Immortality is not an option! Whether it is a human being or a business, we are born, live and die. What happens, however, to a business when it is closely identified with its owner, as are hearing aid dispensing or audiology practices, when the owner passes from us?
Just as every well-run office has a business plan, it should also have a plan or set of guidelines in place that will guide the survivors through the transition of those first difficult months. The owner of a small business has every detail of that business easily accessible, at his finger tips, either on paper or in his mind. No person suddenly thrust into the position of trying to make all of the decisions necessary to keep an office functioning could possibly do it as well. That is why it is critical that a responsible owner keeps an updated file easily accessible for his successor.
Some things that an owner should consider doing are as simple as making sure someone else can access business funds to cover the weekly payroll; a second person who can sign checks. Depending on the marital status or business organization of an individual, you may have your spouse, accountant, attorney, or officer of the corporation authorized to write checks. Without this simple action, your business funds might be tied up for a length of time sufficient to severely cripple it.
Beyond being able to access the operating funds of an office, a successor must be able to access a variety of information that an owner has at his finger tips, figuratively or physically. An office that is poorly organized may end up failing simply because the information necessary to make critical decisions is not accessible.
If the spouse of an owner is not involved in the daily operations of a business, what does he or she do when suddenly confronted with having to keep it running? No matter what provisions the owner has made, it will be difficult, but the situation can be managed. One thing that can make a difference is for the owner to have had good relations with as many of his competitors as possible. The spouse could then rely upon these people for advice or guidance and even to handle clients for a short period of time. This is something friendly competitors will do if their friendship has been properly cultivated over a number of years. In the event the spouse does not plan to keep the business, having competitors help out for a short period of time may be the best way to quickly find a buyer, since these people will be able to see the value of the business at first hand.
A well organized business owner will have executed a personal will that has been kept up to date to reflect changes that have occurred in his family and business life. He will also have a set of detailed instructions / guidelines / information, call them what you will, to be followed by his spouse, employees, or others.
I hope you will tune in next week when I will provide a list ,of sorts, of things I think are pertinent that an owner might put into a business succession file.
