The Importance of Developing an Ongoing Customer Experience Strategy Before Selling your Business

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Screen Shot 2017-05-15 at 9.12.22 PM If you’re thinking of selling your business, there are lots of questions you need to ask in order to ensure things are in top form before you do. But there is one very important question you may have overlooked when it comes to defining and communicating the value of your business to buyers:

How’s your customer experience strategy?

The strategy governing interactions between customers and your organization will be a key differentiating factor between yours and other businesses when it comes to positioning your company as an attractive acquisition for would-be buyers.

That’s because savvy buyers know that your existing CX strategy will help determine their ability to generate repeat business, customer loyalty, customer advocacy — and ultimately, future profitability.

Having a reliable strategy to attract and retain customers will give your business a competitive edge that can put it ahead of other businesses on the market and help you fetch a higher asking price.

Flexing your CX muscle
The best way to prove to potential buyers that you’ve got a solid CX strategy in place is to show them that it’s directly linked to revenue generation and profits.

When communicating your CX to potential buyers, you’ll want to touch on each of the following six points. If these items aren’t part of your current strategy then you have some work to do before you’re ready to put that for-sale sign on your business.

1. A clearly defined vision.
You’ll want to communicate to prospects that your company’s vision — or guiding principles — is driving the behaviors related to CX throughout your entire organization. This is especially true if you’re selling your business with its current staff intact. Communicating that a vision is integral to your business will build confidence among buyers that everyone has clearly defined goals they’re working toward. Prospects know that well-defined goals eliminate wasted time and distractions, and ultimately play a big role in yielding higher profits.

2.You understand your customers.
The heart of any CX strategy is knowing your customers and understanding their wants and needs. Demonstrating that you’re in tune with your customers in such a way that you understand — and can even predict — their wants and needs will show potential buyers that your company can maintain a sustainable customer base and therefore, steady profits. When a buyer sees that you’ve created a business that nurtures its customers, you’ll move ahead of other companies on their list of potential buys.

3. You have a proven customer service model.
While customer service isn’t all there is to CX, it’s certainly an integral piece of it. Potential buyers will want to understand your customer service strategy and know that you have been successful at implementing it. This is important to your professional reputation and can be a key factor in how attractive your company is to potential buyers. They’ll also want to know that the strategies you’ve put in place to remedy customer complaints or returns strike a balance between customer satisfaction and generating revenue.

4. You’ve personalized your CX.
There’s a reason people buy millions of shoes online from Zappos instead of going to their local department store. Sure it’s more convenient, but Zappos is also famous for customer connection on a personal level — even sending a customer flowers after she called to explain that a return was late because her mother passed away. And while you may not have the deep pockets of Tony Hsieh, proving to potential buyers that you understand how to stand out from the competition will make your business much more attractive.

5. You’ve captured customer feedback.
The whole point of CX is missed if you’re not capturing and making use of customer feedback to measure and improve it. If you can show buyers that customer feedback helps inform business decisions and the CX itself, you’ll prove to buyers that they can also use this process to ensure success in the ownership transition and in the future of the business overall.

6. You measure the ROI from your CX.
Any buyer worth his salt is going to want to see results. Having a benchmark for your CX efforts, such as the Net Promoter Score, will allow you to show your potential buyer tangible results from your CX strategy.

If you can’t clearly communicate your CX strategy or how it’s tied to profits, then you really need to take the time to implement a stronger CX strategy before putting that for-sale sign on your business. By putting a sale on hold and focusing on CX, you’ll boost profits and customer satisfaction, which will pay big dividends in fetching a higher price when you are ready to sell your business.

Photo credit: QuickBase

Bruce Hakutizwi
Bruce Hakutizwi is the U.S. and International Business Manager for Dynamis LTD., the parent company of us.BusinessesforSale.com, one of the largest global online marketplaces for buying and selling businesses. Bruce is passionate about helping small businesses succeed and regularly writes about entrepreneurship and small business management.

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