I am working on my business plan for my advisory services and wanted to get some feedback regarding pricing.
My target client are small business owners who want to sell their business within the next 24 months to key employees or sell partial ownership.
As a small business owner would you pay the below fees if you got professional help from someone who has worked in the acquisition space as an SBA lender?
- Basic Package: $2500 • Initial consultation and overview of the employee buyout process. • Standard documentation templates for agreements. • Limited support during the initial stages. 2. Intermediate Package: $5000 • Comprehensive financial feasibility analysis. • Customized plan for employee(buyer)to become SBA ready • Assistance with initial steps of the SBA loan application. 3. Premium Package: $7500 • In-depth legal support for contract drafting and negotiation. • Ongoing support throughout the SBA loan application process. • Full-service negotiation facilitation between sellers and employees. • Post-sale support and follow-up consultations.
Interesting business model. Are you also a business broker? The reason I ask is because the good brokers do most of these items as part of their listing the biz for sale.
Most of the brokers I’ve known are more concerned with the work involved in obtaining sales commission rather than some fees for producing opinion of value report.
I was taught to listen to the client and then structure a proposed scope of work and fee based on their specific needs.
For example, I’ve charged as little as $2,500 for feasibility study and as much as $7,000 due to scale, scope, and complexity.
Consequently, my fees are calculated based on hourly rate and time and effort.
If assignment has lots of variables with potential to affect turnaround, I will engage via retainer.
Also, consider value proposition.
“Limited support during the initial stages.”
This may be a true statement but most folks would equate limited support as meaning less than. How limited? Is it too limited?
If you leave this up to client to answer this alone, they may be unsatisfied with final result.
A lot of small businesses use tiered pricing (good, better, best). However, I don’t believe this is well suited for consulting.