Osborne principals have worked on many succession planning initiatives that have led to management buyouts. In these cases, the key to success for both the current owner and the new owner is the ongoing prosperity of the business. The emphasis should always be on a transparent and workable process with well-defined expectations of both parties.

Providing Guidance Through a Management Buyout

We recently worked with a small business owner to help define the strategic direction for the company and lead them through the implementation of the plan. This included reviewing the ownership structure, financing options, restructuring the management team and taking on the role of COO for a short time, all with the goal of maximizing returns to the majority shareholder. This culminated in implementing an exit strategy for the owner, including entertaining a buy-out initiative from the new management group.

The work included:

• The development and completion of an initial non-binding buy-out proposal detailing price, terms, and conditions. This allowed both parties to understand/negotiate the transition elements and costs before engaging expensive legal and accounting services to execute a binding agreement and a buy/sell agreement. It addressed timing to transition from the current owner’s management control to the new owners.
• The development of a timetable to set up “Newco” with various ownership/management terms. During this step, we helped the Newco participants define their operating and governance structure.
• We provided documentation of a set of business results, expectations and responsibilities during the period of management and ownership transition to avoid any transition surprises.
• In addition to structuring the management buyout, we reviewed the existing legal structure of the initial and proposed companies and provided recommendations to simplify the conveyance of equity of the overall business in a workable and tax-effective way.

As a result of the time spent as COO, the Osborne principal was able to review the responsibilities of key personnel, particularly with respect to current responsibilities and how these would change and when.

Contact The Osborne Group if you are considering selling your business.

Osborne principals have deep experience managing multi-faceted sales and marketing programs that have achieved aggressive sales and revenue targets. They can help you analyze who your best customers are from a revenue perspective and how to prioritize those clients to drive your bottom line.

Are you ready to pivot to new target markets or is it time to re-prioritize among existing customers? We will look at all aspects of your business lines to help find new revenue sources and improve your margins.

We know what questions to ask to help guide you to better sales and marketing results.

• Is your brand resonating and are your products well-positioned for growth?
• What is the contribution margin from your best performers?
• Is your growth coming from high yield margin items or other products?
• How do you know your marketing programs are succeeding?
• Are they generating real leads for your sales funnel?
• Can your sales growth be easily attributed to leads generated from marketing programs?
• Is your sales model fully aligned with the markets you are pursuing?
• Which platforms are contributing to your KPI’s?
• Which are converting to signed contracts?

Osborne principals have helped increase sales and bottom-line revenue growth for Canadian companies in a variety of sectors. Whether your business requires repositioning with a new brand identity or a new sales strategy, we can help.

Contact The Osborne Group to discuss how to spark sales and revenue growth.

All businesses use service providers to do things the business cannot do from either a practical perspective, or as cost effectively. In many cases these are relatively simple relationships used for transactional activities or commoditized services.

The decision to outsource part of an operation that is currently being done by the business is a more complex and challenging one, and often directly tied to supporting the overall business strategy.

The benefits of outsourcing are both operational (cost reduction, service improvement) and strategic considerations (managing resources, maintaining a focus on the core business, flexibility).

It is usually the perception of losing control that makes organizations hesitant to move forward. Or there is a concern that the outsourcing may fail, will never achieve the desired outcome, or will not effectively adapt to future changes in the business. These risks can be mitigated by effectively managing the key elements of the outsourcing process:

1. Assess the Outsource Opportunity
2. Define Requirements
3. Select the Right Partner
4. Implement the Solution
5. Manage the On-going Relationship

We can help your business navigate the outsourcing process from conceptualization through implementation and post implementation operation, to ensure its success.

True business transformation results in a fundamental change in the nature of how the business operates, and provides the foundation on which the business will operate in the future. All areas of the business are impacted by transformation – the organization/culture, technology and processes.

Success will be directly impacted by the approach taken by leadership as the business moves through the various stages of transformation:

1. Strategy – conceptualization, the business case, governance
2. Planning – understanding the impact, developing the roadmap, engaging the right resources
3. Implementation – managing both the day to day business and the transformation
4. Stabilization
5. Leveraging for the future

Our principals have the experience, and functional expertise, to help your organizations successfully manage through, and realize the long term strategic benefits, of a transformation.