At a Crossroads: The Difficult Decision to Sell a Seattle-Based Family Business

THE CHALLENGE

Running a family business is tough. It’s even tougher when it’s time to sell. A 70-plus-year-old industrial instrumentation company, that we’ll call Acme Instrumentation*, came to this realization in 2014. After the death of the company’s long-time president and CEO, and without a member of the family involved in the day-to-day operations for the first time in the company’s history, running the business profitably became difficult. With outside executives joining the leadership team, Acme Instrumentation closed four of its five branches across the Pacific Northwest and lost major contracts. In short, the company was floundering financially. The family came to a decision: “We all agreed we couldn’t do it by ourselves,” says Acme’s largest shareholder.

THE TURNING POINT

The family sought guidance from Seattle-based Turning Point Consulting. “They helped us realize in layman’s terms what was happening to the business and how we could best help the business, and in the process, help all of us, too,” the shareholder says. Turning Point looked back at five years of financial statements and presented the family members with a black-and-white restructuring plan that would help the company regain profitability and offset the losses they had incurred. The plan included technology updates, changes to the way sales reps were paid, and more. Ultimately, with the help of Turning Point, the family came to the realization that it was in their best interest to sell Acme Instrumentation. “Turning Point had to walk that fine line of doing what is right from a business standpoint while taking into account the emotional ties family members had to the business,” explains the shareholder. “They explained that if we were going to hang on to the business, we were going to need to take further steps. We decided collectively that no one wanted to invest further into the business.”

THE L ASTING RESULTS

By 2018, Turning Point had quietly secured a deal with a local entrepreneur after bringing Acme Instrumentation back to profitability. “Given the condition that our company was in, we never would have been able to market the company and sell it, or even get a realization of what was happening with the company, without Turning Point,” the shareholder says. The company still operates in the Seattle area today, and the family members each walked away with their pro rata piece of the purchase price. “It took somebody like Turning Point to step in and help us save the company from ourselves and to save the company for us,” the shareholder concludes. By harnessing financial data, initiating a clear and concise restructuring plan, and approaching the situation with compassion, Turning Point was able to award this family and its business with a positive outcome.