PREPARE YOUR BUSINESS FOR SALE - Competitor Analysis

PREPARE YOUR BUSINESS FOR SALE

Competitor Analysis by Mark Corke

Good Morning Bloggers

For a while, with his permission, I will be posting articles from Mark Corke of Suitegum.

Mark is a Business Broker, who writes articles on, and runs seminars on “Preparing you Business for Sale”. Should you wish to register for some of Mark’s free articles and tips, Here is the link.

Both Mark and I are of the opinion that ensuring that your Business is Prepared for Sale at all times will ensure that your business always commands the highest value. It actually increases the value of your Business quite considerably.


Knowing the opposition is as important as knowing your customers. Even more important is knowing what your opposition is thinking and doing. This can be established through the use of competitor analysis studies.

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." Sun-tzu
So how do South African small and medium sized businesses go about gathering information about their competitors? Well frankly we simply do not know. There are some methods shared with delegates in the Prepare Your Business For Sale seminar series, but we don't really know how many businesses do what, or whether they do anything at all.
What we do know, is that selling prices increase if it is clear that the business owner knows with some accuracy where he stands amongst his competitors. Certainly this kind of intelligence means that savvy businesses are more profitable than those without the knowledge, and when it comes time to sell the business, the quality buyer will make his own study as part of a due diligence. So why not have the information at hand for verification, within your own knowledge rather than finding out at the end of long negotiations that there is an unpleasant odour in the house, which you could have addressed some time back?
Rob Severin is a broker with Suitegum. You know, the guys who sell businesses in South Africa. He is completing his MBA at Wits Business School, and part of his research is understanding competitor analysis practices in South Africa: What information are businesses interested in, how much they are managing to gather, and how?
Please do me a great favour, and download the little file, open it and run through the questions as accurately and honestly as you can. You will notice two things; first the file requires you to enable macros, which is fine because I have scanned it for viruses, and second that there is no place in the exercise for any identifying data. Your confidential information will be protected.
Completing the survey is going to take you about fifteen minutes, and you will have to do a bit of head scratching. So I cannot promise you that it will be altogether pain free. But I can promise that it will be rewarding. Every respondent will get an electronic copy of the results of the survey results which will be extremely useful in improving or setting up your own competitor analysis monitoring system. And if you want to thwart the enemy, it may help you to defend your own intelligence through a counter intelligence strategy.
Thank you so much for your help in this. We really appreciate the response we get from these newsletters.
I am running a new seminar series in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Have a look on the Website at http://www.suitegum.co.za for the dates in question. Please join me to learn how to Prepare your Business For Sale and Present Your Business For Transfer.
I hope to meet up with you there.
CheersMark Corke