By Ian Altman, a business expert who helps his clients discover how to modernize sales and marketing for today’s customer. 

Business owners often ask me, “What should we be doing to make our organization a good acquisition target?” As someone who has successfully sold companies in the past, I’ve identified best practices of attracting a merger or acquisition.

Often, what you think makes your firm appear valuable to potential buyers is not what really matters.

Many CEOs believe that they just need to hit a certain dollar figure in revenue or a specific level of profit. Revenue and profit are certainly valuable measurements, but they don’t tell the full story.