There are many factors that go into answering this question. When we talk about business value, we are speaking about real market transferability, not a desktop valuation conducted for the purposes of gifting or estate planning. We assist clients with discovering this through our Exit Audit.

Learn more about an Exit Audit here:

• Exit Audit

• Getting a Baseline Assessment of Your Exit Preparedness: Exit Audit Overview

• The Exit Audit: Your Compass to a Brighter Business Future

Learn more about the factors that drive business value here: 

Investment banks, in the lower-middle market where we operate, primarily run processes to sell a majority interest in a private business to outside investors. They are experts at developing world-class marketing materials for your business, formulating buyer lists, conducting organized auction processes to maximize interest in the business, and driving the deal process through to completion.

We often assist our clients with the selection of the right investment bank to represent them in the process. The right investment bank for a particular business and its owner/s depends on many factors that we assist with. We also work hand-in-hand with the investment bank through the sale process, actually as the company's liaison to the sale process.

Our objective is to keep the client's goals front-and-center throughout the process and to ensure the investment bank is armed with all the best information and analysis to run the best process possible for the client.

Absolutely. Exits can be internal, external, or some combination thereof. We assist our clients with exploring all available paths, so they can understand the pros and cons of each approach.

Learn more of our thoughts on internal transitions here.

An Exit Audit is our assessment of your business’s overall readiness for a sale. As we say all the time, a business that is exit ready is also fun to run. Our Exit Audit will provide you with a roadmap for what you can do to increase your business value.

Learn more at the following links:

• Exit Audit

• Getting a Baseline Assessment of Your Exit Preparedness: Exit Audit Overview

• The Exit Audit: Your Compass to a Brighter Business Future

Most self-made business owners, if they are lucky, get one shot to sell a business in their lifetime. Today’s buyer universe is full of professional investors who do it all day, every day. Your management team, like you, probably doesn’t have experience with this process either. As a result, many sellers get “eaten alive” by the sale process as they are inundated with so much new information all at once.

Doescher Group comes alongside our clients to walk through them every step of the process. We know what’s necessary and unnecessary. We take the time to make sure that our client is comfortable every step of the way. So we provide peace of mind, risk mitigation, and drive value throughout your sale process.

Our essential KPI is a happy client the day of closing, a year later, and so on. We are there to ensure your wants and desires remain at the forefront of any path we consider.

Absolutely. We collaborate with and coordinate many activities amongst your key advisers. We can get you out of the middle of these conversations that you frankly would rather just hear the results of, and save you time, money, and headaches.

It’s true that it’s an investment to work with us. And we aren’t for everybody. But our track record is clear: the value we bring to your business is many times our fee. When evolving or exiting your business, there is a minefield of costly missteps that are invisible, even to seasoned business owners. We help our clients avoid those, but we also show them secret paths or strategies that clients might not ever learn about if not for an adviser like Doescher Group.

It might be hard to value our value-add before we meet, but it becomes extremely evident to our clients, many of whom would be happy to talk to you any time. Just let us know if you'd like to speak to a reference!

Our primary form of payment is monthly retainer. If the project is event driven (sale, debt or equity raise), we will also have a success bonus for getting the job done.

In every sale process, there comes a point where you as the seller need to select an exclusive buyer party to purchase your business. This point is usually signified by the execution of a Letter of Intent (LOI). At this point, the buyer party will enter its due diligence period. Up to this point, the buyer party has received marketing materials about your business, such as the Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM) as well as follow-up information and exhibits. The LOI was executed based on the belief that those marketing materials were true.

Due diligence is when the buyer party and its advisers get to look deeply at all aspects of the business to confirm that things are as they were represented in the marketing materials. If a company is not prepared for due diligence, it can become extremely frustrating, time-consuming, and ultimately result in a busted sale.

Owners can get so bogged down with the volume of due diligence requests that they can take their eye off the operating business. Performance may suffer and a buyer may get cold feet or try to “re-trade” the deal by modifying the price or other important terms.

As part of Doescher Group’s Chief Transaction Officer (CTO) service, we ensure this process runs smoothly and efficiently, giving you the highest possible chance of selling your company on the terms of the LOI.