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The Leading Business Advisor to New Zealand Growth Companies. Grumley+Company assists New Zealand businesses with every phase of the business lifecycle – from launch and growth to maintaining and thriving.
Our key business advisor Toss Grumley guides over 200 New Zealand companies with the right advice, plans, strategy and structure. His insights are based on growing his own businesses and a coaching framework developed from his MBA at Warwick Business School in the UK.
Toss’s management career began early, when he became general manager of a leading wholesale supply company at the age of twenty-five.
As a Director & Shareholder Toss has helped grow multiple eight figure businesses and has successfully exited three businesses to date.
Proactive and innovative, Toss brings clarity, confidence and a structured approach. Passionate about helping business owners, he shares his experiences and insights widely as a regular contributor to national business media.
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Most business owners don’t start thinking seriously about succession until the finish line is in sight. But by then, some of the biggest factors that will affect your business's value are already set in stone.
If the company still relies on you to make decisions and manage key relationships, or you’ve become an irreplaceable central source of knowledge, that can’t be undone by a single handover document six months before you leave. Good business succession planning starts years earlier, while you still have time to help your business stand on its own.
Is Your Business Ready to Operate Without You?
We see owner dependency all the time, particularly in SMEs. You’ve built a business around your way of working, but now you’ve become so interwoven that you can’t step back without the wheels falling off.
One of the best tests to determine if your business is self-supporting is to ask yourself what would happen if you disappeared for three months.
Would your biggest customers still feel looked after? Would your team be confident in making important decisions? Could they figure out the key systems, or is there still information that exists only in your head?
Build the Financial and Operational Foundations for a Successful Business Exit
A healthy turnover is great, but anyone seriously considering taking over your business will be looking even deeper.
How reliable are your margins? Is cash flow predictable? Are you dependent on a couple of core customers? How much revenue repeats each month, and how much has to be won from scratch?
These show the value of your business beyond the headline numbers.
And the beauty of working on them early is that you don’t have to wait until succession to see the benefit. Stronger margins, better systems and less reliance on one or two customers make the business easier to run now, while also putting you in a much stronger position when the time does come to exit.
What Should a Business Succession Plan Actually Cover?
Your business succession plan will be influenced by what your hopes are for the future. You might want to sell to an external buyer, to management, or perhaps you’d rather pass the business on to family.
That means asking some important questions, like how much money do you need to walk away with? Do you want a clean break, or would you be happy to stay involved? Is keeping the team together important to you? And a big one for those considering family succession, does the next generation actually want to take it on?
The earlier you answer those questions, the easier it is to plan for the outcome you want.
Start Planning Before You Need to Exit
The biggest mistake you can make with business succession planning is waiting until you’re ready to leave before you start preparing. Because by then, you’re working to a deadline.
Tasks like documenting your processes and developing leaders within your team won’t happen overnight, but the earlier you start, the sooner you (and potential buyers) will see the benefits.
That’s why we recommend building succession into your regular business planning, even if your exit still feels a long way off. Our process gives you the space to look at where the business is now, and what needs to be put in place to get it where you want it.
Thinking about succession or your eventual business exit? Book a consultation with Grumley+Company, and we’ll help you work out what needs to be in place first.
Business Succession Planning for Auckland SMEs: What Needs to Be in Place Before You Can Exit Well
Most business owners don’t start thinking seriously about succession until the finish line is in sight. But by then, some of the biggest factors that will affect your business's value are already set in stone.
If the company still relies on you to make decisions and manage key relationships, or you’ve become an irreplaceable central source of knowledge, that can’t be undone by a single handover document six months before you leave. Good business succession planning starts years earlier, while you still have time to help your business stand on its own.
Is Your Business Ready to Operate Without You?
We see owner dependency all the time, particularly in SMEs. You’ve built a business around your way of working, but now you’ve become so interwoven that you can’t step back without the wheels falling off.
One of the best tests to determine if your business is self-supporting is to ask yourself what would happen if you disappeared for three months.
Would your biggest customers still feel looked after? Would your team be confident in making important decisions? Could they figure out the key systems, or is there still information that exists only in your head?
Build the Financial and Operational Foundations for a Successful Business Exit
A healthy turnover is great, but anyone seriously considering taking over your business will be looking even deeper.
How reliable are your margins? Is cash flow predictable? Are you dependent on a couple of core customers? How much revenue repeats each month, and how much has to be won from scratch?
These show the value of your business beyond the headline numbers.
And the beauty of working on them early is that you don’t have to wait until succession to see the benefit. Stronger margins, better systems and less reliance on one or two customers make the business easier to run now, while also putting you in a much stronger position when the time does come to exit.
What Should a Business Succession Plan Actually Cover?
Your business succession plan will be influenced by what your hopes are for the future. You might want to sell to an external buyer, to management, or perhaps you’d rather pass the business on to family.
That means asking some important questions, like how much money do you need to walk away with? Do you want a clean break, or would you be happy to stay involved? Is keeping the team together important to you? And a big one for those considering family succession, does the next generation actually want to take it on?
The earlier you answer those questions, the easier it is to plan for the outcome you want.
Start Planning Before You Need to Exit
The biggest mistake you can make with business succession planning is waiting until you’re ready to leave before you start preparing. Because by then, you’re working to a deadline.
Tasks like documenting your processes and developing leaders within your team won’t happen overnight, but the earlier you start, the sooner you (and potential buyers) will see the benefits.
That’s why we recommend building succession into your regular business planning, even if your exit still feels a long way off. Our process gives you the space to look at where the business is now, and what needs to be put in place to get it where you want it.
Thinking about succession or your eventual business exit? Book a consultation with Grumley+Company, and we’ll help you work out what needs to be in place first.