If you’ve gotten this far in business, then you’ve probably had some very capable advisors to help get you there.

However, exiting your business is very different. The people who got you there might not have the skills to help you in the end game. One advisor you probably certainly had was an attorney who probably served you well, helping get your company setup and dealing with varying issues that came up with operating your business. Selling the company though is a different matter. There’s a whole different set of legal issues involved with the sale of a company.

The same holds true on the accounting and tax side. The CPA you’ve used could’ve served you very well and, perhaps, had helped save you lots of money in taxes over the year. You might also have used them for some outside bookkeeping. Taxes in a transaction for selling the business are an entirely different matter. There are issues to consider both from your side and from the seller’s side of he business. There is a great opportunity to increase the value that you can get for selling your company while at the same time not costing the buyer quite so much from their end. In other words, Uncle Sam can be a partner to help in the transaction to increase the value that you receive.

Not only might you need very different people for the exiting of your business, but the new advisors can also serve you much better if you get them lined up well ahead of time. If there’s a common complaint that I hear from attorneys and CPAs on transactions, it’s that they are brought in too late in the deal. They all say they could’ve done much more if they’d been brought in as advisors a couple years prior. That doesn’t mean that they have to be intensely involved that far ahead, but just to have some initial conversations going and get some early guidance can be incredibly valuable.

So, take a look at the team that you have involved in helping you run your company as your advisors. Evaluate if they really have the expertise in working with sales transactions. If not, it’s time to start looking for new members to the team for this important final stage.