Preparing Your Business for Sale Through Systems With Channing Hamlet

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Channing Hamlet is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Objective Investment Banking & Valuation, where he helps business owners maximize the value of their companies through strategic sales, private equity partnerships, and valuation advisory. With more than 25 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, Channing works closely with founder-led and family-owned businesses to identify value drivers, reduce risk, and prepare companies for successful exits.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[03:30] The four areas every owner must address to prepare for a successful exit.
[06:55] Why transferability is the biggest factor in whether a business can sell.
[08:05] How concentration risk impacts valuation and deal structure.
[11:25] Why documented processes increase buyer confidence and value.
[16:00] When business owners should start preparing for a sale—even if they’re not ready yet.

In this episode:

A business doesn’t become sellable at the moment you decide to exit—it becomes sellable years before that through intentional preparation.

In this episode, Adi Klevit interviews Channing Hamlet about what truly determines whether a business can be sold at a premium. Channing outlines four critical areas owners must address early: personal clarity on exit goals, tax planning, personal financial planning, and business readiness. He emphasizes that exit preparation is not a last-minute decision, but a long-term strategy.

Adi and Channing dive deeply into business readiness, focusing on transferability—the ability for a business to operate without undue risk once the owner exits. Channing explains how concentration risk, undocumented processes, and founder dependency all reduce buyer confidence and often force deal structures that delay or reduce payout.

The conversation brings everything back to systems. Channing shares real-world examples of businesses that failed to sell because knowledge lived in one person’s head, as well as companies that achieved premium outcomes by documenting processes, building teams, and engineering risk out of the business. The episode reinforces a key systems principle: the easier it is to transfer how the business runs, the more valuable it becomes.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

“Transferability is what buyers are really paying for.”
“If the owner leaves and the business can’t run, the value drops.”
“Most risks are manageable—if you identify them early enough.”
“Documented processes make a business easier to buy.”
“Every business owner will exit eventually—by design or not.”

Action Steps:

Assess how dependent your business is on you personally.
Identify concentration risks with customers, vendors, or key employees.
Document critical processes so knowledge isn’t trapped in one person’s head.
Start exit planning years in advance, even if selling isn’t imminent.
Run your business as if it needs to be sell-ready at all times.

Sponsor for this episode:

This episode is brought to you by Business Success Consulting Group.

At Business Success Consulting Group, we create custom processes and tailor-made management systems so businesses can thrive.

Businesses simply can’t survive without workable systems and well-documented processes. That’s why our team of experienced professionals takes care of it for you.

We provide business owners, entrepreneurs, and key executives with six phases to success, along with the long-lasting systems necessary to support business expansion.

So, what are you waiting for? Do yourself a favor and cut the chaos out of your business.

Visit bizsuccesscg.com today or email info@bizsuccesscg.com to schedule a free consultation.