How well systemised is the business?

Systemising a business is the key to delivering consistent results time after time. A business that is well systemised will be desirable, and the transition to the new owner will happen far more smoothly.

That is not to say that an unsystemised business will not be attractive to a buyer. In fact a buyer may see the lack of systems as an opportunity, and plan to bring in his own systems to deliver greater efficiency.

An unsystemised business has less value, because it comes with the work of systemising it still to do.

However, an unsystemised business will have less value, because it will need the effort of introducing systems before it reaches its full potential. So if there are areas of the business that are not effectively systemised at the moment, then taking the time to introduce systems will add value to the business.

It is worth being honest with yourself about which parts of your agency only work because a particular person knows how they work. Those are the parts that are not systemised, whatever the manual says.