How do I tell the team I'm selling?
You'll have to decide when, who and how to tell the team, customers and vendors that you are selling.
If an employee asks, “Are you selling the company?” Here are your options and likely employee reactions:
If an employee asks, “Are you selling the company?” Here are your options and likely employee reactions:
01 Say nothing
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02 "At the right price"
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Reaction: She will interpret this to mean the company is for sale.
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Reaction: She will wonder what the right prices is, she may even ask, and if the company ever reaches that price, she will assume the company will be sold.
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03 "No, it's not for sale"
Reaction: She will feel betrayed if the company is ever sold.
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Best Option: The logical analysis
Walk her through your analysis on whether we should hold or sell the company. As described here in an earlier post, you may feel that if the company and/or market are not growing enough and is not #1 in it's market. Therefore, it could makes sense to find a partner and/or new owners who can help the company grow and become #1, creating more career opportunity for employees. But we would obviously need to be very careful in selecting who that partner would be.
Reaction: She may at least see that her interest are not that different from yours, and you will have told her the truth. |
Other considerations:
Guiding principles:
- Unfortunately, selling a company is a great topic for gossip
- Employees will wonder about the security of their job and what expectations the new owners will have of them
- Customers and vendors will have questions about account management, quality, and consistency
- Friends and family will wonder if you're about to take a permanent vacation and how much money you will make
Guiding principles:
- Every relationship and culture is different and communication must be customized
- Calm, clear communication is the best way to avoid confusion, which often causes more heartburn than this situation actually warrants
- Make sure to give all affected a venue to be understood and appreciated
- Those who aren't necessarily affected will still have concerns and will need a venue as well