The most commonly overlooked aspect of succession and exit planning is communication. Communication is the key to driving sales, profitability, reputation and even attracting potential acquirers of your business. Communication is also how you attract and retain the best people and keep your existing customers through the transition process. Equally important, communications drives valuations.

Our team starts with a confidential audit of the business's online brand profile and reputation, providing a report with a breakdown of 'Strengths and Weaknesses'. We also evaluate your brand and other marketing (and potentially sales assets) to provide a strategy in line with the targeted exit time frames. Potential purchasers' visibility and discoverability (e.g., market competitors or those who may wish to enter the space) also play a role in this report.

Once we have developed an understanding of your brand and business reputation and profile, we then set about creating a strategy that can deliver the optimum return for investment within the agreed succession or exit timeline. We then implement and manage the plan, working primarily on lead generation and qualification, and assisting the sales team with the sales objections. We also work with your team to develop visibility around sales processes and times, peak sales periods and opportunities, up-selling opportunities and client retention. Our team will play a role in reviewing brand assets and working with our legal team to ensure these assets are protected.

The Exit By Design team will be responsible for developing and managing all of the marketing and brand assets for the term of the agreement, with weekly website reports, monthly meetings, and quarterly reviews. We can work with and report to a Marketing Manager or the senior management. Our services extend to managing the technical aspects of your website and social media and can include reviewing brand sentiment. Additionally, we will work with your people to develop content and updates for online and sales use (including where agreed video and podcast production). We will also be responsible for creating and managing any agreed programmatic advertising strategies and assets that your business may use for conferences, exhibitions, seminars, and webinars.

We develop a marketing and sales approach that increases the IP value of the business (e.g., brand, contact and customer databases, automated lead qualification tools), demonstrating to any potential purchaser the 'science' and methodology behind the revenue acquisition, with emphasis on how this can be scaled in the market, or reproduced in other geographies.