Resource for advisors
What a client exit looks like from your seat
From the outside a business sale looks like a single event. From the inside it is roughly twelve months of sequenced work, and an advisor's leverage is concentrated in two narrow windows most of them never see.
Alamo Brokers of Texas · Business & property sales since 2002 · San Antonio, Austin & Waco
The timeline below is typical for a business in the $1 to $10 million range in Texas. Individual deals vary widely — financing, financial quality and owner dependence account for most of the variance — but the sequence rarely changes.
- 01
First conversation
The owner raises retirement, health, a partner dispute, or an unsolicited offer. This is the moment the advisor either becomes part of the process or is informed of it later.
- 02
Broker Opinion of Value
One to two weeks once financials are complete. Produces a range, the reasoning behind it, and a list of what a buyer would want repaired.
- 03
Preparation
A quarter to several years. Books cleaned, add-backs documented, owner dependence reduced, contracts papered, key employees secured. The highest-return period in the whole timeline.
- 04
Confidential marketing
Blind profile only — no name, no address, no identifying detail. Marketed to an opted-in buyer list and a broker network, plus targeted outreach.
- 05
NDA and Confidential Business Review
Buyers complete a profile and sign a non-disclosure agreement before receiving the CBR, the buyer-facing document that presents the business in full.
- 06
Offers and buyer meetings
Screened buyers meet the owner, usually off-site and after hours. Serious interest converts into written offers.
- 07
Letter of intent
Price, structure, allocation, seller note, transition period and exclusivity are set here. This is the first of the two moments where the advisor changes the outcome most.
- 08
Due diligence
Thirty to sixty days of financial, legal and operational review. The second decisive moment: a well-documented file holds the price, a disorganized one invites a retrade.
- 09
Financing
SBA or conventional underwriting, appraisal where real estate is involved, and lender conditions. Frequently the longest single stretch of the calendar.
- 10
Closing
Documents, funding, allocation finalized, escrow and any holdback set, keys and systems transferred.
- 11
Post-close
Transition and training, proceeds planning, installment reporting, entity wind-down, and the buyer settling into a business that needs an advisor who already knows it.
Our standing offer to you
A complimentary Broker Opinion of Value for any client you send us.
No fee. No obligation to list. No engagement letter. Send us an owner who wants to know what their company is actually worth and we prepare it at no charge — a real number instead of a rule of thumb, with you still the trusted advisor in the conversation that follows.
And no referral fee — in either direction. We do not pay them and we do not ask you to accept one. You are compensated by the client work the deal creates on both sides of it.
The two points that matter most
The letter of intent. Asset versus stock, purchase price allocation, personal goodwill, installment treatment, the size and terms of any seller note, the length of the transition, and the exclusivity period are all agreed here. Once signed, changing any of it costs leverage. An advisor consulted the week before the LOI can restructure the entire after-tax outcome; the same advisor called at closing is documenting decisions already made.
Due diligence. Buyers do not retrade on the business, they retrade on surprises. Every undocumented add-back, unreconciled account and unsigned agreement is a discount request. Advisors who prepared the file in advance defend the price without arguing for it.
Where deals actually fail
In this size range, failed transactions cluster around three causes: financial records that will not support the asking price, a business that cannot run without the owner, and financing that will not carry the debt service. All three are visible years ahead and all three are fixable — but only before the business goes to market.
Start with one client.
Call 210.418.4840 or email info@alamobrokersoftexas.com
alamobrokersoftexas.com · San Antonio, Austin & Waco, Texas
Send us one client