Sell A Business
A confidential, structured sell-side process built around one outcome: your sale, on your terms.
We are a credentialed sell-side advisory practice working with owners across New Orleans, the New Orleans North Shore, Baton Rouge, Houma–Thibodaux, and South Mississippi. Our methodology is the Structured Sale™, run on every engagement, with the same credentialed lead advisor in the room from the first confidential conversation through the closing wire.
The Structured Sale™ timeline
Three phases. The same lead advisor across every one. Typical engagement 90 to 180 days from first conversation to closing wire.
Research & prepare
- Face-to-face site visit, often after hours for confidentiality
- Walk-through, objectives, recommendations
- Senior analyst pulls industry comps, sales data, market intel
- NACVA-standard valuation: bank-defensible, in writing
- FMV baseline → targets investment value above
Output: Defensible written number and a buyer's-eye-view diagnostic.
Go to market
- Sell-side engagement letter signed
- CIM, blind teaser, financial package, data room built
- Matterport 3D scan for businesses with a physical location
- Multi-channel outreach: traditional, digital, and proprietary techniques
- Buyers pre-screened (financial cap + NDAs) → teaser → full package → Buyer/Seller meeting
Output: Multiple qualified buyers in process at the same time; LOIs evaluated against your goals.
Close
- Due diligence: we coach your responses and handle buyer requests
- Closing attorney drafts the definitive agreement
- Walk-through right before closing
- Signing at the attorney's office; seller's check issued
- Transition typically begins the same day
Output: A closed transaction on terms that match the goals in the engagement letter.
What we'll need from you before the valuation
- 3 years of profit & loss statements + year-to-date P&L
- 3 years of tax returns
- 3 years of balance sheets + current balance sheet
- Itemized list of all furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E)
- Value of inventory
- Real estate: legal description, plats, recent appraisals — or a copy of the lease if leasing
The pace is the point. We can close a business in 90 days from first contact, and we have done it on multi-million-dollar deals. The whole reason the Structured Sale™ works is the speed at which we generate buyer activity, lock down an offer, and create competition for the same business at the same time.
You will know what the market thinks in under 30 days.
Pre-market diagnostics come first. Then the first 30 days of confidential market activity tell us which buyer profiles engage, what indicative offers look like, and where the real fit lives. You learn what your business is worth to the actual market versus what a single broker thinks you will take, in under a month.
We work with businesses doing $1 million to $25 million in annual revenue, across New Orleans, the New Orleans North Shore, Baton Rouge, Houma–Thibodaux, and South Mississippi. Upper Main Street through Lower Middle Market: the band most main street brokerages cannot run a structured process for, and most investment banks will not take on.
What sets us apart
Three things owners notice within the first 30 days of working with us. Each one is a structural choice, not a slogan.
Regional market expertise
We know the local buyers, industries, and how deals move across New Orleans, the North Shore, Baton Rouge, Houma-Thibodaux, and South Mississippi. Not an out-of-region firm sending junior staff.
- Coverage
- 5 Gulf South markets
- Lead advisor
- In every meeting
- Buyer pool
- Local + national
Coordinated advisor team
We work alongside your CPA, attorney, and financial advisor, not against them. Most professional advisors create strife with other advisors to protect the relationship. We cooperate with your team and fill only the gaps.
- Posture
- Collaborative, not territorial
- Fee structure
- No double-billing
- Your team
- Stays your team
Education-driven approach
We teach you what we see so you make decisions you actually understand. Methodologies you can see, numbers you can verify, no opaque expertise. Past IBBA Educator on the lead.
- Methodology
- Visible & auditable
- Numbers
- Sourced & reproducible
- Lead
- IBBA Past Educator
What this looks like at the closing wire
Composite of a typical Gulf South Structured Sale™ engagement. Real deals vary; the shape stays consistent.
$4.2M commercial HVAC sale, 142 days first call to wire
Family-owned mechanical contractor, 14-year operating history, two principals exiting together. Started with pre-market diagnostics: valuation under NACVA standards plus a Value Builder Score read of the 8 Drivers. Three readiness gaps closed in the 30-day prepare phase before any buyer saw the CIM.
Confidential outreach reached both individual buyers (SBA-qualified) and regional strategics. Four buyers ran management meetings inside 45 days. Three LOIs landed. Exclusivity granted to the strategic with the cleanest terms and the strongest reps-and-warranties posture, not the highest headline price.
Closed in 142 days from first conversation, with a transition consulting agreement in place for both principals.
- Sale price
- $4.2M
- Days to close
- 142first call to wire
- Qualified buyers
- 11NDA & CIM-stage
- LOIs received
- 3
- Final / asking
- +8%premium to ask
How the Structured Sale™ compares
The honest read of where each path actually fits, and what it costs you in time, certainty, and seat at the table.
| Duran Structured Sale™ | Main Street Broker | Investment Bank | DIY / FSBO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target deal size | $1M-$25M revenue | Under $2M revenue | $25M+ revenue | Any |
| Buyer pools worked | Individual + PE + strategic | Individual buyers | PE + strategic | Whoever finds you |
| First market signal | Under 30 days | 3-6 months | 60-90 days | Open-ended |
| Pre-market diagnostics | ✓ NACVA valuation + VBS | × Asking-price guidance | ✓ Full QoE | × None |
| Lead advisor seniority | Credentialed senior, every meeting | Variable | Senior on pitch, junior on execution | You |
| Typical fee structure | Engagement fee + success | Success-only | Retainer + success (Lehman) | None / DIY costs |
| Certainty of close | High (managed competition) | Moderate | High (when fit) | Low |
Common seller questions
The questions we hear in the first conversation, most often.
How long does it actually take to sell my business?
90 to 180 days from first conversation to closing wire, on the Structured Sale™. The fastest closes we have run on multi-million-dollar deals have been at the 90-day mark; the slowest are usually slowed by buyer financing, due diligence on messy financials, or seller-side decisions taking longer than expected.
We can give you a tighter range after the pre-market diagnostics phase, because we know the readiness gaps by then.
What is my business actually worth?
Two answers: what a credentialed valuation says (NACVA Professional Standards, calculation or conclusion of value) and what the market actually pays after a 30-day confidential outreach. The first is a defensible number for planning. The second is the number that lands at the closing wire.
Both come out of pre-market diagnostics. Rush valuations available: 24 hours for a calculation, 72 hours for a conclusion of value.
Will my employees, customers, or competitors find out?
The Structured Sale™ is built around confidentiality at every stage. NDAs gate everything before the teaser, the teaser is industry-blind, and the CIM only releases after NDA execution. Site visits are scheduled outside business hours when needed. We have closed deals where the only people inside the company who knew were the seller and one trusted advisor.
How do you find buyers I haven't already talked to?
Three channels: regional buyer relationships (15+ years building them in the Gulf South), PE and family-office outreach (sponsors actively looking in your revenue band and industry), and strategic-buyer mapping (competitors, vertical-integration plays, geographic expansions).
By the time we reach the LOI stage you have typically heard from buyers you would not have found on your own, and from buyers who would never have called you cold.
What is the difference between Structured Sale™ and a traditional broker?
A traditional broker lists your business and waits. The Structured Sale™ runs a process: pre-market diagnostics first, then confidential outreach to multiple qualified buyer pools at the same time, then managed buyer competition through LOI.
The visible differences: you get a market signal in 30 days instead of 6 months, multiple LOIs instead of one, and the same credentialed lead advisor in every meeting instead of a handoff to a junior.
Do I pay anything upfront?
We charge an engagement fee at the start, applied against the success fee at closing. The engagement fee funds the pre-market diagnostics work (valuation, Value Builder Score, CIM, data room build, buyer profile). Total compensation is heavily weighted to the success fee at closing, because we only win when you win.
The 30-minute first conversation is free. The engagement letter spells everything out before you sign anything.
Credentials & experience
Duran Advisors' senior leadership is among the most credentialed sell-side advisor groups in the Gulf South, with active certifications across M&A, exit planning, value growth, and main street brokerage, plus IEPA board involvement and a past IBBA Educator role.
- M&AMI
- CM&AA
- CM&AP
- CEPA
- CVGA
- CVB
- CAIM
- CMSBB
- IBBA Past Educator
- IEPA Board
- 15+ Years
Start the conversation
A 30-minute confidential call. We will talk about your business, your timing, and what month one would look like.