What we do, what it costs, and how long it takes.
Four services and two free ways to start. Each is priced before the work begins: a flat fee, a fixed monthly amount, or a success fee agreed in writing before we go to market. Read this page and you'll know the number.
Most owners use one or two of these, not all four.
Selling next spring usually means the Review, then a listing. Three years out, the Program does more. If a buyer has already called, go to how we sell a business and read the part about representing you without a listing.
Listing and sale representation, from pricing to closing.
Evidence-backed price, blind profile, NDAs before financials, buyers vetted before they learn your name, diligence run by the people who prepared the file. Six to nine months, typically.
How the sale runs Exit-Readiness ReviewTwo weeks with your real numbers.
A readiness scorecard across the five things buyers examine, a defended value range, and a 90-day fix list. Credited against our success fee if we later list the business.
What the Review covers Sale-Ready ProgramWe close the gaps with your team, month by month.
GAAP-ready books, sales that don't run through you, SOPs and controls, a deal file built as we go. For owners one to three years out.
What we do each month Sell to LakeshoreSometimes the buyer is us.
We invest in and acquire Chicagoland businesses. No listing period, no marketing. If we want to buy, we say so in writing up front, and you stay free to go to market.
What we buyThe fees, on one table.
The same numbers we say on the phone. No hourly billing on any of it.
| Service | What you get | Timeline | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Confidential Value Range | A CPA-prepared range and the two or three items a buyer's accountant would raise first. Revenue, industry, email. | Within two business days | Free. Nothing to sign. |
| Owner Consult | Thirty minutes by phone with a CPA: your timeline, rough numbers, and which option we'd recommend. | 30 minutes | Free |
| Exit-Readiness Review | Scorecard across the five buyer lenses, a defended value range, a 90-day fix list, presented in person. | Two weeks | $4,500 flat, invoiced on signing. Credited if we later list. |
| Sale-Ready Program | We implement the fix list with your team: books, owner dependence, customer mix, SOPs, the deal file. | 6 to 12 months | From $2,500 a month, fixed, in writing |
| Sell a business | Pricing memo, blind profile, buyer list, NDAs and CIM, management meetings, LOI, diligence, closing. For $1 million to $5 million companies, see small business broker in Chicago. | Typically 6 to 9 months | 10% success fee, in writing before market. No retainer. |
| Sell to Lakeshore | Written terms, your advisors vet them, diligence in weeks, close on your timeline. | Your timeline | No commission |
Your attorney and CPA stay yours; we work alongside them. We don't give legal, tax or investment advice as such.
It depends on the calendar more than anything else.
This is how we'd steer you on the phone.
- Selling within a year
- Start with the Review. Two weeks and $4,500 tells you what the business would bring today and which two or three fixes are worth doing first. Most fit inside 90 days. Then we list it, and the Review fee comes off the success fee.
- One to three years out
- This is where the money is. The Program works the fix list with your team over 6 to 12 months, so the buyer's accountant finds clean books and a business that runs without you. If the Review shows small gaps, we'll say the Program isn't worth paying for.
- A buyer already at the door
- Don't sign anything yet. Book a consult and send us what they sent you. We can represent you in that one conversation without listing, and a second prepared buyer, even a quiet one, tends to improve the first one's terms. Sometimes that second buyer is us.
- Not sure yet
- Get the free value range. If it says the business is worth more in two years, we'll say so and check in each quarter if you'd like. Sometimes the right answer is wait. If you want to understand the pricing before you ask, start with how much your business is worth, or read what a business broker in Chicago does for the fee.
A value range in two business days, for nothing.
Revenue, industry, and where to send it. A CPA prepares the range, not a calculator, and you'll see the two or three items a buyer's accountant would raise first. Confidential, nothing to sign.
Four things owners ask before they call.
Do I have to buy the Review before you'll list my business?
No. If the books are clean and the business runs without you, we'll say so on the consult and go straight to a listing. The Review is for owners who want the gaps priced first, and the $4,500 is credited against the success fee if we list.
Is the 10% negotiable, and what does it cover?
It's the number we quote, and it goes in the listing agreement before we go to market, so there's nothing to renegotiate at the LOI. It covers pricing, the blind profile and buyer list, NDAs and the CIM, management meetings, LOI negotiation, diligence and closing. There is no retainer.
What happens if you want to buy the business yourselves?
We say so in writing, up front, before any listing work starts. There's no commission on a sale to Lakeshore, and you stay free to take the business to market, with us or anyone else. See Sell to Lakeshore.
Do you charge for the consult or the value range?
No. The value range is free, CPA-prepared, within two business days, nothing to sign. The consult is thirty minutes by phone with a CPA, also free. If the right answer is wait two years, that's what you'll hear.
Start with the number.
A value range in two business days, or thirty minutes with a CPA. Both free, both ending in a straight recommendation, including "wait."