For business owners preparing for a successful exit, understanding the Value Gap — the difference between the current value of their business and the value they need for their exit — is crucial.
While recognizing this gap is important, the real challenge is how to close it effectively. This is where the power of setting growth-oriented goals comes in. As a CEPA, you know that your role is to help business owners create and execute strategic goals that align with closing this Value Gap. But what types of goals are the right ones to focus on, and which tools are the best for the job?
Let’s explore how CEPAs can help their clients set specific, actionable goals that drive value growth, increase profitability, and ultimately prepare them for a successful business transition.
Goals provide a roadmap, ensuring that every action taken in an organization is moving the business closer to the desired outcome, and in the case of the Value Gap, closer to the desired value for exit. Without clear, measurable goals, it’s difficult for owners to know where to focus their efforts or how much progress they’re making toward closing the gap.
CEPAs have the unique ability to help clients set realistic, value-driven goals that align with both their personal exit objectives and their business’s long-term vision.
Goals can take many forms, each focusing on different aspects of the business that contribute to closing the Value Gap. Below are five key types of goals that can drive growth and enhance business value.
Financial goals are perhaps the most direct way to impact the Value Gap. These goals focus on key financial metrics such as revenue, profit margins, and overall profitability. These goals help strengthen the company’s financial health, directly contributing to its value and making it more attractive to potential buyers or investors.
Examples of Financial Goals:
KPIs provide measurable benchmarks for tracking progress across various areas of the business. Common KPIs include paying customers, Net Promoter Score (NPS), and customer acquisition cost. By setting the right KPIs, advisors can help owners monitor key drivers of growth and profitability over time.
Examples of KPI Goals:
Awards and recognitions are external validations of a company’s quality, culture, and performance (such as Great Place to Work or industry-specific awards) that can attract potential buyers or increase the company’s overall value. Advisors can help business owners set goals to earn these recognitions, which contribute to brand value and team member satisfaction — two very important factors for potential acquirers.
Examples of Awards Goals:
Competitive goals focus on increasing a business’s market share, improving its competitive position, or enhancing its unique selling proposition (USP). These goals could involve strategies to outperform key competitors, dominate a niche market, or introduce game-changing products or services.
Examples of Competitive Goals:
By setting goals to innovate or diversify offerings, business owners can tap into new revenue streams, meet emerging customer demands, and differentiate their business in the marketplace. These initiatives help grow revenue while simultaneously enhancing the business’s long-term viability.
Examples of Offering Goals:
While setting objectives is essential, creating clear and compelling goals greatly increases the likelihood of success. What’s better than just clear and compelling goals? Goals aligned with the business’s larger vision. Vision aligned goals provide a clear picture of what success looks like, define organizational priorities, and explain why leadership makes certain decisions.
Here’s how to ensure that every goal remains in lock-step with the company vision:
The Value Acceleration framework will empower your clients to master the art and science of setting, monitoring, and achieving goals. The next critical step to ensuring success is having a centralized system of record to drive insights.
A platform like Ninety is that system.
Ninety enables leaders, teams, and Advisors like you – acting as a client’s CEPA, CPA, or Attorney -- to be focused on the same outcomes. Everyone, fully aligned, is now positioned to thrive within their organization.
Within Ninety, teams are supported to set the SMART goals — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound — that CEPAs map out, ensuring that business owners and their teams have a clear roadmap to follow. Each checkpoint reached along the journey provides a marker of progress and an opportunity to celebrate, building confidence and momentum as the business works to close its Value Gap.
These disciplines provide a clear, repeatable process for setting strategic goals at every level of the business — from the company-wide vision to individual team member objectives.
CEPAs have the unique ability to guide business owners through the process of closing the Value Gap by helping them set clear, compelling, and measurable goals. Whether the focus is on financial growth, market expansion, operational efficiency, or team member satisfaction, the right goals provide a path to increased business value and a successful exit.
By adopting a BOS and platform like Ninety, CEPAs can confidently know that each goal aligns with the business’s long-term vision and help their clients navigate the journey to a successful exit, one measurable milestone at a time.