Building Business w/ the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
The Building Business podcast provides compelling stories of the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce's journey, its steadfast commitment to the local community, and its forward-thinking approach to addressing the needs of businesses in an ever-changing landscape. It stands as an invitation to listeners to become part of a movement that values growth, connection, and the collective progress of the Mount Pleasant, South Carolina community.
Be prepared to be inspired, informed, and motivated, as we provide a rich tapestry of stories that celebrate the dynamic interplay of business and personal growth right here, in our own backyard.
Building Business w/ the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
Learn What Makes A Business Sellable And How To Prepare Years In Advance
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Ready to sell your business without derailing the company you built? We sit down with Michael Purcell, senior advisor at Viking Mergers and Acquisitions, to map out a practical, three-phase path from early planning to a confident close. We talk plainly about what buyers actually value, how to price to the market instead of emotion, and why asset purchases dominate in the lower middle market. If you’ve ever wondered when to start planning, what documents you need, or how to protect your team’s culture through a sale, this conversation delivers the playbook.
Mike breaks down EBITDA and seller’s discretionary earnings in simple terms, showing how clean books and thoughtful add-backs paint a truer picture of cash flow. We explore the 250-item diligence checklist and why a seasoned advisor lets you keep your foot on the gas while they manage confidentiality, buyer screening, and contract assignments for leases, vendors, and customers. You’ll also hear how Viking balances price with fit, helping owners choose between individuals, strategic buyers, and private equity—each with different expectations for your post-close role. The takeaway: prepare three years out, build processes and KPIs, empower managers, and make your brand less dependent on you to increase transferability and value.
This is a grounded guide for founders, contractors, agency owners, manufacturers, and service leaders across Charleston and beyond who want a no-nonsense path to an exit. We share red flags that can sink deals, the role of local market knowledge, and how Viking’s success-based model aligns incentives. Thinking about your five-year plan, curious about your company’s valuation range, or fielding buyer outreach thanks to AI-fueled prospecting? Join us, get practical next steps, and walk away knowing exactly how to make your future sale smoother. If you found this helpful, follow the show, share it with a fellow owner, and leave a quick review to help more entrepreneurs find us.
https://www.vikingmergers.com
This is a grounded guide for founders, contractors, agency owners, manufacturers, and service leaders across Charleston and beyond who want a no-nonsense path to an exit. We share red flags that can sink deals, the role of local market knowledge, and how Viking’s success-based model aligns incentives. Join us, get practical next steps, and walk away knowing exactly how to make your future sale smoother.
www.vikingmergers.com
Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions
Episode Sponsor: Viking Mergers & Acquisitions
Expo Podcast Sponsor: Pollen Social
Production Sponsor: RMBO.co
Design Sponsor: DK Design
Interested in Sponsorship? Click here.
Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Marketing Committee | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | Social ABCs
Benjamin Nesvold | Co-host | MPCC President | Edward Jones
Hello and welcome to the Building a Business Podcast powered by the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce. We're here recording in the Charleston Media Solutions Studios. Thank you, Brian Cleary, huge supporters of the chamber. I'm so excited, Mike, to talk about our first podcast sponsor because if you listened to last month's podcast with Emily Zahowski, we kind of teased and then said, even though the ink wasn't dry, wasn't dry yet. That we had our first sponsor. And now Yeah, here they are. Here they are. Signed.
SPEAKER_03Done deal. Sun signed, seal, delivered. Somebody thinks that we're useful. I know I'm not sure. Somebody sees value in this.
SPEAKER_00And they must actually see real value because you'll find out in two minutes who our special guest is for today. Um my name is Kathy Herman. I am the past president of the Chamber of Commerce. I am the current chair of the Rise Women in Business Committee, and I'm the marketing director at Mount Pleasant Town Center. I am joined once again by my favorite co-host, Mike Compton. Hi, folks. Mike is co-owner of Rumbo Advertising, the former chair of the Chamber Marketing Committee. Again, kudos to uh Darius who's taken over for you. Great, great. Did I pick the right guy? You sure did. Of course. And Mike is the current president of the Charleston American Marketing Association. Mike, thank you for being here again. Thank you for having me again. I'm so excited for today.
Viking’s Origin And Expansion
SPEAKER_03I know. Well, we've got a really interesting topic today. I know, you know, some people might think it's boring, but I think it's super fascinating. Uh we've got Mike Purcell of Viking Mergers and Acquisitions in the house.
SPEAKER_00Yes, he's senior advisor.
SPEAKER_03Talk about that, Mike.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, senior advisor. Senior advisor. Senior advisor.
SPEAKER_04Okay, what does that mean? It just means uh you'd be a little bit grayer.
SPEAKER_02That's what I was looking for. That's exactly what I was looking for.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Uh listen, we're so excited, of course, because not only is Michael with us, but um, you know, this is our first podcast, official podcast with our sponsor. And so we're so lucky to have you here today to kind of kick off this discontinued relationship. Um Viking Mergers and Acquisitions. Tell us a little bit about it, how it started and where it is right now.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so 2026 actually marks the 30th anniversary of Viking Mergers and Acquisitions.
SPEAKER_02Wow, that's a long, that's a that's a long time.
SPEAKER_04It is so 1996. Um Brad Offerdall and his son uh Jay started um Viking in Charlotte. Uh single. Charlotte. What's up, Charlotte?
SPEAKER_03We see we see you, Charlotte. We're big in Charlotte. Yeah, I think we're gonna be able to do that. Second most listeners in Charlotte. It's weird. More more in Charlotte than Charleston.
Who Viking Represents And Why
SPEAKER_04Awesome. Well, shout out to the Charlotte team. So insane. So yeah, so the why behind um them starting this was because Brad had owned and sold a couple of businesses himself, and um he felt that um you know the small business market could could use a higher level of professionalism in terms of representing um sellers and selling the business. So he and um Jay started that with that purpose in mind. Um in 2015, Jay took over as president by himself with a mission to then expand out of Charlotte. And so um now we now have 18 offices um throughout, we'll say the southeast, but as far north now is Philadelphia, as far west as Austin, Texas. Okay, and so our Charleston office was office number four, started in 2017 by Ben Knight.
SPEAKER_03Mr.
SPEAKER_04Ben Knight, who I think um all the chambers members know. He's the guy, the the chairman of the uh expo committee.
SPEAKER_03You haven't been to the expo yet, you gotta go to the expo that's absolutely right. Do we have a date for the expo yet? Yeah. Hold on, hold on, listeners. We got a date for the next expo. It's in September. Oh, it's sometime in September. That's cool. Well, you gotta go to the expo in September. You went to the expo, didn't you?
SPEAKER_04I went. That was that was uh I started in August, so I actually that was my first week on the job. Oh wow.
SPEAKER_03Oh, they really threw you into the tank there, in the shark tank.
SPEAKER_00And then they're throwing you here with us today. Wow, they must really like you.
SPEAKER_03No kidding. Let's see what this guy can do. Fabulous. September 17th, yeah. That's awesome. Oh, yeah, it's your weird. Oh speaking of old, anyways. Um not about me, Mike. It's about you.
Asset Deals And Contract Transfers
SPEAKER_00No, really, this is really exciting. We love working with Ben. Um, I am always very curious about things like this because I work with a lot of small businesses. And what I'm assuming is that you assist them. Like I again, I need a little bit more background, but like you assist them with either buying or selling, or like tell our listeners who own uh their own business what kind of services you provide.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. So so our clients, um, we almost exclusively represent um business owners who are selling, right? Okay. Okay. So when you buy a business, um, you can also get representation that way, but typically um we're representing the the sellers as their clients. But um, for the buyers, we're actually, you know, the relationship with them is as customer, right? So we're working with both, but our our fiduciary responsibility, if you will, is to the the business owners themselves. Okay. In terms of helping them prepare for that event um of selling, understanding what their business is worth. And then they decide to move forward moving through that process, which is is pretty complex.
SPEAKER_03I guarantee you that's why you're 18 offices deep nationwide now.
Owner Readiness And Three-Phase Planning
SPEAKER_00Um well, I mean, I think about how many documents I signed just to buy my house. I couldn't imagine selling a business. Right. Right. 250 uh checklist items on the checklist.
SPEAKER_04So my gosh.
SPEAKER_03A lot of business owners don't, you know, don't realize that. Can you 250 items on your checklist? Can you name the top 10?
SPEAKER_04I don't know. I mean, they're all important. Um they're all important, Gary. ID. I mean, you know, we we've got um all the legal things that have to happen. One of the most important ones can can often be um because the way these transactions happen, if you think about a balance sheet where on the top you've got assets, on the bottom you've got liabilities and equity. Most of the transactions that we facilitate are asset purchases, right? So it's the purchase of the assets, and the the acquire actually forms a different business entity. And so all the contracts that exist for the business have to be transferred to the acquiring. Oh, sounds simple, but it's a lot of detail to you know, if you've got landlord, you got leases, you've got maybe vendor agreements, you've got you know customer agreements. So those are the the the minutiae that that you know we tend to in the process.
SPEAKER_03The chamber's full of businesses, obviously, small businesses, meaning size business, even bigger, big businesses. Even big ones. Yeah, yeah. Um, what I I what I wanted the our listeners to get out of this is is w what could they do uh ahead of time to be um in front of the game and then call you with their business? Like what can we do as business owners to be prepared and better prepared to either be uh merged or acquired?
Transition Periods And Buyer Types
SPEAKER_04Exactly. So if you you think about this, it almost seems like it's kind of the end game, right? Um selling the business. But I would say that it's not always because um even starting a business, right? An entrepreneur either starting or taking ownership of a business, you know, they're they're just trying to grow the business, right? Find customers, um, thinking about how you're gonna exit is not not top of mind. But once you're established, you know, the key question is how do I want to run this business? You know, do I want to be the main um you know person behind the counter, if you will? Um there's no wrong choice, but some business owners just choose to be more engaged in the business, and that's a conscious choice, but that can impact you know their ability to sell it further on. On the other hand, if a business owner says, you know, I want to make a good living out of this business, but I want to build wealth, sell the business at the end, it's important that they kind of get that squared up up front because that influences how they're gonna run the business. Um if you've got um if you really want to grow the business, you've got to put in place good processes, um, business processes, keep performance indicators, hire good people, right, to manage functions so that you, the owner, don't have to be as engaged in in you know the day-to-day.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_04Um so that's really kind of the middle phase, phase two. And then phase three is you know, maybe three years from that event, um, really getting an understanding of what the business is worth, what that process is going to look like for you, and ultimately, you know, then engaging. Um, and and so we typically at least want to engage with owners, you know, kind of in that three-year out time cycle. Three years, huh? But you know, CPAs, accountants, um, wealth advisors, other advisors are critical to that kind of that middle stage of the process to really working with a business owner to you know to help them understand how all those pieces fit together.
SPEAKER_02Almost like a coach type of thing? Yeah, coaches as well. Yeah, almost like a almost like a hold on, stand by, hold all calls, please.
SPEAKER_00See, they're already calling for you. Somebody wants to sell a business. I'm always curious too, because um if a small business is bought the, you know, I I I started this microphone company, right? And I've made a gazillion dollars, but I'm ready to like, you know, I don't want to be in charge anymore. And you know, Sony comes down and wants to buy my business. Is it beneficial for me to stay on for a little while? Like, do the do the buyers want me to stay for a little bit, or do they just want like my business and get me out of here? Or is it like individual A little bit of both. It depends on the buyer, right? So um yeah. Because I know my company better than they're ever gonna know my company, right? And it depends on the seller. I mean, some sellers are like, okay, I'm done.
Culture Fit Beats Highest Price
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I want to get on as quickly as I can. Right. You know, they understand. So the you know, minimal case scenario is you know, the buyer wants some transition period, right? Um, to to transition the business. And the seller doesn't want to stay too long. So you might have a month of consulting and transitionary type of work that would happen in that scenario. Uh-huh. But on the other extreme, you know, if you have a buyer that's a private equity firm, for example, there it may be the case that okay, um, you're gonna stay involved, you know, as the previous owner. In fact, you might even roll over um ownership and the new entity and you know, be on the management team at that point. So but the seller has to be ready to sign up for that.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_04And typically that's what a private equity firm would would want, you know, existing management to continue on in some capacity.
SPEAKER_03Interesting. I feel like do you f every deal is different.
SPEAKER_00Every deal's different. It has to be, yeah, isn't it? Everything's got has to have its own conditions and things like that, right? Because kind of following up on what I would just the question I just asked is one of the things we always think about is if if I I built my business, I built my microphone business, um, and I love my employees and I've built this amazing culture, as an owner, I'd be really scared to sell to I'm again making up Sony, um, sell to Sony and afraid for my employees that they're not going to keep that culture. Like, how do you, I'm assuming you have to work with the owners to make them feel a little bit more comfortable, or does that even come up? Oh, that's every time. I would I would hope so.
The Sell-Side Process And Confidentiality
SPEAKER_04It it uh it's a huge thing. Um, you know, some in some cases more than others, right? But um, that is one of the the most frequent concerns, particularly for someone who's built the business themselves. You know, they've had employees who have been with them who've even retired from their business, right? Um, you know, have provided a living for these folks, right? So they want to make sure that whoever comes in can kind of continue not only their legacy, but treat their employees well. So that's something we try to find out, you know, up front, like what are their objectives in terms of that? Um, because sometimes the best offer is not the best deal, right? And and we've seen that happen where ultimately the the successful buyer has to be one which can gel with you know the the culture and the people, um, because otherwise, you know, then there's just not a recipe for success.
SPEAKER_03So, so Kathy's microphone business. Um I love it. I just because everything today, yes, microphone right in front of you.
SPEAKER_00When are you looking to sell, actually?
SPEAKER_03Um uh so if she's ready to sell, then does she kind of go through almost like an interview process with other like you're kind of like the coach, and then are you also maybe the what's the word I'm looking for? Broker of the deal, where you get multiple buyers in front of her, and then she can kind of find what gels like is that part of that's in and in a and you know, in a in a summary.
SPEAKER_04Um, but we tend to dump things down very well.
SPEAKER_00I mean he does that for me. Okay, he does that for me.
Valuation Basics And EBITDA Explained
SPEAKER_04So really the first step would be um, as is we try to do, you know, we we we would um talk with you in depth about, you know, what are your motivations to sell? Let's understand your business, um, understand, you know, to really spend some time with you, you know, understanding your personal motivations, um, getting a handle on the quality of the business, you know, do you have um things in order, your financials? Um, so we take a pretty close look at that to even come to a um, you know, decision on is this something, you know, that that we should do evaluation on to help you understand the value of so you know, we tend to be um somewhat selective in in that um, you know, businesses that are on a kind of a downward trajectory or ones that we find that we're not a good fit for, or those that um don't have clean financials and books of records, you know, we don't want to get messed up at that, right? Exactly. So if all those things are good, then you know, we would conduct evaluation for your microphone company um and come to you and say this is what not what we say it's worth, but what the market at this point in time would most likely be willing to value it at, right? And so then you can make a decision, like, okay, that we I don't think we, you know, rarely, if ever, have a business owner say, gosh, you know, that's a lot more than I thought it was worth, right? It's always, you know, I thought it was two times this. Exactly. Right. And um, so part of it is to objectively inform the business owner this is what the market um is saying right now. Okay. And um, so then if we would decide to move forward, you know, then we get into that process of um going under a listing agreement and and very confidentially, of course, then marketing the business, um doing it in a way that does not disclose who the business is, right? And you have to be very careful about that because you know, even in our um listing copy, right? Um people look at that and if they try to discern who the business is, that can be detrimental.
SPEAKER_00Oh, right, right, right. So you really don't you don't you list them without the actual name of the business? Oh, absolutely. Okay, so you'd say a amazing microphone business based out of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina is up for sale. I mean Southeast. Oh, so oh that generic of the United States. Oh, that's right. They would know who I am. Of course they would. Of course they would. It's my company. Uh-huh. Right, Fan. That's right.
SPEAKER_04But but to your point of the buyers, I mean there's a process where we we spend a good deal of time vetting the buyers beforehand, both for their individual financial qualifications, you know, the ability to actually complete the acquisition from a financial standpoint, but even their their background and skill set, you know, are they a fit? Because we have you know anywhere upwards of 1,500 buyer inquiries a month across our network. Um, you know, for the businesses that last year we sold 57 businesses. So do the math on that, it's over a couple hundred on average per business. And so um we certainly wouldn't subject you to that many. Right, right, right. Right. So um we we screen out um down to a smaller pool. We want to have a competitive pool of um buyers potentially interested in your business so that you know, when it comes down to it, you're getting the best terms, you can be in a position to um you know have more notioning power.
SPEAKER_03I can't wait to build another business. Have you guys merge or sell it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna well, that was my next question, too. Have you ever worked with a a client that perhaps wanted to sell and then found the perfect person to merge with instead? Has that ever happened? We we do have I'm assuming that I'm assuming that merger is when you merge together and acquisition is when you're taking over, right? In simple terms? In mic terms?
SPEAKER_03No, in mic terms. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so that is an important distinction. So a true merger, right, is typically more of a stock transaction. So the acquirer is really, you know, kind of buying the whole balance sheet um as opposed to the assets.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
Ideal Clients, Sectors, And Territories
SPEAKER_04So the majority of what we do are actually acquisitions, where it's, you know, I would form um Mike's microphones LLC, right? Kathy's microphones. You stole my bigger. I did. I stole it. I uh sorry, I got to them first. And acquire the assets of Kathy's microphones, you know, LLC. And in doing that, I acquire obviously the you know, the customer base, all the equipment, the rights, but what I don't acquire at that point are your liabilities, right? So there's still bills that you might have to pay or legal liability that you might be responsible for. Got it. Um some of that gets negotiated into the contract, but I'm not, you know, acquiring your um debt, for example. You just acquire it. Whereas a merger is kind of a merger of both the assets and and the debt.
SPEAKER_00That is um a much clearer explanation. Thank you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Who is your ideal ICP? Ideal client.
SPEAKER_04So for us, um revenue-wise, um business is in the range of two million, you know, up to 50 and million and even north of that.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_04So it's quite a range, right?
SPEAKER_03As low as two million. I mean, it's not a lot either.
SPEAKER_04I mean, we look for um, you know, I'd say around 500,000 in in EBITDA if you're kind of using that cash flow metric. What does that mean? So that is earnings before interest. Go ahead. No, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00No, no. I'm drawing a blank. Taxes and amortization. I didn't say it right. Go ahead. That's that's pretty good.
SPEAKER_04Earnings before interest, taxes, um, depreciation, and amortization. I missed one. Okay.
SPEAKER_03Earnings before all you got it.
SPEAKER_04So basically what that's looking at is the if you look on an income statement, kind of the line um, you know, um above um taxes, of course. Right. Pull back interest because you know, a buyer might not be financing with debt and have to pay interest. Amortization, depreciation, or non-cash expenditures on the income statement. So what you're really looking at is kind of the available cash flow of the business from an acquire um that would, you know, um flow out of the business. And then for an individual acquire, we also look at if you're paying yourself a healthy salary um, you know, to run the microphone company, we also look at that. You know, we would even add that back as what we call seller's discretionary earnings. So basically that's what a buyer would see as being the available cash flow that they could either you know pay themselves, pay debt, and all that has to um, you know, fit within a certain range of values to um, and that's really what we look at in the valuation, what level of um value would support you know, certain debt requirements as far as things.
SPEAKER_03Is there any certain subject matter, any certain type of business that you guys really, you know, crush? So out of that, you know, out of that range. Yeah, the two million to 50 million.
SPEAKER_00We're Viking really from here to there.
SPEAKER_04It's quite a range. But what I would say is, you know, that's um that's kind of that sweet spot below below where investment banks, you know, typically would would would get involved. Okay. You know, they're more positioned to to do what are stock transactions and things of that nature. Okay. Um that require broker dealer licensing. Um, but it's above the range, you know, where you might find um businesses that you know have um you know books and records that might not be as as as clean or they might not have been in business as long, for example. So our average um transaction, um almost 20 years been in business the age of the business.
SPEAKER_03That's amazing.
SPEAKER_04Um, but at least 10. We look for at least 10 years in business because it's a solid track record. Um, we look for businesses in um like construction, especially contracting. Okay. Um, good for us, and and there's a strong buyer market for that right now. Sure. Um professional services, um, you know, could be you know done like advertising agencies, um, that either, you know, B2B professional services um or residential services is another technology, okay, uh manufacturing, distribution.
Financials Needed And Normalizing Earnings
SPEAKER_03And is that all across the country then? Or is it like is there any Charleston Mount Pleasant-based?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, absolutely. So, so the way we're set up, you know, we've got um, it's it's the belief of of Jay and and um you know, in growing the business that it's important to have local facilitation. And so, you know, we here in Charleston aren't gonna represent a business out in Utah, for example. Okay.
SPEAKER_03Um yeah, because you don't know the market.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. And we think it's important to be in front of, you know, the the owners. Yeah. Um because um, I mean, there are you know, there are our firms that do that that market, you know, nationally. Sure, sure, sure. But you know, at the end of the day, to to really facilitate the transaction, it's important to be in the room with people.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, especially you guys. You guys are all handsome. Okay, you guys are lucky.
SPEAKER_04So we we basically span, you know, all the way from Wilmington, you know, down to the Savannah area, um, obviously, you know, coastal South Carolina, even you know, up toward the Midlands. That's that's okay. The Charleston territory, but each of our 18 offices has a similar so we like to say, you know, within a two-hour drive of the office makes sense for um you know, for those businesses.
SPEAKER_03Within the two hours, okay. All right. We got some members that are within two hours of oh absolutely two and fifty and ten and twenty years. Yeah, that's great.
SPEAKER_04And you know, just another thing generally in terms of even if it's a business that's not quite. So, for example, we some of the things we don't um focus on because it's not of interest typically to our buyer base, or businesses would be like individual restaurants, for example. Okay. Um one, a location retail, you know, where the owner is behind the counter. Yeah, and then that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But our our typical buyers are looking for a business that um has management in place, um, you know, that's running the business. So a multi-location retail could make sense, a multi-location restaurant group also could make sense, for example. So we really look at it on a case by case. Um could this potentially fit our buyer profile, which basically is you know, roughly one third of our buyers are individuals, individual buyers, okay, one third um strategic buyers who are existing businesses already, you know, in an industry that are looking to expand. And the other third are private equity firms that um typically are you know, they're gonna be um you know the ones looking at the larger businesses, probably 10 million or or more in terms of revenue.
SPEAKER_03Right on, right on. Okay, so what do I need to do? I need to get my my book together, right? I gotta get all my orders together. And what else are you looking for from me if we're sitting in a uh having our first meeting and I'm like, I I want to do this. Well, what do I do?
Pricing Realistically And Deal Risks
SPEAKER_04So, you know, we'll have a get-to know you and you know, again, understand your business. But if it looks like um there's you know case to move forward, we would ask you for three months of tax returns, three months of um, you know, profit and loss statements, three months of balance sheets, um what it's three years, right? What's that? Yeah, three years. Yeah, and um and you know, gear to date. So let's say it's you know we're in September of 2026. Um, you know, we've looked for three years back plus um the nine months. And we would look at that, and you know, essentially what we do is um, because if you look at you know, the goal of every business owner, obviously when they file their taxes, right, is to not pay a lot of taxes. Um, and so you put expenses into the business that are legitimate, but realistically not necessary, you know, for the operation of the business in some cases, right? Like personal vehicles, things of that. So it's um, you know, fine within the tax law. But the the question still is are there adjustments that we can make to the bottom line income? To add back um reasonably to come to a clear picture of um an owner that was coming and not running it um the same way, you know, what would the cash flow look like? Yeah. And so that's we would do all that and come back to you, Mike, and we'd say, um, you know, based on our analysis, we think the business is worth in this range. I mean, there's not a perfect number, right? But this is the range. Um, how do you feel about that?
SPEAKER_03And and you said three months, but did you mean three years? Three years, yeah. Three years back of bank statements and all that. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. Okay.
SPEAKER_00All right. And uh have you has there ever been a situation where you've met with them and you've gone through the whole thing and you've advised them not to sell?
SPEAKER_04Um I mean, there are those cases. If if um usually it's more kind of the um decision of the the owner at that point, right? So if I presented you your your valuation on the microphone business and I said, you know, Kathy, it's it's worth um, you know, in the market we see five million is kind of the range, you know, what we're seeing, but maybe 4.7 to 5 5.3. Um and it's important for us to be objective about this, right? Right, right. You say, Mike, you know, I was thinking 10.
SPEAKER_00Um of course it's mine.
Keep Foot On Gas During Sale
SPEAKER_04Right, exactly. Um so then you would have a decision to make. Right. You know, do I stay with it and continue to enjoy the you know the the benefits and the cash flow? Or am I at a point where I really do need to sell it? Um because at the end of the day, um it's important for us to be realistic. So for the businesses we sell, typically we're we're about 95% of um the published asking price, listing price. That's great. That's so it yeah, it doesn't help to to um um you know go out to market with a price that's higher than the business reasonably is worth.
SPEAKER_00Have have you ever had an owner of a business do something to like devalue the business? Like clearly unintended. Well, maybe I don't know, maybe a little bit of both. No names, you have to share any names.
SPEAKER_04So I once had a um this was so I actually was involved in in uh um small business M ⁇ A many years ago, and um, and that's how I actually came to know Jay and Brad. Um I had an office in Greenville, um, doing mergers and acquisitions smaller um than what we do. But I had a uh client that was an insurance company, and um they had pretty good, pretty good numbers. And I um we were supposed to drive down to Atlanta to meet with um a potential buyer, and got a call the day before from one of the owners who said um the other partner is not gonna be able to be here for our meeting. And I said, Well, um, you know, uh things come up, it's everything okay. And he said, Well, he's in prison. He was in jail, he's arrested um on a serious charge. Is that a deal breaker?
SPEAKER_02I don't know.
AI, Savvier Buyers, And Outreach
SPEAKER_04Um, well, that's a good question. So I called the buyer and I said, You need to know um what's happened. And he said, Well, that in itself is is not a deal breaker. Let me come down, we'll have the meeting. Um he ended up not moving on it. But yeah, that was one of those, it's probably the most extreme situation. But, you know, from a business standpoint, yeah, um, it's really important for owners to, as they approach, you know, that time horizon, to keep their foot on the gas, keep the business running. And it's one of the reasons why we was we talk with business owners to really point out, you know, there are some business owners that choose to do it themselves, right? Right. They can, you know, list the business. Or even if they have a buyer that they're already familiar with who wants to go through with a transaction, right? That 250 item checklist can get pretty onerous, right? Yeah. And so if a business owner is trying to work through that as he's trying to run the business, it's possible that you can take your foot off the gas. So that's one of the cautions I would emphasize that we try to take as much of that off of the owner as we can, right? Right.
SPEAKER_00So they because I don't want to know all the details. Maybe there's certain things you don't want to tell me.
SPEAKER_03At the same time, though, when what with this technology, the way it's going, information the way it's just flowing at our fingertips, and especially with AI, um, and all these online resources. How um how is that affecting the way you approach the selling process? And how are are owners and founders coming to you with more information that is useful or maybe not so useful?
When To Plan Your Exit
SPEAKER_04It can be a bit of both. I mean, there's some that might not be you know quite on that bandwagon yet. Um but I think it's affecting it from both sides. So I think that can make for a more informed and educated seller. Um so you know, you're thinking 10 million when we present the evaluation. Maybe you've now done some research where you think, okay, I really think they're probably going to tell me something closer to five based on my research, right? So in in that way, it can not be a bad thing, it'd be a good thing. Right. Um, because it's important for us to have informed business owners that understand the process. Um, from the buying side, there's actually, you know, a good bit of activity. Um, individual buyers, there's it's more activity now than there have been in many years, you know, because of folks that are that tired of their corporate job, you know, they want to get out and uh control their own financial um and professional independence.
SPEAKER_00Especially in this area, we've met so many people who have moved from the larger cities when they're corporate jobs and came down here and opened a bakery or whatever it might be, just to you know, just to that second part of their lives.
SPEAKER_04So, what we're seeing is is a lot more of those buyers, you know, using online and AI resources to directly try to reach out to business owners before they're on the market. Um so I'm sure you know our chamber members probably get a lot of those phone calls and emails. Right. And you know, the real challenge is how do you sort through that to really understand um because you don't want to tune it all out because it doesn't change the fact that at some point you'll exit your business and you want to have someone you can trust to help you do that.
SPEAKER_03When is the best time to start thinking about that exit?
SPEAKER_04Well, as I mentioned earlier, I mean, um in your mind is am I gonna sell? Am I gonna grow and sell big, or am I, you know, gonna um, you know, have a basically have a job, then then I can retire from and maybe transition it to employee. But once that decision is kind of made, you've been running your business for many years, building it to the point where you think you're getting ready, I would say at least three years before um you really think it's no kidding, because I was looking for like right away.
SPEAKER_03I was looking for the answer like you want to know your exit strategy when you start your business, or at least have an idea about what you want to do.
SPEAKER_04Well, have an idea, sure. But um, but you know, there's that middle middle ground where you're you know putting in process, you know, place the processes, you're working with your CPA to make sure my books and records are good and not just a matter of you know, good tax returns. Like, for example, if you're in a business that um like manufacturing where you've got inventory or construction related things where you're taking money in, you know, before the job's complete, the way you account for those sorts of things um can be fairly complex in terms of what we call working capital. You know, that's basically the receivables and payables that are part of the business. So if you've got a good handle on how to account for that, that's something to get get in place, you know, well before three years. Yeah. So that you, when that time comes, you can say, you know, I've got a I've got a good way of showing, you know, how money is flowing through the business. So um, so that's kind of the middle preparation phase before you would really get engaged with with Viking. But you would ideally get engaged with us a few years before, you know, you're really looking to pull the trigger. Not always.
Make The Business Less Owner-Dependent
SPEAKER_03You got a growing business, you're doing well, you're thinking about your five-year plan, and it might consist of exiting the business. Get a hold of Viking.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. I just did the ad role. Record that. Oh, we did.
SPEAKER_04But at the end of the day, you know, we want to be a resource for business owners. Right, right. Someone's been in business five years and they're not planning to sell for another 10. We're happy to have a conversation. It's not the point necessarily where you do a full-blown valuation, but it is important that they understand what that process will entail and how to prepare themselves for it, not just from a um financial standpoint, but from you know, an emotional standpoint. I mean, that's really a big deal for a lot of business owners that what that implies when it's time to move on.
SPEAKER_03So we like to be a resource too, Kathy. Do you have another question? Yeah. Am I bombarding? Um, are there any other tips, tricks, things to say uh that our members could take away as a resource from this podcast that we haven't talked about yet? We've we've just we've covered just about everything that you we we talk about covering. What else can we talk about as far as how can our founders and and owners uh better strategize their exit?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so in in a few ways, from the business owners themselves, um thinking about how much of the business is about me and depends on me. Yeah um and so if um if I'm doing you know half of three jobs in in the company to replace me, you're gonna have to hire probably two or three people. Um if I can get to a position where I've got three managers who are basically can run the business day-to-day operationally while I'm on vacation in Italy for a month, for example.
SPEAKER_01Sign me up.
Branding Your Name Vs. Transferability
SPEAKER_04Um now I'm still doing like strategy and thinking about how do we grow the business, but um that to a buyer can be very attractive because now it's not a dependent upon the owner and um even in terms of like the sales relationships. Okay. You know, do the customers see the owner as a face of the business, or does he have a sales and customer service team that can carry on? So that's an important thing to think about. The other is, you know, if the the owner's name is on the business and on the vans, you know, driving around town. Um that's not a not a deal killer by any means, but just thinking about how does that transition look like five or ten years out, could I be moving it to more, you know, kind of a um, because I built my reputation on my name, but at the at the end of the day, you know, that from a buyer's standpoint isn't gonna um make them view a good business less favorably. But if your picture's on the you know the vans, then yeah, and then you're out of the picture, um, obviously, you know, you're no longer there. So that's a consideration to make early on.
SPEAKER_03Interesting. That's that is interesting. That's something to think about when you're starting a business. Do you want your name and or face on the business?
SPEAKER_04And we've had some that have making the move to take it off of there in advance.
SPEAKER_03And and what does that do? What does that look like? Is it a negative, positive? Is it depending? It depends on how it's done.
SPEAKER_04Um, it's kind of like the John Cougar to John Mellencamp transition, right? It was many years in the making. Okay, yeah. Yeah. So there was that John Cougar Mellencamp phase, right? And so you don't want to take your name off the business right away, but you kind of phase in a branding strategy. So, you know, there you could reach out to um a chamber member who's, you know, a marketing uh guru. Sure.
SPEAKER_00Well we have a few of them. We have two in the room.
SPEAKER_04A couple in the room, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But well, not me. Oh, yeah. The other two. No, you're you're a marketing girl. No, I'm not a guru as well. No, I'm not. Um That's really interesting to me. Isn't it? Everything, yeah. Yeah. See, I was like, look, merges and acquisitions is fine really, really interesting to me now. I have to go like look up some more stuff now.
SPEAKER_03It's the entrepreneur spirit is is what really sparks interesting.
SPEAKER_00I do, I think that's what it is. And I think that um, you know, I kind of have a little bit of a soft spot for some of the smaller businesses that have really taken off. I know you don't do like small, small, but you know, there are uh I know many of Mount Pleasant businesses that are now have four or five locations. I mean, that's really awesome. Absolutely. And I hope that when the time comes, they're ready to go.
SPEAKER_03They and and do they have brunch? Do they have a brunch menu?
SPEAKER_00They've um that well, there's brunch menus and cocktails and all that kind of stuff going on, you know.
Local Ecosystem And Partnerships
SPEAKER_04But what you might not know about Ben Knight is that he actually he he he owned businesses previously that he bought and sold through Viking in Charlotte. Um and so the point there is that um we have about 70 plus advisors throughout our 18 offices.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_04And um, you know, 70 percent or so of those have owned businesses themselves.
SPEAKER_00Well if Ben Knight Ben Knight must have trusted you very much to come be around managing of his own of his own.
SPEAKER_04So we've we've been in the shoes of a lot of the business owners of of you know, kind of the sleepless nights and and you know, going through that process of what it takes. And so we have empathy that um you know that the business can sometimes feel like it's a lot you know worth a lot more to you than than it would be to a buyer just because of the the blood and sweat and tears that you put into it and the sweat equity.
SPEAKER_03So seven years, is that when Ben started? Um of twenty seventeen. So it's how's the growth been?
SPEAKER_04It's it's been been good. Um I think the largest transaction Ben was telling me that um that we've done here in the office was 11 million. Nice. Um and so we've got uh one transaction, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_04And then those aren't the ones that come along you know every day. But um, you know, we're continuing to to bring new businesses to market. Um, some that'll be coming in the next um you know couple weeks.
SPEAKER_01Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_04Um, and so we would encourage uh any any listeners who um might entertain the notion of buying a business, certainly reach out to to us and check our website um for available businesses, you know, for purchase.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's my next thing before we go. I want you to make sure that everybody listening knows how to get in touch with you. That's the most important thing.
SPEAKER_04Um you can reach us in our Mount Pleasant office, um 2040 Ewall Street, just across the bridge. Can you use your radio voice for this part, please? Sure. Vikingmergers.com. Again, Viking Mergers. Website address, VikingMergers.com, where you'll find actually all the listings for all of our locations. Sure. Um but you can search it by location. So I love it.
SPEAKER_03That's wonderful. I feel like Mount Pleasant in Charleston, but specifically Mount Pleasant has such a entrepreneur uh heart, if you will. Like if you were to give a value or or or an explanation of what you think about Mount Pleasant, I think entrepreneurship is up there.
SPEAKER_04I yeah, I I think so. Um at least for my I mean, I've been here now for four months. Um, thank you. Yeah, it's exactly. And so um we're actually living in Mount Pleasant. Oh, this is perfect. Well, we love the greater Charleston area. You know, I think there are a lot of Mount Pleasant podcasts.
SPEAKER_03You don't have to love the Mount.
SPEAKER_04But there are a lot of great businesses throughout the Charleston area. And even, you know, for further away. I mean, um, you know, obviously to the business you have, you know, your cost structure. Um, if you've got a big um, you know, um distribution operation, you're not gonna run that out of Mount Pleasant. Uh, you know, it's gonna be you know North Charleston or further away.
Awareness Over Leads: Chamber Value
SPEAKER_03So exactly. Um, do you do you find any resources like the or are you partnering with groups like the SCRA or or the Harbor Entrepreneur Center or the Digital Corridor where they have these are incubators and they help founders you know go to market and then and then like the SR SCRA will help you help the founders, you know, once they get to a certain part point grow even more. Do you find do you are you working with them at all?
SPEAKER_04I know over time, you know, Ben has built relationships with those folks. Um we were always um happy to be a resource. Um we're we're less involved at kind of the founding stages of a company. Right. Um, you know, unless there's a discussion on you know, think about how you want to build this company to ultimately sell it. But um, we're engaged with um you know, obviously the chamber, um other uh networking uh groups around town. There's actually a um organization, Wall Street Charleston. A lot of MA folks have come to Charleston.
SPEAKER_02Charleston. I gotta look that up. That's cool.
SPEAKER_04From um, you know, from from uh New York, actually. Um there's an active MA community here. Um is a good way to to you know network. And um, there may be cases where you know there may be a you know business that's not appropriate for us to work with that we can you know refer to smart or someone like that. And there are other other brokers too in the area that we um you know will cooperate with. There may be a um opportunity that's not a good fit for us, and so we can um refer that to them as well.
SPEAKER_03That's smart. That's smart. So you um you talked about being a part of the Mount Pleasant Chamber. Thank you very much, and thank you for the sponsorship on the um the podcast. The expo is what hooked you, isn't it? Isn't it the expo? What did you feel about the expo? Give us a little little sound bite testimony on your experience of the Mount Pleasant Chamber Expo, business and community expo. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So that was um one of my first um uh you know forays into the Mount Pleasant um business um environment, you know, having just joined. But yeah, I mean that was a fantastic opportunity to see other businesses of all different sizes, right? Some much smaller, some some larger. Um, and to be at different business owners. I think the the one across from us had just acquired um the business that they were running not long ago. So they you know had some stories to tell about that process of acquisition. Um, and there were others that um you know been in business quite a while. So I think it's a good good diversity of of members, certainly at the expo. And you got a lot of leads too, didn't you?
SPEAKER_00Look at Mike pushing the expo here.
SPEAKER_04You can lie.
SPEAKER_00Well, see, I told you marketing guru. Ben, you should be like in the back. Yeah, no, I didn't.
Confidential Consults And No-Pressure Start
SPEAKER_04I'm double timing for you, pal. That's awesome. You know, for us, it's um it's not as common that we would just get a you know, here's a hot lead. Yeah, it's more about building the awareness over time. Yes. Um, because if you know, if I want to sell you something that you can buy today, right, I'm gonna obviously try to do that. But in in our case, we want business owners to to know um, you know, that we're out there as a resource. Yes. Um, because every day there are business owners having that conversation with themselves, you know, is now the time. Um, and then who do I call? Um you may be in a situation where you're you haven't planned for the event that's causing you to sell. Maybe it's an unplanned event. We would encourage business owners to begin those conversations earlier. Um, and and not just talk to us, talk, talk to a number of other advisors out there.
SPEAKER_03No, not gonna do that. But um what what I would recommend though, or or ask is is there like an entry point? Is there like because I feel like I'm gonna be a little um overwhelmed calling Vikings, merchers, and acquisitions talking about my business. Is there like a consultation? Can I call you? Like, you know what I mean, and get some advice maybe or some anything like that.
Success-Based Fees And Close Rates
SPEAKER_04Is there like absolutely so the most important thing to know is that any any conversations we have are strictly confidential. So we would, you know, one understand your situation, you know, where are you in your business ownership lifecycle? Yeah, why are you calling? How'd you hear about us? Um there's no pressure from our standpoint, right? We um, you know, from our standpoint, you know, it's we've got a lot of business owners that the you know that we're that we're working with, and we just want to be an objective resource to business owners. Um, and so if we can be in a position to help you and you're ready to make that move, then certainly, you know, then we wouldn't invite uh the business owner into our office, come in and talk about your microphone business. And and at that point, there's there's no you know, pressure obligation. You have to decide, you know, are we someone that that you would trust, you know, with that process and you know, arguably the largest transaction of your life. Right.
SPEAKER_00Um relationships matter to they matter to me. That's my biggest thing. One last hard question is how do you get paid?
SPEAKER_04So ours is success-based, right? So our our if we decide that we're gonna do evaluation, it looks like a business that that fits for us and and you're you know, potentially um trust us, then we would conduct the valuation at that point. That's no no obligation um at that point. Um Wow. Yeah. And so um, which is different than you know, there are um, you know, four-pay uh valuations, but but in our case, it's really to try to give you an understanding of where you're at today because you might decide I want to sell in three more years. Now we've given you kind of a basis on which to understand how to grow your business. Um we um carry the the work, right? So it can take eight months from the time we put a listing on the market to close the transaction. So all that time we're you know, we're we're conducting the work essentially um for no charge. So there are no upfront engagement fees. We're paid at the end of the transaction. And so we're we're interesting aligned with with yours. Yeah. Um, to complete and make sure and get sold.
SPEAKER_03Did you hear that, folks? It's not so scary to call them like that.
SPEAKER_04That's why we can last year we completed 88% of the um businesses that we took to market were able to sell. So we um we want to take businesses that were confident to have have buyers to be respectful of your time as well as ours.
Growth Help Through Referrals
SPEAKER_03That's awesome. Do you I don't know, we're we're wrapping up soon. Yes. Do you um help them like if they need help with their marketing? Are you helping them? Because you said you had a background in in marketing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I so yeah, that's not what we did. But that's why we want to understand, you know, who who are the people out there that can help them, right? Um you want to grow your business, you know, over the next few years to to um you know increase the valuation and diversify your customer base. Well, you know, you need you probably need a maybe if you don't don't have a marketing department, then maybe you need to start one. Yeah. If your you know digital marketing or social media, you know, is not um effective, then solve that problem now. And so we would recommend um potentially resources. So we're happy to identify areas that that could help the business, certainly from a business standpoint, but we don't provide that kind of consulting. Yeah, that's why it's important for us to you know network and understand who are the others out there in the community that can provide those services as we come across the need.
SPEAKER_00Well, that again, good partnership, right? It's all about being a good partner. Absolutely. Um so excited for you to be here today. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_03I think I'm learning a lot.
SPEAKER_00Let's do the radio voice one more time with the website because it was fun.
SPEAKER_04It's www.vikingmergers.com.
SPEAKER_00I would I would go visit just because of how we said it. Yeah, perfect. And then maybe I'm gonna get you some more clients, guys. We're working on it. I know. Uh Michael Purcell, senior advisor, Vikings, Viking Mergers and Acquisitions. A pleasure to have you. Again, everybody so excited because Viking Merger and Acquisitions is our official first podcast sponsor. Another hand. Thank you guys so much for believing in us um and obviously listening to us. Um and we're really, really excited to have you guys here today. Huge thank you to um Charleston Media Solutions, Brian Cleary, his whole team for recording us every month. If you're interested um in being a guest on the show, uh you can reach out to us and we'll get back to you. Um and Mike has us on all the channels Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. So you can get us any way you want.
SPEAKER_03You're not going to get away from us. I know. You're gonna learn about biking merges and acquisitions too. That's perfect. Again, Michael, thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00Until next time, Mount Pleasant. Until next time, listeners.
