re not thinking of selling or exiting now, did you know you need to start this process years in advance?

Because...

Do you know where you’ll be in 5 years from now?

You may have an idea of where you want to be, but do you know where you will be?

No one can. It’s not possible to predict the future.

That’s why it’s so critical that we start planning from now.

And if you’re wondering why it takes this long…

It’s because you need to ensure you’ve truly built a valuable business.

And building a valuable business involves countless variables.

Variables that take time to put into place – and perfect.

Now, when all these variables are implemented, you essentially have a business that “ticks all the boxes” that a prospective buyer might be looking for.

And here’s a hard pill to swallow: Turnover is only one of those many boxes.

Read that last line again.

And so, to answer the question I asked earlier: No. Turnover alone won't determine your selling price.

(And if you want to know all the elements that are considered, you can find them here.)

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But now, this is a little confusing, right?

Earlier, I told you that buyers buy future revenue growth.

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Well, here’s how it really works:

Buyers do buy future revenue growth.

Not just turnover.

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Just turnover alone means you have money coming in.

Future revenue growth means you have money coming in - not just now, but for the future as well.

And there’s only one way to ensure your business has future revenue growth.

You must have all the “variables” I mentioned earlier (or at least many of them) in place!

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By the way, if you’ve been receiving this newsletter for a while, and were wondering what exactly I do - this is it.

Helping companies and businesses build future revenue growth.

And it’s incredible how valuable your business can become when you achieve this.

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But if you were interested in doing this for your business (which you should be)...

• Where do you start?
• What do you move on to next?
• Who do you speak to?

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It can be overwhelming.

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So, that’s exactly what I go through in incredible detail with Caroline Foot and Martin Vincent from 55 Financial in my latest podcast.

Together, we discuss the exact elements of what you need to put into place to build a business that has real value and can achieve a much higher price – its full potential price.

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Here’s what we discussed:

• If you go on holiday, can your business still operate?
• The danger of leaving “it” far too late
• The power AI can have in taking your business to the next level
• How to ensure your culture stays even after selling
• What success can look like
• Unforeseen circumstances or situations
• How you can both include and leverage your teams
• The 3 P’s that are non-negotiable to getting the best value out of a business
• How the option isn’t always to sell
• The systems you need to have in place
• Why things aren’t always done the way you want them to be done
• How one business got a 30x multiplier!
• How valuations are actually worked out
• The importance of good advisors
• The tax implications and how to plan for them
• You already have everything in place, what next?
• And many more thought-provoking points!

So, if you want to ensure that your business reaches its full value…

And that you do everything that you need to do…

You really cannot miss this.

The insights delivered by Caroline and Martin are incredibly valuable. In fact, look at what Martin said during the podcast: “Experiences do shape you.”

So, how have the experiences of your business and its team shaped where it stands today?

Is it at its full value?
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Even if you strongly believe that your business is at a point where it will get its full value on a sale…

I strongly suggest that you still give this episode a listen.

You might find something you’re missing!

Catch the podcast with Martin Vincent and Caroline Foot from 55 Financial right here:

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James.

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How would you rate this edition?

​🤏🏻 So-So​

​🙂 🙂 Useful​

​🎩 🎩 🎩 Top Drawer!​