From assessment to completion, we simplify the journey
12–36 months before you sell: Assess your readiness, improve what matters, and build strategic value
When you're actively selling: Navigate the deal from preparation through to completion
Building value before you go to market
Where the business stands and what a buyer will notice.
Duration: 4–6 weeks
Reduce risk and build value.
Duration: 6–18 months
The high-stakes calls, made with a clear view of each option.
Through buyer conversations, diligence and completion, with an adviser on your side.
Duration: See Part 2 below
Navigating the deal from first contact to completion
We learn about you and your business, your values and what you are hoping to achieve. We'll discuss valuation, take a look at the current state of affairs and develop a strategic exit plan. Not necessary if you've been on the preparation journey with ESS.
More about our Exit Readiness AssessmentDeciding to sell is just the start. Here's how we set the stage for success.
We'll ensure you are ready for the process and know what to expect. We'll prepare for curveballs and make sure you're ready for the emotional and operational challenges ahead.
A short anonymous profile (the teaser) draws interest; the information memorandum gives serious buyers the full picture.
A quality-of-earnings review - normally your accountant’s work - shows what a buyer’s own analysis will find. We help you read it from the buyer’s side and prioritise what to fix before diligence begins.
Customer agreements, staff contracts, tax and compliance, financial reports, and much more. We help you get organised and start preparing for buyer due diligence.
When the sale starts. Your corporate finance adviser, or you and your accountant, run the approach to buyers. Here is where we help.
Through The Buyer Landscape we find out who might buy your business and agree a shortlist with you, and your introducer where you have one. We then research each shortlisted buyer in depth and set out how each is best approached.
Outreach runs through whoever runs your sale. Our part is helping you set who should and shouldn’t be approached, what a serious buyer looks like, and how confidentiality holds as the list widens.
Information requests come thick and fast once buyers engage. We help you decide what goes out, when and in what order, and prepare you for the early conversations - so momentum is kept without giving away position.
Finding the perfect balance of price, structure, terms, and timing. Together with your legal advisers we review the letter of intent or heads of terms (the agreed outline of the deal) - once signed, you'll normally offer exclusivity to the buyer during the upcoming due diligence stage.
The hardest part is here - but together, we'll get it done right.
Signing the HoTs is a huge step forward, but it's not the finish line. With your legal and corporate finance advisers, we make sure you understand what you're agreeing to, so that nothing in the final agreement comes as a surprise.
Due diligence can be stressful but we'll help you through it. Our goal is to minimise disruptions to your business, address any concerns quickly, and maintain momentum so the deal keeps moving forward.
We work with your solicitors, accountants, tax specialists and corporate finance advisers, keeping their work joined up from your side and resolving issues quickly.
We’re beside you through the last-minute negotiations, every term tested against the lines you set at the start - while your solicitors hold the documents.
Where Business Sale Support fits: The Sale Decision if you are not yet sure; Launch Preparation once you have decided; The Buyer Landscape to find out who might buy; Diligence Defence before the buyer’s advisers arrive; Terms to Completion from agreed terms to completion; and The Offer Review at any point an offer lands.
Whether you’re 3 years out or responding to an approach next week, we can help you navigate the journey with confidence