Laughlin Business Advisors Exit Acceleration

The Exit Roadmap · 30 days, in confidence

Find out what it is worth. Then raise it.

Your exit interview, your real earnings worked out the way a buyer works them out, all 11 factors that move your price scored, a valuation range and a written 12-step roadmap. Your inquiry stays between you, Craig and Jessica.

Book A Free Clarity Call

$2,497 covers your first 30 days in The Exit Advisory, our private group for owners getting ready to sell.

How a buyer prices itDone first, for you

  1. Real earningsWhat the business really earns once your own pay, personal costs and one-time costs are added back.Found by day 14
  2. The multipleSet by how much of the business runs without you, across the 11 factors.Scored by day 21
  3. Your valuation rangeWhat a buyer would likely pay today, and the 12 steps that raise it.In your hands by day 30
Every buyer prices your business this way. The Exit Roadmap does it first, on your side of the table.

The number in your head

Same profit. Very different price.

You probably have a sale price in mind and maybe a year to sell, and nobody has ever checked either one. A buyer multiplies your earnings by a number. Most owners spend years growing earnings and never work on the multiple, which is often where most of the price difference comes from.

Business one · runs on the owner

$400,000 earnings × 2.5

$1.0M

The owner closes every sale, two customers are a third of revenue, and the books need explaining.

Business two · runs without the owner

$400,000 earnings × 4

$1.6M

A manager runs the day to day, half the revenue repeats on its own, and the books are ready to hand over.

An illustration, not a quote. Real multiples depend on your industry, your size and the 11 factors below. Your Roadmap puts a range on yours.

  1. 01Financial Muscle
  2. 02Growth Engine
  3. 03Key-Person Risk
  4. 04Cashflow Grade
  5. 05Revenue Predictability
  6. 06Market Domination
  7. 07Retention Strength
  8. 08Independence Score
  9. 09Team Strength
  10. 10Systems & Processes
  11. 11Due Diligence Readiness
  12. Your Roadmap scores all 11 on the full assessment, not the free version.

Before anybody opens a spreadsheet

Who are you on the Monday after the sale?

Bo Burlingham interviewed owners after their exits for his book Finish Big. What stayed with them was rarely the price. It was how it ended, and who they were once the business was gone.

So your Roadmap starts with you, not the spreadsheet. The exit interview asks what a good exit means to you: the number, the year, who takes it over and what your weeks look like afterward. Every figure after that is measured against your answers.

Your 30 days, session by session

Three sessions, named in advance.

You bring honest answers. We do the analysis, the valuation and the writing, and you know from the first day what happens on which day.

  1. Day 1
    The confidentiality agreement, signed

    The agreement signed and your exit interview booked. Nothing financial moves before the signature.

    Before any number
  2. Day 7
    Session one: your exit interview

    90 minutes with Craig on what a good exit means to you: the number, the year, who takes it over. Your goals come first, before any valuation.

    Session one
  3. Day 14
    Your real earnings, set

    Your add-backs worked through (your own pay, personal costs and one-time costs a buyer adds back to profit) until your earnings match the figure a buyer would use.

    We do this part
  4. Day 21
    Session two: the valuation session

    All 11 factors scored, the valuation range built on top, and what each factor is costing you in the multiple.

    Session two
  5. Day 30
    Session three: the roadmap review

    Craig walks you through the written 12-step roadmap, in the order the steps are worth doing, and the first step gets under way.

    Session three

What you get

Six things in 30 days.

  1. 01
    Your personal exit interviewA private 90-minute conversation with Craig about the number, the year and who takes it over.
  2. 02
    Your real earnings, worked out the way a buyer doesSeller’s discretionary earnings or EBITDA, with the add-backs found. Most owners have add-backs. The Roadmap finds yours.
  3. 03
    All 11 factors scoredThe full readiness assessment, with what each factor is costing you in the multiple.
  4. 04
    A valuation rangeWhat a buyer would likely pay today. The number you have been carrying around, checked for the first time.
  5. 05
    A written 12-step roadmapThe steps that raise the price, in the order they are worth doing, with the factors each one moves.
  6. 06
    30 days inside The Exit AdvisoryOur private group for owners getting ready to sell, with private messages to Craig for anything about a buyer, a broker or your family.

The valuation range, the scores behind it and the 12-step roadmap are yours to keep, whatever you decide at day 30.

The Exit Roadmap guarantee

Your valuation range and roadmap, in your hands by day 30.

  • 30Days to your roadmap
  • 12Weeks of weekly sessions, at most, if we miss
Show up to the exit interview, the valuation session and the roadmap review, do the work we prescribe, take the action. If your valuation range and 12-step roadmap are not in your hands inside 30 days, we meet weekly at no extra cost until they are, for up to 12 weeks. No refunds, no discounts, no pauses. Also no contract, and you can cancel it yourself any month.

At 30 days, stay in The Exit Advisory and work the plan, or leave it.

Craig Laughlin Jr and Jessica Laughlin, founders of Laughlin Business Advisors, standing together in a bright office
Craig Laughlin Jr and Jessica Laughlin, PMP®. Craig runs your interview; Jessica runs delivery.

A note from the person who runs your interview

Know what a buyer will pay, before a buyer tells you.

Every buyer who looks at your business will do the same three things. Work out what it really earns. Score how much of it depends on you. Then multiply what it earns by the multiple its dependence on you allows.

The Exit Roadmap does that work before any buyer does, with the documents listed in the questions below, under a signed confidentiality agreement. Then we write down the 12 steps that change the answer, in the order they are worth doing.

I run every exit interview myself, and Jessica runs delivery: onboarding, your documents and the final check on everything we hand you. When the 30 days are up, you hold the range, the scores behind it and the 12 steps, and you decide what happens next.

Craig Laughlin JrCertified Exit Acceleration Expert (CEAE) · Director of Coaching at a coaching firm for five and a half years, 250+ business owners a year in four countries

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Questions owners ask

Selling, in confidence.

I am selling in the next six months. Is this for me?

No. You need a broker, and we will tell you that rather than sell you this. The Roadmap is for owners with time to change the answer, which usually means years, not months.

How do I start?

Book a free Clarity Call first. The call is confidential, and it decides whether the Roadmap fits. If it does, your confidentiality agreement and the link to book your exit interview come to you by email, and your 30 days start when the agreement is signed, with the exit interview in the first week.

What do I need to send you?

Your profit and loss for the last three years and this year to date, your business tax returns and a current balance sheet, all through a secure upload once the confidentiality agreement is signed. Round numbers are fine for the pre-work form. We work out the rest together in the exit interview.

Who sees my financials?

Craig and Jessica, and nobody else. The confidentiality agreement is signed before you send a single figure, and nothing is shared with a broker, a buyer or anyone on your team.

Is the valuation range a certified valuation?

No. It is a working range built the way buyers and brokers think about a business like yours, which is what you need to plan. If a bank, a court or a partner buyout needs a certified appraisal, we will point you to someone who does that work.

Do you take a fee when I sell?

No. We are not brokers, and we take no referral fee from any broker. When you are ready for one, we help you choose, and we earn nothing from the introduction.

What happens at the end of the 30 days?

You keep the valuation range, the scores and the roadmap. The Roadmap is your first month in The Exit Advisory, and Craig confirms the monthly investment on your first call. Stay and keep working the plan, and you do nothing. Take the roadmap and work it on your own, and you cancel it yourself in Skool, the platform the group runs on, before then. No explanation needed.

30 days from now

In 30 days, know what your business is worth and what raises it.

You will know what the business is worth today, what is holding the price down, and the 12 steps that raise it. Whether you sell in three years or never, it is a better business to own.

Book A Free Clarity Call

Not ready for a valuation yet? See The Profit Room. A buyer’s price starts from your profit, and that is where we raise it.