$2.4M to $10M, then a clean sale and a retirement

One location, $2.4 million, and an owner running the operation and closing most of the sales at the same time. Growth was capped by the hours in his day. He wanted out within five years.

The problem was also the asset

He was the best closer in the building by a distance, and he was spending most of his week on operations because there was nowhere else for that work to go. That's why the business worked at all. It's also exactly what a buyer discounts, because a company whose judgment lives in one person's head is a job being sold, not a business.

What we did

• Built the operating side so it didn't need him in it. Ordering, scheduling, and the daily decisions moved onto people and process, which handed him back most of a week.
• Hired two dedicated salespeople. Not to replace him. To cover ground he'd never had the hours to cover.
• Put him back on the phone as a part-time closer. His highest-value hour was always the last one in a deal. Freeing up operations is what made that hour available again.
• Put in a short number set the team could see and argue with. Visible, owned by name, reviewed weekly.
• Wrote down what had only ever existed in his memory. Pricing logic, vendor terms, and the reasons behind the exceptions.

What moved

Revenue reached $10 million in under two years. By the time it went to market, everything a buyer was going to ask for already existed, so diligence took weeks instead of months. He retired on his own timetable and not on a buyer's.