Built to Sell

Built to Sell by John Warrillow explores the do’s and don’ts of building your company so that it has maximum value for selling. The book takes you on a journey with Alex, an advertising business owner for 8 years. Through him you will learn some very valuable lessons in specializing, excelling and selling. All from the management team through to the process of making your product are discussed.

It all starts with making the product specialized, don’t be a generalist and do lots of things not so well but do some things very well. This includes having to make some hard choices, and saying no to projects you are not specialized in. When you specialize it is also imperative to become less dependent on a few customers, don’t let any customer become more then 20% of your clientele.

A second step is teaching your employees to sell the product without you. Make it teachable, develop a guide on how to perform the job. Then make it valuable, have something that competitors can’t copy. And make it repeatable, have costumers repurchase often and regularly.

By implementing these three lessons you make sure that the company has both value and is able to operate without you. John Warrillow then explains how to start your management team, sell your products and get a steady revenue going for two years straight before considering to sell. Strategies and things to know for selling the company are explained further in the book.

With years of experience in business and the successful sale of four companies, John Warrillow is the authority on building to sell. His philosophy extends beyond people wanting to sell, even if you have no intention to sell the book offers handles to improving your business. By telling the story of Alex, he takes you on a step-by-step journey towards selling your business.

The quality of the novel is its simplicity, it tells a story and at the same time learns us a lesson. For getting to know the fine details of building and selling your company this light read might not be it. But for introducing the principles that govern the whole process and guide you through different stages of development, it is a must read.

The Book:

Built to Sell: Building a Business that can Thrive without You – John Warrillow – ISBN 1101514116