At the Douglas Group we are well versed in managing the critical components that determine a successful business purchase or sale.
Timeline for selling a business with Douglas Group
On average, we close transactions 6-8 months from the time we accept the engagement. If timing is important to you, we doubt you will find another firm with a more intense process or more rapid success rate.
✓ We Ensure Confidentiality
We go to great lengths to safeguard the confidentiality of our clients when working to sell a business. We take pride in our zealous discretion. We complete business sale transactions without leakage of information to customers, employees, or competitors. We do not send out cold mass mailings with information that could identify our clients. Instead, we do extensive research beforehand to learn who has the financial capability, the appetite, and the best fitted interests that match the businesses we represent for sale. Our sale engagement remains unannounced and unknown to customers and employees until the owner makes the announcement upon the closing. This silence reduces the risk of lost customers or jittery employees, thus maintaining and enhancing the value of the business.
✓ Our Inverted Fee Incentives
Our fees are contingent upon successful sale, and are structured in a unique way to ensure that we achieve top rewards only when we meet or exceed our seller client’s business sale objectives. Specific fee structures are tailored to individual engagements, and are planned and negotiated privately with our seller clients. We earn premium fees only when we bring you premium dollars. Unlike the classic 5/4/3/2/1 Lehman formula (or the double Lehman often used for smaller companies), our fee percentage is smallest on the first and easiest dollars and higher for the harder-to-get premium dollars. This way, we only collect top fees when we bring you top dollar.
✓ Our Time Commitment
In working toward a business sale, we spend in excess of 2000 professional hours on an engagement. We stick with our clients to help solve the inevitable problems that arise, and we do what it takes to get the transaction to successful closure. We can’t afford a half completed, unsuccessful sales effort, and neither can you.
✓ Non-Disruptive Buyer Pre-Qualification Process
We handle virtually all of the time consuming or potentially intrusive elements of the business selling process for our clients, off premise. Client owners can continue to run their company without disruption or distraction. Our buyer pre-qualification processes avoid “fishing expeditions,” thus reducing both stress to the owner and tension for staff members, which maximizes the final sale price.
✓ We Find the Best Buyers and Create Intense Competition
Our track record is outstanding, and we’ve achieved a near perfect closure rate. Our “secret” is not relying on mass mailings to potential buyers. Instead, we painstakingly research the market, make sure we know who is buying today and why. Then we carefully find and assess the most qualified buyers. Our reputation is impeccable, so serious buyers want to work with us.
The best buyers in many cases are the players who are in an adjacent business space. They may be companies which serve the same customer base, but with very different products. They may be companies who have similar products, but have focused to date on a very different customer clientele – and who thus benefit from entrance to a new customer group.
The job of every buyer is to make the acquisition for the minimum cost possible. Buyers will pay their top possible price, only if the MUST, to win the deal. Competition for the deal is critical to sorting out and assessing true “market value” for your company.
✓ We Provide Seller Protection
Last but not least, we work hard to design a transaction that protects our sellers from post-sale problems. Our clients consistently tell us how pleasantly surprised they are with our diligent attention to crafting a “clean agreement.” Our efforts save legal fees and reduce exposure to liabilities.
