Boost Your Business Sale: The Secret of Competitive Advantage
What makes one business sell for 3x earnings… and another for 10x?
It’s not just profit—it’s positioning.
In this episode of Freedom to Exit, Lani Dickinson uncovers the hidden force behind high-value exits: competitive advantage. Whether it's brand strength, pricing power, unique processes, or customer loyalty—your edge is what buyers will pay more for.
If your business looks like every other company in your industry, you’ll get lowball offers. But if you’ve built something that stands out? That’s when buyers start competing for you.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why buyers pay more for businesses with strong brands
- The four competitive advantages that drive higher valuations
- How to increase profitability, reduce customer acquisition cost, and attract multiple offers
- Why a strong online presence directly impacts your exit
- Free tools to help you assess and improve your brand strength today
Don’t guess what your business is worth—build a business buyers chase.
Get the Free Changes Assessment: https://stealthfreedomtoexit.com/changes
Want to know where your sales process is broken and how to fix it? Take the Changes Assessment to identify where you're losing leads, how AI and automation can save you time, and how to get out of the daily sales grind.
-----
Enjoyed this episode?
Subscribe to Freedom to Exit for more insights on building a scalable, sellable business that buyers compete for.
Connect with Lani Dickinson:
📌 Instagram: @stealthfreedomtoexit
📌 Facebook: Lani Dickinson
Need expert guidance on your exit?
Visit stealthfreedomtoexit.com or email info@stealthfreedomtoexit.com.
If you got value from this episode, leave a review—it helps more business owners find the show!
Transcript
>> Lani Dickinson: Hey Exit Focus Founders welcome back to the Freedom to Exit
Speaker:podcast, where we talk about how to build a business that runs without
Speaker:you, scales predictably, and sells for top
Speaker:dollar when you're ready.
Speaker:Today's episode is about one of the biggest drivers of
Speaker:exit valuation. Your brand and your
Speaker:competitive positioning. If you've ever thought
Speaker:branding is just a logo or a name, think
Speaker:again. If you don't know how your buyers determine
Speaker:if a business has a competitive edge, this
Speaker:training is for you. If you're wondering why some
Speaker:businesses sell for 10 times their earnings while others
Speaker:barely sell it all, listen up. Here's the
Speaker:Go to build a brand that buyers pay more
Speaker:for. So if your brand is strong, your business is
Speaker:worth more. If your competitive advantage is clear,
Speaker:buyers will pay a premium. If you look just like your
Speaker:competitors, you have no pricing power.
Speaker:So today we'll break down why buyers love
Speaker:strong brands, what makes a business defensible,
Speaker:and how to position your company for a premium. Exit here's
Speaker:the truth. Businesses with strong brands sell for more, and
Speaker:businesses with no differentiation, well, they get lowball
Speaker:offers. Strong brand equity can
Speaker:increase acquisition prices by up to 20 or
Speaker:30%. 70% of consumers
Speaker:prefer buying from brands they recognize, and companies
Speaker:with a strong brand presence see up to 23% higher
Speaker:profitability. And businesses with unique
Speaker:positioning are three times more likely to receive
Speaker:multiple acquisition offers.
Speaker:Here's what buyers look for. Brand loyalty do
Speaker:customers choose you over competitors? And
Speaker:consistently Market positioning Are you just
Speaker:another option or are you the category leader?
Speaker:Intellectual Property do you actually own something that's
Speaker:unique? Customer goodwill do people talk
Speaker:about your business positively? If the answer is positive to all
Speaker:of these, you have higher exit multiples,
Speaker:easier negotiations, and an easier sale
Speaker:transition. Your business is worth more when it's hard to
Speaker:copy. Here are the four biggest competitive advantages
Speaker:that buyers love. Intellectual property.
Speaker:That includes patents, trademarks, proprietary
Speaker:processes. These are things that make your business
Speaker:unique and legally protected. A software
Speaker:company with proprietary technology can often
Speaker:be able to secure seven times or more the multiple
Speaker:because its IP is fully protected and it's
Speaker:difficult for competitors to replicate. The second one is recurring
Speaker:revenue and customer loyalty. A strong brand keeps
Speaker:customers coming back so buyers don't have to rebuild demand.
Speaker:High net promoter scores you'll see as NPs.
Speaker:That proves that your business has brand trust.
Speaker:An example of this is a subscription based business with
Speaker:85% customer retention was able to double
Speaker:its exit valuation compared to competitors with low
Speaker:repeat customer rates. The third one is market
Speaker:leadership. If your business is seen as the leader in the
Speaker:niche it's obviously more valuable. Buyers
Speaker:want to acquire the name people already
Speaker:know like trust and buy from. A fitness
Speaker:brand that dominated its local market with consistent branding
Speaker:and media presence was acquired at 5x EBITDA while
Speaker:competitors without strong branding only received half of
Speaker:that. The fourth one is barriers to entry.
Speaker:What stops competitors from copying you?
Speaker:The harder it is to enter your market, the more
Speaker:buyers will pay for your company. An example of this
Speaker:is a home services business that secured exclusive
Speaker:supplier contracts and built a unique customer
Speaker:referral program. Increased its valuation by
Speaker:30% compared to industry averages.
Speaker:Businesses with documented proprietary processes
Speaker:have about 30 to 50% higher valuations.
Speaker:You got to document your processes. Companies with
Speaker:high customer retention, meaning more than
Speaker:75% are two times more
Speaker:likely to get more buyers. Brands with strong online
Speaker:presence generate 15% more inbound
Speaker:leads which reduces the cost to acquire a customer. This
Speaker:is very important in acquisitions. The
Speaker:stronger your competitive edge, the more valuable your business
Speaker:becomes. I've created a free Brand Strength
Speaker:Scorecard to help you measure how buyers see your business.
Speaker:Some of the key benchmarks to evaluate your brand are
Speaker:Customer retention we love 85% or
Speaker:more net promoter score with a 9 or
Speaker:higher means strong referral power Pricing
Speaker:power if a 10% price drop would make customers
Speaker:leave your brand needs work Brand recall
Speaker:wa do 70% of people immediately
Speaker:recognize your name? Market share Growth Are
Speaker:you growing and acquiring the market
Speaker:and what is your cost to acquire a customer
Speaker:compared to your market? The lifetime
Speaker:customer value if you have low
Speaker:customer acquisition cost and high lifetime
Speaker:value, you are much more likely to have sticky
Speaker:customers and therefore more potential buyers.
Speaker:If you have high ratings, four and a half stars or more and
Speaker:good social engagement that shows that there's trust and
Speaker:credibility. To be able to assess these things
Speaker:for yourself, make sure you look in the show notes and there will be a
Speaker:link to the brand scorecard that you can use. Buyers
Speaker:pay more for businesses with strong brands and competitive
Speaker:advantages. Businesses with no differentiation
Speaker:get lowballt. Your brand is an asset that
Speaker:directly impacts exit valuation and we can help
Speaker:you automate and streamline all of that. We can help
Speaker:you automate reviews responses Net Promoter
Speaker:Tracking customer reactivations we can help you
Speaker:optimize your social engagement, manage referrals, enhance
Speaker:brand visibility. We can help you build and protect brand
Speaker:assets that directly impact exit valuation.
Speaker:Download the Brand Strength Scorecard and take the changes
Speaker:assessment for free. Find the link in the
Speaker:show notes below and see where your business stands if a
Speaker:buyer looked at it today. And let's get you out of your business?
