PROCESS
THE CII PROCESS
The CII team of Business Advisors will help you navigate the process and achieve maximum value for your business.
Communication, transparency, and professionalism are essential to building trust with potential suitors and our diligence, attention to detail and response times earn that trust.
You worked hard and sacrificed much to build a great business, and you only get one chance to do this right and realize maximum value. The business that supported your family and created a lifetime of memories should only be trusted to caring and competent professionals.
With our proven process, CII Advisors will help you write your next chapter of freedom and prosperity.
"You worked a lifetime to build a great business, and you only get one chance to do this right and realize maximum value."
– Cress V. Diglio
THE CII 10-STEP PROVEN PROCESS
01. INITIAL CONSULTATION
Our initial conversation allows us to thoroughly understand your goals, objectives, and priorities. This involves open communication with CII team members listening carefully to ensure your needs are fully understood.
This is where we build the foundation of trust for our relationship going forward. We provide more than advice, we earn your trust by understanding your business, your goals and priorities.
We will never ask you to sign an engagement agreement in these early stages. We will, however, sign a Confidentiality Agreement, so you can be confident that anything shared with us remains between us.
In our four decades of advising great business owners, we have found setting reasonable expectations is the recipe for success. We not only keep you informed throughout the entire process, but we also let you know what to expect before it happens. We don’t promise the world and tell you what you want to hear to get you to engage our services. We tell you the truth, plain and simple.
02. MARKET VALUATION
In this critical phase of the process, we work closely with you to determine the fair market value of your business and develop a strategic plan for going to market. We analyze a wide range of factors including market conditions, buyer demand, internal processes, local competitors, industry trends, and, most importantly, your long-term goals.
Once again, confidentiality with your private business information is our highest priority. We set up encrypted data rooms for the safety and security of your personal business information, and our finance team members begin working diligently in preparing the market valuation.
After a thorough and comprehensive review of your company and its financials, we will have a meeting to sit down with you and share our findings. We will explain the valuation in detail while answering any questions you may have. Our goal is to give you enough information to determine if now is the right time to exit your business.
After setting reasonable expectations, preparing a market valuation of your business and answering all of your questions, now is the time to decide whether or not to take the next step. If you decide to move forward, we will sign a Marketing Agreement and get to work.
If you decide that now is not the right time, we will support your decision and share recommendations for how to maximize the value of your business today in anticipation of an exit further down the line.
03. PRE-MARKETING
If you decide to move forward, the CII team immediately begins the process of getting your business ready for market. We prepare all of the materials that will be needed to quietly and confidentially market your business including the summary teaser documents, the more detailed online ads, and the essential Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM).
CII will create an Owner Questionnaire specific to your business and industry that you will be able to complete online. Your answers and feedback set the tone for the CIM and enable us to answer all buyer prospect inquiries without interrupting you and your daily operations. CII becomes the buffer between you and interested parties allowing you to concentrate on running the business to preserve your bottom line and payout.
Our Confidential Information Memorandums (CIM's) are the best in the business filled with detailed information covering all aspects of your business relevant to potential suitors. Our CIM's are more than informative, they tell your story of success and explain why a buyer should seize the golden opportunity your business presents.
Our CIM’s are only shared with parties a.) you have approved and b.) who have submitted NDAs and financial statements. This enables private equity groups, private investors, and industry buyers to make offers on your business with confidence. It also allows us to drive value and achieve higher multiples for your business.
04. PRE-DILIGENCE
Pre-diligence is the analysis that CII performs of your business to define the issues and anticipate the questions that actual buyers will raise once the business is under contract and the critical due diligence phase is underway.
While preparing the marketing information, we also set up encrypted data rooms and secure folders for the eventual sharing of pre-diligence materials. We gather the information that we know Buyers will request in the future. This gives us the ability to share information with Buyers the minute they request it, giving them confidence they are purchasing a well-organized business with an owner who is committed to the process.
At CII, we do more work and analysis before we take a business to market than most companies do during the entire engagement process. That is why we sell more than 80% of the businesses we take to market which is 4x the national average.
05. MARKETING
When the moment arrives, we quietly and confidentially market your business to our database of over 4,000 Private Equity Groups, approved Industry Buyers and Private Investors by email, standard mail, and industry websites designed for lower middle market companies.
While you are busy running your business, CII is busy marketing your business. Our team of advisors will stay in constant contact with you to provide buyer updates, share campaign results, discuss strategy and answer any questions you may have during the marketing process.
From a cultural and strategic point of view, we target potential buyers whose approach aligns with your core values, vision and objectives for the business going forward. We also screen potential buyers carefully to ensure they have the financial capacity, industry expertise and integrity to complete the transaction successfully.
The greater the interest we create in the Marketing phase, the better the offers you will receive. CII's holistic approach to the Marketing phase is designed to generate immediate interest in your business and instant responses to Buyer inquiries thanks to our careful pre-diligence. This proactive approach results in greater Buyer confidence and, in turn, more offers and higher offers on your business.
06. STRUCTURED BUYING PROCESS
Generating interest in your business with the Marketing phase is important, but it's equally important to channel and manage interested parties with a highly organized and well structured buying process.
After the initial Marketing phase, the CII team will conduct interviews and meetings with pre-qualified prospects who have signed an NDA and demonstrated their financial capacity to get the deal done. During this stage, we share information, answer questions and address any concerns that prospective Buyers raise. Again, the CII team serves as your buffer from these prospects allowing you to focus on growing your business and bottom line.
Once multiple interested parties have come forward, we inform all parties there is a deadline for submitting Indications of Interest (IOI’s), Letters of Intent (LOI’s) and any other potential offers. Our next step as a team is to sit down with you to evaluate each of the offers and narrow the list down to our finalists.
At this stage, we encourage all finalists to submit their final and best offers with a promise that the Owner will make his or her final decision by a set date. This is where we earn our success fee. Negotiating on your behalf and utilizing our proven process results in higher than anticipated market values.
07. DUE DILIGENCE
Due diligence is the critical phase of the process when the Buyer has a window of opportunity to request data, documents and financials that will either validate or negate their decision to acquire your business.
CII represents your interests during these negotiations with prospective buyers. We quarterback the entire due diligence process along with the rest of your deal team including your attorney, CPA and your other trusted advisors. This is another area where CII shines. All of the work we did during Pre-Diligence dramatically reduces the amount of time needed to respond to Buyer requests.
We facilitate all requests from the Buyer including financial, legal, and operational aspects of the deal. We address any concerns or issues that arise during the due diligence process promptly and transparently. And as the quarterback, we keep all parties marching down the field toward the goal line.
We help minimize disruption to your daily business operations and help maintain continuity and a sense of normalcy for your employees, your customers, your vendors, and other stakeholders. We also begin to develop a transition plan to ensure a smooth handover of responsibilities and minimize any negative impacts on the business post-closing.
08. THE TRANSITION
The transition phase is the key to the immediate and future success of the business. CII team members assist with the transition phase of your business utilizing comprehensive checklists and making sure all parties (Buyer, Seller, Advisors) are doing their part to ensure a smooth transition.
During the transition phase, we advise on ways to maximize employee retention, ensure customer retention and better integration of systems and processes. We also address easily overlooked issues that need to be resolved prior to closing. If not addressed early and handled properly, these little issues can become deal killers. After four decades of overseeing smooth transitions, CII team members know these issues and how to get them resolved.
09. THE CLOSING
CII facilitates the closing of the deal in a timely and efficient manner. We ensure that all legal and contractual requirements are met, and all necessary documents are properly executed.
The entire CII team works closely with the professionals involved in the transaction to ensure that we are all on the same page before, during and after closing. We are laser focused on the successful completion of your transaction while ensuring a seamless transition for all parties involved.
10. POST-SALE SUPPORT
Our relationship doesn’t end at the closing table. We continue to support you after the sale is completed. CII team members will assist you with any post-sale transitions, provide guidance on financial management, and offer ongoing advice as needed.
Our long-term commitment to you beyond the closing is our way of thanking you for the trust you placed in us by choosing to work with CII.
In short, CII is committed to your long-term success and well-being before, during and after the sale.