If you ever want to sell your business, you need a plan. Depending on the size of your business, proper strategic exit planning can take anywhere from 1 to 7 years to do right.

And, when you've maximized the value of your business and are ready to sell it, according to the US Small Business Administration, it can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years to sell.

In this podcast, we tap the expertise of an exit planning expert: our friend, entrepreneur and author John Warrillow. Having built and sold four successful companies, John knows the secrets to creating a sellable business. John shares his own experiences and lessons learned, and talks about his new book, Built to Sell.

Podcast: Is Your Business Built to Sell?

(Download MP3)

John Warrillow is an entrepreneur, author and speaker. Throughout his career as an entrepreneur, John has started and exited four companies. Most recently he transformed Warrillow & Co. from a boutique consultancy into a recurring revenue model subscription business, which he sold to The Corporate Executive Board (NASDAQ: EXBD) in 2008. He is the author of Built to Sell and Drilling for Gold and in 2008 was recognized by BtoB magazine’s “Who’s Who” list. builttosell.com