Reduce owner dependence before selling: the diary test

On this page

1. The diary test
2. Why dependence matters
3. Emptying the diary
4. In practice

To reduce owner dependence before selling, first establish what you actually do. Keep a four-week diary, separate the responsibilities only you hold from work another person could take on, and test one handover. This gives you evidence to discuss with your team and a potential buyer.

The test

For four weeks, log what you actually do in half-hour blocks. Not what your job description says; what happens. Then sort every entry into one of three columns:

1. Only I can do this. Pricing a big job, the call with the key customer, approving the hire, signing off the month.
2. I do this but someone else could, with training or a procedure. Rostering, ordering, chasing debtors, the quotes under a certain size.
3. I do this and shouldn't. Fixing the thing myself because it's quicker, answering the phone, the drive to the bank.

Then add up the hours in column one. Identify the role, skills and authority needed to replace that work, including its market cost. A potential buyer may view the same commitment differently depending on whether they will operate the business or appoint a manager. There is no universal acceptable number of owner hours.

Why owner dependence matters in a sale

Owner dependence can affect a buyer's confidence in the earnings, the handover and the time they will need to commit. Where earnings rely on your relationships or judgement, explain how those responsibilities could transfer and what replacement work would cost. A named deputy and a manual need evidence of use and authority to act.

My own sales made the handover practical for me. Documenting a process mattered, but so did showing that another person could use it and take responsibility for the result. That is why the diary is a record of what actually happens, rather than an ideal job description.

Use the owner handover workbook to record responsibilities, proposed cover and the evidence from each handover test.

Emptying the diary

Work through the diary by risk and by what can realistically be handed over. Document a process, give someone the authority to run it and test the arrangement. A later diary can show what has changed. This takes time; the right sequence depends on the business. The order, and what to do with the two or three tasks that only an owner can do, is the first conversation in every Exit Programme.

What this looks like in practice

The diary is an early exercise in an Exit Programme and a useful check before broker hand-over. Between the two, we document responsibilities, agree who can take them on and test the arrangement. The owner's fortnightly check-in helps resolve decisions and practical obstacles; the Review determines how this work ranks alongside other priorities.

Start with the readiness check; the first question is this one. Or tell me what your column one looks like and I'll tell you what a buyer would make of it.