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As the AI revolution accelerates, exit-ready business owners can leverage this technology to improve efficiency, scale operations, and increase profitability. These moves make the company more attractive to potential buyers and ultimately drive its value to new heights.
AI is not a program that you introduce to your company, then stand back and watch it work its magic in your processes. It is a broad term for a range of tools that create efficiency through automation with different tools designed for different areas of business. Using it effectively takes some training, so before you jump into AI, you should determine which areas of your business will benefit the most from it.
Identifying opportunities
Start with repetitive tasks, especially those that add more work, such as job scopes. AI excels in scenarios where tasks are tedious, don’t scale efficiently, and aren’t too complex. This includes research, marketing, and even sales support functions that are essential to increase productivity and save costs. These functions are ripe for AI integration because they allow business to scale without increasing fixed costs.
For example, some companies have a time-consuming customer onboarding process that involves extensive research to gather background information. Using AI for basic research saves hours for a human worker who can now operate an AI tool, review work in a fraction of the time, and spend more of their day on strategic, customer-focused efforts.
This is the type of AI power that can significantly increase the value of a business preparing for sale. Potential buyers are looking for more than just strong finances. They want to see the company become efficient and scalable, which is where AI becomes a strong selling point.
Related: How AI can (and should) drive innovation throughout your organization.
Measuring success
When implemented correctly, AI can improve several key business metrics:
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Revenue per employee: As your team becomes more efficient by doing less repetitive work, you should see an increase in revenue per employee. This metric tells buyers that a company can scale without significantly increasing labor costs. .
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Gross and net margins: By outsourcing labor-intensive tasks to artificial intelligence, you can reduce operating costs and improve profitability. Higher margins make a company more attractive to buyers because they indicate a well-run, profitable operation.
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Capability: Artificial intelligence can help businesses do more with less. It can help SMEs bridge the resource gap when competing with larger companies with bigger budgets. For example, an advertising agency may be at full capacity with its current team. Using artificial intelligence can save time and resources, allowing the team to take on more clients without increasing the number of employees. This capacity increase is a strong indicator of future scalability.
Potential buyers will want to see these metrics over time to judge whether they have improved and will continue to improve.
Resist the temptation to make too much of the truth you use AI tools. If implemented thoughtfully, AI will lead to improvements that speak for themselves. You won’t need to tell buyers you have AI—they’ll see the results.
Practical AI tools for small businesses
Once you know your needs, which AI tools should you use? Three categories of tools that can increase efficiency and ultimately cost are:
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Research: AI can automate research tasks, saving employees significant time. For example, AI agents can collect information about new customers, allowing team members to go directly to the strategic stages of their work.
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Marketing: AI can automate content creation, copywriting, and even video production. By using AI tools for marketing, businesses can produce higher volumes of content without increasing headcount. Marketing can take on slightly more creative tasks, such as copywriting and creating images and social media posts.
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Sales support: AI can help with lead generation and prospecting campaigns by building lists, writing copy and automating follow-ups. By automating functions, the sales team can focus on closing deals rather than spending hours on administrative tasks.
Without AI, you can tell an employee to set up a search campaign for, say, B2B business owners with less than $10 million in revenue and advertise with them. They should compile the list, write the copy and then contact them. Now you can use AI tools to build a list, write copy and sell on platforms like LinkedIn, or even run a campaign for you. This way, the salesperson can perform high-level tasks such as managing the campaign and responding to leads.
With AI, we’ll basically eliminate the boring tasks at first so we can do the work that really fires us up and adds value to the company. You don’t have to eliminate jobs, but you can improve the quality of the projects you assign to your existing teams and keep them engaged and excited.
Related: 5 Ways AI Can Accelerate Your Entrepreneurship Journey
Long term investment
It is important to understand that implementing AI is not a quick fix, but requires a long-term mindset. If I implement any new technology in my business, it takes at least a year to see the full impact on the company.
The sooner AI is incorporated when preparing a business for sale, the better. Potential buyers will want to see a clear example of improved metrics over time, not just a rushed process with uncertain results. It is never advisable to sell a company that is still learning how to use AI, especially as your revenue may drop during the learning phase.
The key is to approach AI strategically, focusing on areas where it can make a difference. When implemented correctly, AI will become more than just a trend, but a critical tool for increasing the value of your business.