Operational Consulting
The things a buyer will make you pay for.
Buyers don't discount businesses for being small. They discount them for being unreadable, owner-dependent, or concentrated. Most of that is fixable, and most of it takes longer than the ninety days you'll have once an LOI is signed.
What this work usually is
- —Job costing that produces a true gross margin by division, crew, or job type
- —Books kept for a buyer's questions instead of only for the tax return
- —Customer concentration, and what can realistically be done about it
- —License structure that doesn't run through one person
- —Written process for the things that currently live in your head
- —A management layer that makes decisions without calling you
- —Work-in-progress reporting that holds up under scrutiny
Not all of it applies to you. That's what the first conversation is for.
You don't have to be selling
Each item above can affect how a buyer understands a business and can make day-to-day operations easier to run. An owner who improves job costing has a clearer number to work from now and if a sale comes later.
If you're never selling, this work can still be useful for running the business. If you are selling, addressing these issues before diligence may give you more time to discuss them than doing it mid-process.
Two versions of the same work
Some owners bring me in with no transaction in view. They want the business to run better and they want to stop being the only person who knows how anything works.
Others are eighteen months out from a sale and want the problems fixed before a buyer finds them. Same work, different sequencing — when there's a deal on the horizon we start with whatever a buyer will hit hardest, because that's where the money is.
I'll tell you which situation you're actually in, and sometimes the answer is that you're further along than you think and don't need me for this part.
How it's scoped
Defined scope, defined deliverable, and an end. I'm not looking for a seat on your payroll. We agree on what we're fixing, I tell you roughly what it'll take, and when it's done it's done.
Billed hourly or on retainer, the same rate as everything else I do. Nothing here is tied to a transaction.
What this isn't
This isn't a sales program. I'm not going to write you call scripts, build you a price book, or ride along with your techs. There are companies that do that and some of them are worth the money. That's not what I do.
It also isn't legal work. When something turns into a legal question — and license structure and customer contracts often do — I'll say so and tell you to call your lawyer.
Why me
I built and sold companies in HVAC, plumbing, and metal fabrication. I've had the books that couldn't answer the question, the crew whose margin nobody could actually name, and the license that lived in one person's name.
While running businesses for 20 years, I was a member of many organizations, from Texo to personal board associations. I observed best-in-class management, KPIs, and access to information.
Start with a conversation
No pitch and no obligation. We talk for an hour and you decide whether it's worth doing again.
Start a conversation →