A Fresh, External Look At Your Company To Power Your Next Big Move
Our episode this week is all about how you can make a significant impact on the growth of your company by changing your perspective. Join Paul as he takes a deep dive into one of MHA's most powerful tools: The Outside-In Assessment.
Full transcript
Generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Martin Rehab M&A Advisory. Today we're going to take a little bit of a shift and I really want to introduce you to an extremely powerful tool that we offer and it's called the outside in assessment. Many of you may have heard this in the past. So this session today is going to be all about taking a very fresh external look at your rehab business in order to guide your next big moves. And I am so excited because we have had such great success with this tool to walk you through how it works and why it is so valuable and especially in today's extremely competitive market.
So let's dive in and let's start with the challenges that you might be facing right now. So look, if you're running a rehab business, you already know the landscape is getting tougher and tougher and more crowded. New clinics popping up, larger companies are expanding, and competition literally is increasing every day. And this raises critical questions for you. Where does your business fit in this very fast, dynamically changing market? And what is the next best move for you to stay ahead? These are the very kinds of questions that keep many business owners up at night.
I was there. I know exactly how you feel and for very good reasons. In a market like this, the decisions you make now will determine whether you have a thriving company or you get left behind. And I've spoken to many business owners who feel uncertain about the future in this current market. And they all share the very same concern. How to make the right business moves in the face of intense competition. It's a challenge, but I believe the really good news is that we believe there's a solution to get clarity.
And let's talk about what I believe is that solution. So, how do we tackle all of these challenges? You know, they're all coming at us from everywhere. And what we have seen over and over is the answer is to get a fresh outside perspective on your business. And that's how our outside in assessment becomes so valuable. The outside in assessment, it's structured. It's a structured process and it helps you see your company the way an outsider would view your company. Whether that's a competitor sizing you up or a potential acquirer evaluating what your worth or value is.
And so instead of relying solely on internal opinions, friends, people you meet at cocktail parties or outdated information, the outside in assessment or I'm going to call it moving forward the OIA will give you a current marketbased insight to guide your strategy moving forward. So now you've heard that Martin Healthcare Advisors, you know, we offer actually two key assessments. The one we're talking about today, which is the outside in assessment. We also offer an assessment called a growth potential assessment. And I think it's really important that we distinguish them clearly.
The OIA looks at your business from the outside in. Focusing on external factors like market trends, competitors and what acquirers are looking for in this current market. The growth potential assessment is really more on your readiness to grow both internally and externally. So that is the focus. It's all about your current operations and how to maximize your growth internally as well as externally. And there's less emphasis on future partnerships or sales of the company or a sale of the company. And we're going to dive into the gross growth potential assessment in a separate video because it's an entire topic in itself.
But today our focus is on the OIA the outside in assessment and we believe that it can answer pressing market questions. So, let's talk about exactly what an outside in assessment entails and how it can help you make the right moves in today's market. The outside in assessment, it's designed to answer four big major questions that we believe every rehab business owner at some point in time faces. And these questions are probably on your mind today and the outside in assessment will address each one. Question number one, what is my value in this current market?
In an OIa session, we're going to help determine what your business is truly worth its value today. And this isn't a guess or a generic multiple. It's a comprehensive valuation based on up tothem minute industry data. Many owners have numbers in their head from a year or two years ago, but the markets are changing rapidly. We bring current intel so that you know where you stand right now in terms of your value and that's crucially important. Second question, how will acquirers view my business? So, we put ourselves in the shoes of the potential acquirers and investors to evaluate and value your company.
What strengths would attract them? What weaknesses or risks might they see? You're going to get an outside perspective on how your business looks to an acquire. This can be eyeopening. Sometimes owners discover that what they thought was a minor issue could be a big red flag to acquirers or vice versa. And knowing this in advance gives you the chance to address issues and highlight your strengths proactively. Third big question, what is the impact of the market competition on my company? And that market competition typically comes from the large competitors that come into your market.
So we analyze your competitive landscape. Who are your main competitors in your region or your specialty? And what moves are they making most recently? And are current big players moving into your market area? New big players moving into your market area. And through the OIA, we're actually going to create a market in competition map for you and we'll talk more about that. And that's going to show you where you're a fit may be among the large competitors that are in your market. Those are also the potential acquirers.
This external analysis really helps you to see very clearly I could typically say in high definition how market dynamics like arrival being acquired by a nearby hospital system or an acquirer and how that could affect your business and your growth. It takes the guesswork out of understanding the competitive pressures that are on your business every day. Fourth question, what are the next best steps that you should take to maximize your market position and your value? So, finally, what we don't do is just dump a bunch of info on you about value and competition.
We translate it into a very specific strategic action plan. And this is based on everything we learn about your company. We're going to outline the smartest and best moves you can make next. This could include expansion strategies, partnership or acquisition opportunities, internal improvements, or simply the timing of a potential partnership or a sale. The goal is that you walk away from this outside in assessment OIA with a clear roadmap to what to do to reach your goals and objectives. In very short, the mark the outside in assessment answers where am I now and what should I do next in this market?
And these are insights that are incredibly powerful for making informed decisions as opposed to making decisions out of narrative or what others may be telling you. So now you know what questions the OIA answers. Let's talk about how we get to those answers. Kind of what the OIa process actually looks like in business. So what exactly is the outside in assessment? Think of it as a deep dive into your business from an outsers's perspective. We call it outside in because we start with the external view looking at market conditions, competitors, buyer criteria, and then we use that to inform what's happening inside your business.
It's almost like having an industry expert play the role of an extremely smart potential buyer or investor analyzing your company objectively. We know the buyers better than anyone, so we're able to make these determinations. This approach is different from the typical internal review you might do with your team. You know, as business owners, we all can get a bit insular. That's a word, insular. We're used to keep we're used to seeing our company from the inside out and it's very natural. The OIa flips that viewpoint.
It brings in fresh eyes and current market intelligence so you can see opportunities and threats that you might have missed. You know, in my experience, this outside perspective al often reveals the aha moments. We've had this happen many times way back when I prepared my business for a partnership and a sale. I can remember those aha moments. Insights that make you say, "I never thought about it or looked at it that way." Now, the outcome of an OIa is a set of actionable insights and strategic recommendations, and they're tailored to your business and the current market.
It's not just theory or generic Divi advice. It's specific to you, your objectives, your goals, and it's based on real world data, real world data, and expert experience. Been doing this for a long time. So how do we gather all this information and formulate these recommendations? It happens through a focus process specifically our intensive planning session with you. So let's talk about the planning session because I think this is really important and one of the things that makes this extremely unique. So the core of the outside in assessment, the OIA, is a dedicated planning session that we conduct with you and your team of experts.
Typically, it's an owner's meeting. It's a three-hour intensive session where we literally roll up our sleeves together and really dig into your business and the information that we have put into our models for presentation to you. We're bringing in top industry experts to the table. People who have decades of experience in this industry with mergers and acquisitions and strategic growth. And they've all been through what you're going through before. And they'll be your outside eyes and ears during this meeting. What's great about this session is that it's really very highly interactive.
It's not a one-way presentation or just a dull interview with you. It's a conversation and a collaboration. And we start by asking about your goals and challenges. And we share our initial insights with you as well on those goals and challenges. And then throughout the three hours, we'll be exchanging ideas, reviewing data, mapping out scenarios. You get to share your perspective on your business and we'll share how an outsider like a potential buyer or market analyst might view the same information. And because our team is involved in dozens and dozens of deals and strategic projects going on at all times, we come in with current market knowledge that no others have.
I often find in these sessions owners have multiple. I never realized that moments as we provide again a very fresh perspective. It's amazing how many new opportunities or risks come to light when you have the right experts in the room looking at your company from a brand new angle. And by the end of this three-hour planning session, we will have gathered a wealth of insight about your business and your market. But we don't stop there. We go beyond just the talking session. We actually come back and produce written tangible takeaways and strategic guidance from this meeting.
And this is the what we like to call kind of the way we go the extra mile. And what we do next is we come back just a few days after that planning session with what we call impact and recommendations. And it's exactly what I just described. It's going that extra mile. So after enduring our planning session, again, we don't just leave you with ideas floating in the air. We translate everything and come back with concrete outcomes. And so here are some of the things we would deliver in that impact and recommendations, which tends to be much shorter because we are basically then presenting to you because we've heard your goals, objectives, and all the things about your business.
So, we're going to start by helping you identify and refine your personal and business goals. We've heard them, but while that might sound simple, it's incredibly important. We want to know what you ultimately want. Are you aiming to expand aggressively? Thinking about positioning for an eventual sale at this point in time and what is the timing on that? Or maybe you want to step back and have the business run more independently. We look at all those different options and by clearly defining your personal and financial goals, we ensure that any strategy we recommend in this impact and recommendations is aligned with where you want to end up.
That's the most important. So this becomes the foundation of for all of our planning. And again on a personal note, I really find this part really valuable. Sometimes owner dis owners discover their team has different goals. So getting everyone all owners on the same page is a big win and it's right at the start and it comes in that impact and recommendations meeting. Again, we're going to map your market. So we've created a market and competition map tailored to your business. And it's essentially a visual as well as datadriven look at your competitive landscape and those acquirers around you.
Again, we're going to plot the major players in your area, identify who's taking what share of the market, and we're going to highlight again, as I said, where major acquirers are positioned relative to you. It's kind of like getting a bird's eyee view of the battlefield that you're in. Many clients tell us this is one of the most enlightening parts of the process. Seeing all the competitors and potential partners on one map and understanding exactly where they fit. It helps you spot gaps or oversaturated areas in the market and it shows where your opportunities may lie.
During this session, we'll discuss and present several strategic paths you could take. For example, one option may be you just want to open a new clinic in an underserved region that we've identified. Another might be to focus on a new niche service to differentiate yourself from competitors or perhaps pursue a partnership or a sale that aligns with your goals. So, we're looking for your transition strategy. We're not locking you into any single strategy. And we lay this all out and we look at the pros and cons of each path and how each could impact your business value.
So, it's not a generic list of strategies. It's customized to you and your situation. And we encourage an open discussion here. You can ask questions, express concerns, and together we refine these options. Finally, we layer in strategy insights based on our experience. Our team has done this so many time with business owners. And what we what we are so careful of is that in each situation, we are going to look at the specific goals and objectives of your business and of your personal goals. So when we give recommendations, we back them with real examples, case studies, or lessons that we've learned from other similar situations.
It's like having a mentor who has seen what works and what doesn't. So in an example could be look in our experience businesses that implemented this particular growth strategy saw an x% outcome within a year increase in their ibida or we've realized buyers that will pay a premium when a business has a certain characteristic the business is showing growth month over month that they tend to get higher multiples than when companies are flat or are de declining. These are insights that add a lot of value because they're not just theoretical.
They come from realw world success stories and many times hardearned lessons. So we're going to walk you away not only with options but with an understanding of which options will have the most likelihood of success in your business. So by going what we consider kind of the extra mile or by giving this these strong impact and recommendations, this OIa gives you much more than just a typical com consultation. You get tangible deliveries, a clear set of goals, a detailed market map, a menu of vetted strategic options, and seasoned advice on what moves will drive value in your business.
It's a comprehensive approach and it is what sets our OIa apart and makes it so actionable for our clients. So let's wrap it up by highlighting what are the major advantages of the outside in assessment. Again, first up-to-date market intelligence at your fingertips. Second, a clear understanding of your company's value and your position in the market. A customized strategic road mapap. This is one of the biggest takeaways. You're going to leave the assessment with a set of specific actionable next steps tailored to your goals and objectives.
Next, greater confidence in your decision making. We're going to show you why you should have real confidence in the decisions that you've made because we've used data. We've used folks that are in this market every day. We've used folks with experience to help guide these decisions. You know, to put it simply, the OIA gives you the information and strategy you need to make the right moves at the right time. Look, I invite you to reach out to Martin Healthcare Advisors and discuss the opportunity of doing an outside in assessment.
So take a look at the last slide and you can contact us that way or simply click below and let's talk. Thanks. I appreciate your time with us and I hope this has been beneficial for you and I look forward to talking to you in the very near future. Thanks and have a great day.
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