"Planning is key. It is never going to exactly according to plan and the landscape in our industry can change all the time. But if you have a plan in place you can be flexible and make sure your business is more valuable and perhaps more sellable."
Likening preparing a business to the "simple terms" of selling a house, she also encouraged people to think about their brand and make things as attractive as possible.
Preston-Todd agreed: "Planning is absolutely key. You need to consider what might devalue your business. What if you are using archaic technology or you are still a paper-based business?
"These are not things that map across well to another business. These sort of things could potentially devalue your business. It is about the planing and taking a step back and revising that plan as it goes along."
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com