For baseball fans, March is the unofficial start to the Major League season! Spring Training has been around almost as long as Major League Baseball itself! The first team to leave their city for a warmer off-season training climate was the New York Mutuals in 1869!
A lot has changed since the 1800s. Spring Training has expanded into a multiweek preseason experience for owners, players, and fans to get a first look at their team in action before Opening Day!
As a business owner or professional advisor, you can implement some Spring Training mentality into your business to build value and enhance your expertise!
Owners – Put in the Work In the Pre-Season
After a lengthy off-season, professional baseball players head to Florida and Arizona for Spring Training to literally get back into the swing of things. Imagine an MLB team going into a season of 162 games without any practice games, team bonding, or training of any kind. It would be hard to expect great results from a team that did not put in the work beforehand.
So why do you expect your business to be any different? If your business was an MLB team and the regular season was your exit, have you put in the work leading up to that exit to set you up for a successful and significant exit event? According to recent Exit Planning Institute Research, 68% of owners indicated they have spent minimal time and attention on their exit. You need to implement value growth measures into your business to avoid leaving money on the table during your exit. Roughly 80% of an owner’s wealth is locked in their business.
A business owner who takes the time to meticulously research best practices, build value in their organization, and plan for their ultimate goal: exiting their business, will have a much more successful and significant company at the time of exit. Conversely, the owner who fails to put in the time or resources to execute their exit strategy will not have the correct processes in place to successfully transition their business.
The most significant businesses are those that are ready and attractive at any moment. Exit planning is not something that should be considered only once you decide you are ready to exit your business. Without preparing in the pre-season, how can you expect to perform well in the regular season?
Advisors – Practice Working On a New Team
Spring Training allows owners and managers to see how their teams and new players will work together in a game scenario. Owners might see the best first baseman in the league during Spring Training. However, if they do not mesh well with the team, the owner might choose a different player. Without practicing with their teammates before the regular season, new additions might not know how to communicate effectively or make the best calls for the whole team.
Professional advisors work on many different teams depending on their client’s needs. Advisors working with exiting owners are part of an extended exit planning advisory team. Think of this advisory team as your favorite MLB team, and the manager as your owner client. Accountability is the backbone of any successful team. On an owner’s team, advisors must work collaboratively to manage the owner’s business, personal, and financial goals.
Exit Planning Institute research found that 78% of owners do not have a formal advisory team. An owner’s core team should consist, at a minimum of a CPA, a Financial Advisor, a Value Advisor, and an Attorney. The larger functional team is comprised of a Risk Advisor, Estate Planning Advisor, Family Advisor, Banker, M&A Advisor, Family Members, Board of Advisors, and/or Management Team.
Team Building: Defining, Building, and Leading Well-Functioning Teams
It’s been estimated that ineffective teamwork results in $1 trillion of economic waste per year. Combined with virtual work environments becoming more and more commonplace, shifting the dynamic of how teams build trust, it becomes apparent just how important effective team building really is.
This interactive EPI Academy course will take you through the foundational elements of putting a team in place, and how to master behaviors critical to a team’s success. Giving attendees a better understanding of why, when, and where to utilize teams, as well as impactful tools and strategies to put your knowledge into practice.
This course was created as an expansion of the team building module taught within the Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) program. Current CEPAs can expand on their team-building foundation. Additionally, even those without the CEPA credential will benefit from the content and strategies taught in this course.
Register for this EPI Academy course and strengthen your team today!
Follow our socials for more exit planning content and strategies.
