The Lamour Legacy Process

Before any number is discussed, we establish what you actually want. Retirement on a date certain, growth capital while you keep control, a handover to a family member or a long-serving employee, or a clean exit are four different mandates, and each one changes which buyers we approach.

We also map the constraints nobody puts in writing: obligations to a key employee, a lease you personally guaranteed, a partner with different timing, a spouse who wants a different answer than you do.

Output: a written statement of objectives, timing, and non-negotiables that governs every later decision.

We normalize earnings, separate owner compensation and discretionary expense from true operating cost, and test how the business would perform in the hands of someone who is not you. That is the figure a buyer underwrites.

You receive a defensible range with the reasoning shown, plus the specific items a buyer or lender will question in diligence.

Output: a confidential value review — a range, the assumptions behind it, and the risks attached to it.

This is where the largest gains are made, and it is the reason to start years rather than months ahead. Customer concentration, owner dependence, unrecorded processes, deferred maintenance, and thin financial reporting all suppress the multiple regardless of profit.

We prioritize the improvements with the shortest payback and the greatest effect on buyer confidence, then work the list with you on a schedule you can actually sustain while running the business.

Output: a prioritized value-improvement plan with owners, timing, and expected effect on the range.

Financials are cleaned and reconciled, contracts and leases assembled, and the operating story documented so a buyer can understand the business without you in the room. Diligence surprises cost more than any negotiating point.

We prepare a blind profile that describes the opportunity without identifying you, and a full confidential information memorandum released only to buyers under NDA.

Output: a data room, a blind profile, and a confidential information memorandum.

We build the buyer list deliberately rather than posting a listing: strategic acquirers, private investors and search funds, family offices, industry consolidators, and where appropriate, an internal successor or associate already in the business.

Buyers are qualified on capital, credibility, and cultural fit before they learn your name. You approve every name in writing before it is contacted.

Output: an approved, ranked outreach list and a controlled process calendar.

Price is one term among many. Deal structure, cash at closing, earnout mechanics, seller note, rollover equity, working capital adjustment, escrow, indemnity caps, and your post-closing role often decide what you actually keep.

We run competing conversations in parallel to preserve leverage, and coordinate with your attorney and tax advisor so structure is optimized before the letter of intent is signed rather than after.

Output: competing offers, a negotiated letter of intent, and diligence managed through to closing.

The transition plan is part of the deal, not an afterthought. Who tells the staff, and when. What happens to long-tenured employees, benefits, and the people who trusted you. How customers and referral sources are told, and by whom.

We stay through the handover period so commitments made at the table are honored after the wire clears — including the ones about your name on the building.

Output: a communication plan, a transition schedule, and continued involvement through the handover.