During this fun and easy call, expect to meet with one or more members of the SYE team. This call has two major purposes. First, we want to get a clear understanding of you as a seller. We also want to determine whether moving forward serves our interests and yours. At this phase, SYE has the goal of answering two key questions: What does the seller want, and can SYE deliver on those wants?

Multiple people can join the call, but SYE strives to make this stage of the process very simple. Even if there are several partners who must agree on a sale, select one direct contact to speak on behalf of the company for this call. For the direct contact, choose someone with a combination of day-to-day knowledge and ownership rights. Additionally, other stakeholders can take part in the acquisition process later.

For SYE, the most important part of the discovery call is determining what the seller wants. SYE uses this understanding of the seller’s wants and needs to decide whether to move forward to the second stage.

During this call, a seller will expect questions like:

What financial milestones has your company reached?

What are some of the KPIs you monitor to make sure operations are running smoothly?

What kind of marketing has worked best for your business?

Why did you start your business?

What do you envision the next chapter of your life looking like?

Sellers should have access to accounting software, like QuickBooks, during the call. It is also useful to have the company’s social media profiles, email marketing platforms and ecommerce software also pulled up. These bits of data are great ways to get quick snapshots about the health and trajectory of the company.

If SYE cannot move forward with a business, the seller will receive a prompt notification. Respect is one of the core values of SYE, so sellers can expect clear communication at every step of the process. At SYE, a “no” is not a “never.” Sellers are always educated about the specific reasons a sale cannot happen. Oftentimes an acquisition can proceed after those issues receive attention.  

Now, the seller stops any negotiations with other parties. In the absence of extreme changes, the seller should be ready to sell upon signing the letter. Signing a letter of intent does not obligate either party to close on the deal but does limit promotional rights and exclusivity to a deal. In simple terms, if buying or selling a business is “getting married” a letter of intent is becoming “engaged.”

At this stage, a seller presents documentation to verify data about the business. For example, credit card statements and merchant accounts help to validate a profit and loss statement.

Whether a deal happens or not, the offer phase is always a win-win situation. Either, the seller gets the business sold, or the seller gets valuable insight on what their business is truly worth. If there is a difference in the valuation the seller presented and SYE’s offer the seller will receive a detailed explanation.

Deal financing is as unique as each business and the seller behind it. Although some deals end in cash upfront offers, there are other creative options such as down payments, seller financing, earn-ins, earn-outs, revenue sharing, and equity agreements. Sellers have the opportunity to benefit from the sale of their business one time or on an ongoing basis.

After acceptance of an offer, the seller has a lot of work to do as they prepare for one of the most exciting things in their career! There is a very detailed checklist of final documents to submit. We make the process easy on sellers by having a virtual checklist. After all items have been received and verified, it’s now time to schedule the closing date.

From discovery to the closing date, the entire process can take anywhere from three days to thirty days. SYE knows how valuable time is, so we seek to save sellers time every step of the way.