This past Saturday morning, I happened to be surfing through the cable TV channels and came across a show called
Flip This House.  Since I had seen it a few times before and knew that it had interesting business dynamics and good drama, I decided to watch it. 

The premise of the show is pretty straightforward.  A group of investors buys ugly looking, distressed and troubled
houses at greatly reduced market rates and does a complete make-over on them.  They invest the vision, time, sweat, and money into these projects and then expect to make a very good and quick return on their investment when they re-sell
the houses at a much higher price. 

What is interesting is that these flip artists do not mess around.  To increase the value of the property, they go for massive and immediate changes and improvements...nothing slow and incremental.  In fact, they go for total turnaround and transformation.  Subtle changes will not bring the big returns!  For example, they totally blow up outdated and undersized kitchens, bathrooms and master bedrooms and start all over with all new designs, open spacing, appliances, cabinetry, lighting, flooring, etc.  Same with the exterior of the house and the landscaping.  They want dramatic change, dramatic improvements and dramatic increase in value.  They want curb appeal that will stop a car.  They want a transformed house that will grab hold of the buyers' heart, emotions and bank account.  They do not play it safe.

As a business coach, that got me thinking.  How often do we business owners play it safe when trying to improve our companies?   Maybe we try to put some paint or duct tape on the ugly facets of our business.  But how often do we truly go for massive and immediate improvements?  We tend to be so close to the business that all we can conceive of and expect is incremental and slow change.  An improvement of 5% here, 10% there.  We tend to be afraid to really mix things up or upset the status quo.  Sadly, our subtle and slow changes only bring minimal returns.  That is very different from the mindset and approach of these flip artists I saw on TV.  Just something we owners should consider.

However, with my business coaching hat still on, I had another revelation.  How would an objective and prospective buyer (flip artist) view your business?  What would they be willing to pay for your business right now, just the way it is?  Would they see your business as move-in-ready or a real fixer-upper?  What would a detached investor like and dislike about your business?  What parts of your business would they find ugly or outdated?  If so, would they greatly discount their purchase price?  Again, some things for you to consider.

Then my business coach brain went into hyper-drive...my apologies!  What if we filmed a group of investors doing a Flip This Business on your business?  How revealing would that be?  What if these flip artists and investors came into your business, assessed your business having some outdated and ugly systems, processes and departments, and decided to buy your company at a highly discounted price.  Pretend you let them.  Then we filmed them for several months going to work on your business...improving, transforming, building value, and flipping your business for big returns.

For a moment, pretend that actually happened.  Pretend that these Flip Artists or Turnaround Specialists had a bigger vision for your business than you do right now.  That they could see the potential for dramatic improvement in your business...doubling or tripling the growth of your business.  Also, keep in mind that these are objective investors that are not emotionally connected to the business and won't hesitate to do a massive make-over on your business.  Again, they would want to dramatically increase the value of the business as fast as possible and then re-sell your business down the road for huge returns.  What would they want to change? 

What outdated, ugly and ineffective systems, processes, methods, departments, etc. would these flip artists go after with a sledge hammer?  What departments, systems or processes of yours would they blow up and start over building the right way...sales, marketing, customer service, operations, etc.?  Again, they want to cut out the ugly to expose the beautiful and increase the re-sell value down the road.  What ugly financial conditions need to be dramatically improved to attract the next buyer at a premium price?  Are your costs out of whack?  Your receivable to high?  Your margins too low?  Your sales too flat?  Which employees would they quickly evaluate as needing to be let go?  What sales and marketing practices would they transform?  What technology would they update? 

While this was just a pretend episode of Flip This Business and a bit extreme, nonetheless, what did your above answers reveal?  Instead of letting someone else transform your business and reap the rewards, why not do it yourself?  Consider adopting and adapting the mindset and methods of a flip artist.  Where would you start and what would you change? 

Daniel M. Murphy
President, Founder & Business Coach
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System