For over thirty years Gadd Business Consultants (GBC) has been assisting business and organizations grow successfully and ethically. That growth has taken a variety of forms and involved a diverse set of strategies to make it happen.
This process has often utilized methods that are categorized as Merger and Acquisition (M&A). These have included but are not limited to:
- Purchasing an existing business as a means of launching a new venture or expanding an existing business.
- Merging with an existing entity.
- Business Succession where business ownership is transferred to employees or the next generation.
- The sale of an existing business so the owners can retire or pursue other interests.
We have found that whether you are in the market to buy or sell there are three stages to the process, and regardless of the stage or situation you are in there is a significant benefit to having an experienced team working with you throughout the process.
Stage One: Getting ready – Personal and Business Assessment.
Whether looking to buy or sell you need to be in an optimal position for success.
Getting ready means assessing your personal and business readiness. Do you and your business present optimally? This includes understanding the industry and local/regional markets and having your financial picture reflect an accurate and positive representation of your situation. Whether you are ready now or need/want to take some time to plan and create a best-case scenario, GBC is prepared to assist.
Stage Two: The Transaction – The Acquisition / Selling Process
The actual process of the transaction has several critical components which can make or break a deal. Each one of the critical components have parts with both qualitative and quantitative considerations. The backing of a knowledgeable team can guide you through the deal-threatening workings of the process. At GBC we can assist you with:
- Analysis
- Valuation
- Deal Structuring
- Negotiation
- Capital Funding
Stage Three – The ongoing success of the venture.
Now that you are in the position of either owning a new venture or looking for a new opportunity having successfully sold your business, the key to success is developing and maintaining the necessary plan, systems and controls that will assure the sustainable success of the enterprise. Whether you are an experienced successful business person or a newly launched entrepreneur GBC can assist you by providing the support you need at whatever level you need it.
Gadd Business Consultants (GBC) empowers you, the business owner, by delivering the following benefits:
- Provide you with peace of mind, confidence, and relief.
- Assist you in managing the business side of your business.
- Allow you to focus on what you want to be doing, what your’re good at, and what is most impactful
- Streamlining and simplifying your business.
- Enabling you to expand the business.
- Making it easier for you to do business
Gadd Business Consultants provide an objective view of the status of your business and develops practical methods to increase profit, improve cash flow, and achieve growth. Gadd Business Consultants works with owners and staff to develop and implement plans and control systems that will effectively accomplish our clients’ organizational objectives. We work cooperatively with your business/organization personnel to ensure success.
Our services include:
Why hire a business broker to assist you with buying or selling a business?
Our experience has shown that there are 2 main reasons a potential sale fails to successfully close:
- The revenue and financial performance of the company flatlines or declines.
- Not timely responding to a potential seller/buyer’s requests for information.
When you hire GBC as your business broker we take the hassle out of the buying/selling process. We assist with:
Buyer Recruiting:
We recruit buyers and add them to our distribution network. Here are the most typical places we find new buyers:
- Personal and professional connections. We meet with and talk to new buyers on the phone every week.
- We connect with buyers and professional advisors actively on LinkedIn.com every week.
- Paid-for business-for-sale marketing websites, for example bizbuysell.com, where buyers search for new opportunities.
- Strategic buyer research: we research companies that operate in the space of our clients and confidentially reach out to the owners of those companies.
Buyer Screening:
- Confidentiality is key. Our confidentiality agreement is air tight and electronically signed by buyers, which limits negotiation on its client-biased terms (think “check the box if you agree to our terms and conditions”). No buyer sees any confidential information without submitting a signed confidentiality agreement.
- Buyer qualification. When it comes to wasting time; we don’t want to waste ours, yours or theirs, so we make sure to ask buyers qualification questions, for example: 1. Have you ever purchased a business? 2. What is your level of available capital? 3. What attracted you to this particular opportunity? 4. How quickly are you able to move?
Professional Materials:
- To sell your company to the highest bidder and best fit, we need to know you, your company and be able to tell your story in the best light possible. Prior to going to market, we conduct a 1.5-2 hour interview with you. During that interview, we walk through a comprehensive questionnaire. We then produce a Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM). This CIM is used to tell your story to prospective buyers after they have signed a confidentiality agreement.
- Our team of financial analysts analyzes and compiles a comprehensive Financial Addendum. This document is easily dissected by prospective buyers and their advisors so that they can quickly and accurately understand the historical financial performance of your company.
Why Does This All Matter?
Quite frankly, if we have 20 clients, we want 20 sales! Our goal is to consummate a favorable transaction. To ensure that we bring the best possible offer and fit to our client, we need to make sure that our confidential marketing efforts are as broad as possible, and that the materials we disseminate to buyers are comprehensive and professional so that buyers can quickly and efficiently understand your company.
On a typical engagement:
- Client business confidentially marketed to 1,000s via our website, business-for-sale listing sites, emails/calls to our professional network, and directly to strategic buyers (companies and private equity groups).
- 50-100 buyers will request information.
- 30-50 will sign our NDA and be interviewed.
- 10-15 will request an introduction or showing.
- 1-5 will submit offers.
- 2 of those offers will be in line or better than our expectations.
- We will be able to leverage buyer competition to bring our client the best possible price and terms.
It takes exposure to 1,000 to get the best offer from 2 or 3. Time and time again this process is tested, refined and continues to produce the best possible result that the market will bear.