What consulting can do for the sale of a company

Company sale

Prepare and implement your own exit

The handover or sale of one’s own business is a complex process that needs to be started in time. We advise and accompany entrepreneurs during the handover and sale of the company, we hold workshops to transfer knowledge via training and work with a network of experts to cover the broad spectrum.

The company sale process requires broad expertise

Selling a business is a process that is not commonplace and requires expertise in very many different areas. These are, for example:

• Legal topics
• Tax tactics
• Financing options
• Personnel agendas

• Psychological topics
• Design of the sales process
• Tactics of negotiation
• Weighing up between individual sales options

The challenges of selling a company

• Planning is started too late
• No suitable takeover candidate, buyer or successor
• Emotional attachment to the company, which leads to a delay in the sale of the company
• Lack of financing options
• The company is no longer attractive
• Lack of confidence that the buyer or takeover candidate will successfully continue the business
• Disagreement on the purchase price

Tips and our approach

The handover and company sale process

• Transfer and sale options
• Succession planning and candidate search
• Communication planning
• Dispute Resolution
• Measures to maximize the value of the company
• Financial plan, business valuation and price range
• Tax optimization
• Contingency planning
• Sales documentation and buyer profiling
• Selection of negotiating partners and negotiations
• Due Diligence and Financing

What consulting can do for the sale of a company

An external advisor helps you to avoid classic pitfalls in the transfer of a business and to increase the probability of a successful transfer or sale of a business.

Due to the complexity of the process of a business sale, owners often consult a consulting firm. In order to select the ideal advisor, we give you an overview of what you can look for in order to be accompanied by the ideal advisor during your business sale.

Transparency, through and through

A key characteristic of professional consulting is transparency. There should be clarity both in the scope of services and in the fee. The goal of consulting in the sale of a company is to ideally prepare the sale and to accompany the client through the process of selling the company. In the discussion with the advisor, the exact scope of services is to be clarified. This should be defined in writing in the form of an offer or exposé based on a detailed description of services and a project plan. The project plan is your common guide through the entire process. It also gives you the opportunity to precisely track the services rendered by the consultant. Only in this way is it transparent for you as an entrepreneur exactly which services you will receive from the consultancy. In addition, you protect yourself from surprises and a cost explosion.

Speaking of costs: The second essential component of transparency in the sale of a company is the fee of the consultant. Consulting in the sale of a company is time-consuming and therefore also cost-intensive. Consultants use different fee models in the sale of a company. This article provides an overview of fee models in the sale of a company.

It is important for Konsultori to accompany its clients through the entire process of selling a company, which is why we offer packages for services. We distinguish between time-dependent components in the sale of a company, such as negotiation support for package services (preparation of documents) and commissions in the event of success, against which upstream costs can be offset.

Focus: The person behind the company

of the heart. A lot of time and energy has gone into it. Sometimes has cost a lot of nerves. Letting go of your own business can be a difficult process. You are only well-advised when it comes to company succession if the consultant not only looks at the figures of the company but also at the people and their feelings. After all, the process of selling a company is a lengthy one. Good cooperation between the consultant and the entrepreneur already eliminates many stumbling blocks.

Succession planning on the EU agenda

The EU is also addressing the issue of succession planning, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. The program DANAE (Developing Advisors in a Novel Business Transfers & Acquisitions Environment), has certified experienced experts on the topic of “Advisors in a Novel SME Transfer”. After successfully handling several succession projects, such as assisting Karin Haffert with the business transfer of beechange or Sonja Hager with the business transfer of Strickwerk, Petra Wolkenstein was able to successfully participate in the first round of certification in March 2017.

Experts Group “Business Transfer”

The Experts Group “Business Transfer” offers entrepreneurs a contact point and platform. Qualified experts in business succession are listed here. This group brings together consultants throughout Austria who have special know-how and relevant experience in the highly complex area of business handover/takeover. On the WKO homepage, the consultants are grouped by province. Thus, with just a few clicks you have a list of experienced experts in your area. Based on 15 years of experience in M&As, the Experts Group Konsultori took up in 2017.

References, references and once again references

Always informative: Ask your consultant for references. These will give you a very good insight into the consultant’s experience and into previous company sale projects.

Our expertise

Case Studies

Since 2001 M&A projects in CEE in the corporate area and since 2011 company sales in their entirety, as well as asset deals.

Advising on the sale of companies, for example, an e-commerce company, a wholesale company, a retail company, in the CleanTech sector, as well as an IT company.
To the Case Study beechange.
Since 2016, workshops on investor readiness and company valuation of startups at the Vienna Business Agency, as well as online training within the framework of the Konsultori Academy platform.

Our service portfolio

We will be happy to support you in your project:

• Analysis of the content of the measures to be taken before handover
• Decision support for the exit option and planning of the process
• Process support
• Business valuation and financing
• Coordination with external experts, such as lawyers and auditors
• Search and negotiation with candidates in case of internal or external handover
• Support on the topic of handover within the family by experts from the network
• Support in the post-transfer phase in the reorientation and strategic alignment of the company