Finally, we assess the potential sale-ability of all prospective clients before accepting any engagement. We try to gauge the breadth and depth of the buyer pool - both domestically and where appropriate, internationally. Our research quickly takes us beyond the “usual suspects” of buyer targets (i.e., local competitors, suppliers and customers) to the not-so-obvious Financial (e.g., Private Equity Groups) and Strategic Buyers who might be interested in our candidate.

One purpose of our candid, pre-engagement assessment is to ascertain the overall "attractiveness" of the client’s business from the perspective of the most likely Buyers. Clients often find that our Balanced Scorecard reports are quite helpful to clarifying their divestiture objectives as well as their strategic options for cashing out. Frequently, we may jointly conclude that the sale of their company is premature.

Our Balanced Scorecard reports usually identify several performance benchmarks whose near-term achievement will often overcome any perceived valuation “gaps”. When those key performance metrics are consistently met, we are usually much better able to market the company successfully, helping ownership to realize (and sometimes, even surpass) its valuation expectations.

Other M&A firms (or business consultants) typically charge significant fees for a diagnostic assessment of business performance. At Sunbelt M&A we conduct our Balanced Scorecard analysis at no charge to prospective clients. Our aim is to ensure that every client engagement has a relatively high probability of closing. It is far more important that our goals as M&A advisors are in complete alignment with those of our clients in a trust relationship, and that we are both fully committed to transactional success.