This young company was very profitable and growing 20% per year. It had all the hot buttons: 1) high profit margin, 2) large repeating customer base with low concentration, 3) home-based and relocatable, 4)general business skills required, and 5) supplier relationship that afforded a competitive advantage.

The challenges were as follows: 1) hand kept records that were hard to decipher and did not communicate credibility and value, 2) no computerization and general lack of systems and procedures, 3)risk associated with strategic single supplier relationship, and 4) extremely high intangible asset value (tangible assets of less than $1,000).

On first contact, the owner was very skeptical (can you deliver or is this just another sales gimmick)and he said he wanted to get $350,000 for the company. We signed a contract on Nov 20th and went to market on Dec 15th with a credible offering memorandum describing the business and supporting an asking price that was 50% over the owner's expectations. Simultaneous with going to market, we contacted several SBA lenders and sought preliminary pre-approvals for financing.

By Jan. 15th, we had over 100 buyer responses on this business. We maintained a competitive environment and received 5 offers for the business. The deal closed before March 31st with the buyer utilizing the SBA Lender that pre-qualified the deal for us. The selling price was over 60% greater than the Seller's initial expectation, exceeded the asking price, included more cash at closing than the Seller's expectation, and included an earn-out provision with an upside for the Seller contingent upon future performance.

Postscript - this was a win-win deal! The Seller received a very fair price for his business. The Buyer has brought intelligence, business saavy, and hard work to take the business to the next level and initial results are promising.