When Dale Lifting & Handling was established in 1830 it was always going to be handed down through generations of the founding family. That’s how it was then, father to son to grandson. Rolling forward almost 200 years and the succession was now with the female lineage, reflecting the changes of time. Yet that was soon to come to a close.
Today, it’s not uncommon for newer generations to chart their own paths, stepping away from family businesses to make their mark elsewhere. This shift is something we see in many of our clients’ stories, influenced by evolving work habits: while our grandparents toiled with hard physical labour, today’s young adults are more likely to work behind a computer screen.
When your business has been around for 194 years, however, selling it takes on added significance. It’s personal and calls for the right buyer—someone who understands that legacy.
With all the business sales we are involved in, we capitalise our chance of finding the right buyer by being part of Business Partnership, which is where you can read the full case study for Dale Lifting & Handling.
Former Company Director, Martin Bradley describes the sale process thus;
“When we met Paul we knew nothing about selling a business. He explained the stages of the sale process and all the different scenarios and possibilities that could pan out. He simplified everything so we fully understood what would happen. It was quite the eye-opener as we thought selling a business would be a lot simpler and quicker than it turned out to be!
It was evident Paul had done his research before coming to see us. He knew lots about our business and had done his homework on valuation. In the months before deciding to sell, we received plenty of speculative approaches from brokers offering to sell the business on our behalf. Many offered discounts, invited us to free seminars, and generally promised us the earth, but not one of them demonstrated they had any idea what our business does. Seeing that Paul had made the effort to research and understand our company before he met us gave us the confidence and trust to appoint him.
Selling a business is exhausting and all-consuming. As a business owner it’s impossible to oversee the process and continue to run a profitable business at the same time. We could honestly not have done it without Paul’s tenacity, loyalty, experience and professionalism. He worked tirelessly on our behalf and never gave up, despite the setbacks. He was a constant presence and support, always available on the phone, and there to listen when we were frustrated or angry. He fully understands the emotions tied up in a family business. We realised early on that we were too emotionally involved to talk to buyers directly. Having Paul as an intermediary allowed us to get our point across and negotiate in a calm, controlled and level-headed way. I would highly recommend Paul and Business Partnership to business owners who are ready to sell.
Even at the very last hurdle when the buyer reduced their valuation, Paul said he would stand by us and start over again if we wanted to walk away. By this point, after almost 3 years of negotiating the sale process, we were ready to start enjoying our retirement and decided to accept the lower offer. The fact that he was willing to start again demonstrates his uncanny ability to take knocks and get back up again. Paul is, without a doubt, 100% on your side.”
If you’d like advice on how to exit your family business, please reach out and start a conversation with us.
