Two weeks with your real numbers.
$4,500, flat. A CPA-led review of the five things buyers examine, ending in a readiness scorecard, a defended value range, and a 90-day fix list. Findings presented in person, at your business, in week two. Credited against the success fee if we later list.
Three documents, written for an owner, not a binder.
The readiness scorecard
Where the business stands on each of the five buyer lenses, scored the way a buyer's accountant would score it, with the reason for each mark.
A defended value range
Normalized earnings, documented add-backs, and a range set against what comparable Chicagoland businesses have traded for. You'll know where you sit and what moves you inside it.
The 90-day fix list
Plain English, ordered by dollars of value, with who does what and how long it takes. Most items your own team can do. A few aren't worth doing, and we'll say which.
The same five things every buyer's accountant tests.
Each has a typical effect on price. We tell you which one is costing you the most, because that's the one to fix first.
- Financial credibility
- Can a stranger trust your numbers without trusting you? We check whether revenue traces to deposits, whether the books close monthly, how add-backs are documented, and whether the returns and the P&L tell the same story. Cash-basis books with no monthly close don't kill a deal, but they usually cost 5 to 10 percent in diligence.
- Owner dependence
- If you took a month off, what breaks? Who holds the customer relationships, who quotes the work, whether anyone else can sign. A business that is really a job with your name on it gets priced like one. In the Chicagoland deals we see, sales relationships that sit only with the owner typically cost about half a turn of the multiple.
- Customer durability
- Revenue by account, three years back. One customer over about 20 percent of revenue lowers offers. The higher it goes, the more likely price becomes structure, with an earn-out or holdback tied to that customer staying.
- Team and process
- Will the key people stay, and does the business run on written procedure or on memory? SOPs, an org chart with real seconds-in-command, controls over who can move money and approve a price. Weakness here shows up as a lower price and a longer earn-out.
- The deal file
- Every document diligence will ask for, assembled before anyone asks: leases, contracts, customer lists, equipment schedules, permits, insurance, three years of returns. Owners who arrive with the file get cleaner terms and shorter closings.
Kickoff within five business days of signing.
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Day 1: kickoff and the document list
We walk through what we need, set up a secure folder for it, and agree the two working-session dates.
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Week 1: working sessions at your business
Two sessions, about an hour each, at your place of business. We go through the numbers with you and walk the operation.
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Week 2: findings, in person
We present the scorecard, the value range and the fix list and go through them line by line. You leave with a recommendation: list, fix first, sell to us, or wait.
Six things, most of them already in a drawer.
- Three years of P&Ls and balance sheets
- Current-year, year-to-date financials
- Tax returns for the same three years
- Customer revenue by account
- An org chart, even a hand-drawn one
- About two hours of your time, across two working sessions
Everything is covered by a mutual confidentiality agreement.
$4,500, flat. Invoiced on signing.
No hourly charges and no add-ons. If Lakeshore later lists the business, the full $4,500 is credited against the 10% success fee.
Either of us can cancel before kickoff for a full refund. Signing doesn't obligate you to list with us or to sell at all; the engagement letter says so.
It isn't a certified appraisal or legal, tax or investment advice. It's the analysis a buyer's accountant will do, done first, on your side of the table.
Honest answers before you spend $4,500.
The Review makes sense if
- You're selling within a year or two and want the gaps priced before you decide
- A buyer has called and you want to know whether their number is fair
- Someone with something to sell has told you a value and you want a CPA's second opinion
- You're one to three years out and want to know whether the Sale-Ready Program is worth it
It doesn't make sense if
- You're five or more years out and nothing is changing. Get the free value range and check in yearly.
- Revenue is well under $1 million. The Review costs more than the value it moves.
- You've signed an LOI and diligence starts Monday. Call us anyway, but that's representation, not a Review.
- You need a formal appraisal for a court, the IRS or an estate. We'll point you to a credentialed appraiser.
What owners ask before they sign.
Is the Review a formal valuation?
No. It's a defended value range built the way a buyer's accountant builds one, with the evidence behind it. For a certified appraisal for tax, litigation or an estate, you need a credentialed appraiser.
Will my staff know what's going on?
Not unless you tell them. We schedule the sessions when you say and can be introduced however you'd like. Most teams never learn an exit is being prepared.
What if the Review says the business isn't ready?
Then you'll have a fix list ordered by what each item is worth, and a straight answer on whether to do it yourself, run the Sale-Ready Program, or wait. That's the point of doing it first.
Is the fee really credited?
Yes, in full, against the 10% success fee if Lakeshore lists and sells the business. It's written into the engagement letter. If you list elsewhere or don't sell, the $4,500 is the whole cost.
Thirty minutes first. Then decide.
We'll tell you on the phone whether the Review is worth $4,500 for your business, or whether the free value range is enough for now.