Reported by Patricia C. Amend

Selling Out;

 

If you want to get top dollar when you sell your company, it pays to spend some time and money marketing it to potential buyers. That's what Randall Wise did with his graphics-software business, Graphic Communications Inc. His strategy involved impressing buyers with the company's meticulous organization. Toward that end, he put out a detailed annual report, replete with all the goodies found in the annual reports of public companies, including a letter from the president and the chairman, descriptions of products, and financial charts. The project took two weeks of Wise's time and cost $2,500 for 250 copies. "It showed we were trying to run our company professionally," says Wise.

The report had the unexpected effect of improving the company's relations with its banker. Equally impressed was Lotus Development Corp., which bought Graphic Communications in 1986 -- and put Wise in charge of analyzing future acquisition candidates.