Our process: from the first meeting to closing
Every engagement is different, but our approach is proven. Here's how we work with Quebec SME owners through the sale of their business — step by step, from the upfront work before the engagement to closing.
How an engagement works
A complete process generally spans 6 to 12 months, from the first conversation to closing. But before there's even a formal engagement, there's a pivotal step: the free valuation.
It all starts with a confidential exchange — free and with no commitment — where we listen to your situation, your goals, and your timeline.
If the fit looks good, we then provide a rigorous valuation to help you understand your business's value and see exactly how we work.
Only then, if you want to go further and if we believe we can truly help, does the formal engagement begin. From that point on, RCA runs the entire process — exclusively on the seller side, for Quebec SMEs with revenue of $3 million and above.
Your main role remains to keep running your business — that's the best way to protect its value during the transaction.
In practice, that represents hundreds of hours of work spread over several months: file preparation, buyer outreach, answering information requests, coordinating experts, managing due diligence, and preparing for closing.
Much of that workload is invisible to the seller — and that's precisely the role of a business broker like RCA: to absorb it.
Our compensation model — 100% paid at closing — explains why we can afford to invest this work even before signing the engagement.
Orchestrated competition
A broker who posts a listing waits. We orchestrate.
Several qualified buyers are approached on a precise timeline, move forward in parallel, and submit their letters of intent within a defined window.
Competition isn't an accident — it's a discipline. It's what sets full market value and pulls every term of the transaction upward, not just the price.
The 5 steps of the engagement
Initial meeting and free valuation
Week 1 — First meeting. Listening, understanding your situation, mutual assessment of fit.
No prepared pitch, no brochure. Free, confidential, no commitment.
If we don't see how we can help, we say so — and we don't take the engagement.
Weeks 2-5 — Free valuation. If the fit looks right, we offer a preliminary valuation: quick modeling, a value range based on comparables, first strategic observations.
You see concretely how we work before signing anything.
Mutual decision. If the fit is confirmed on both sides, the engagement is signed.
If not, you leave with a useful valuation at no cost.
Expanded valuation and preparation
The preliminary valuation is deepened and completed. This is the longest and most critical phase of the engagement — it's where the full sale arsenal is built.
- Complete financial modeling — discounted cash flow (DCF), the multiples method, comparable transactions. The number is a defensible model, not an estimate.
- Detailed market analysis — a realistic range based on the valuation multiples observed in your industry.
- Preparing the confidential information memorandum (CIM) — a 30-60 page document that presents your business to a serious buyer.
- Strategic identification of potential buyers — research and qualification of 20-40 targets. Strategic buyers (sector consolidation, synergies), financial buyers (funds, family offices), relevant individual investors. Each target is assessed for capacity, strategic logic, and timing in its own acquisition cycle.
- Go-to-market strategy — order of approach, angle per target, timeline, preserving confidentiality.
Approaching identified buyers
Confidential, proactive outreach to the targets identified in step 2.
- Anonymous approach: first contact with each target without naming the business — industry, approximate size, region, opportunity. No documents shared at this stage.
- Non-disclosure agreement (NDA): signed with every buyer who expresses serious interest.
- CIM distribution: delivered to buyers under NDA.
- Management meetings and site visits: organized and supervised to preserve confidentiality.
- Ongoing filtering: qualifying real interest versus simple curiosity.
Negotiation
Handling the letters of intent (LOI) received. Negotiating the terms:
- Price and structure (share sale or asset sale, different tax impact)
- Payment terms — cash, vendor take-back, earn-out
- Representations and warranties (what you warrant to the buyer)
- Non-compete clause (duration, territory, activities)
- Post-sale transition period (your role after closing)
The seller stays in the background, RCA leads at the front. A competitive process among several serious buyers = position of strength.
Due diligence and closing
Coordination of seller-side due diligence with the chosen buyer.
- Virtual data room management: preparation, organization, access control.
- Answering buyer questions: RCA filters, prepares, and validates every answer with you.
- Coordinating outside professionals: your lawyer, tax specialist, accountant — RCA orchestrates, you keep control.
- Negotiating definitive documents: purchase and sale agreement, ancillary agreements.
- Closing: final coordination, transfer of funds, transfer of ownership.
Your role vs RCA's role
You stay in control. We carry the transaction load.
You stay at the controls
You set the broad direction, decide which concessions are acceptable, and decide when to move forward.
Your time is protected
We filter and pace the process so the transaction doesn't absorb your attention.
We absorb the complexity
Buyers, documentation, due diligence, negotiation: we carry the mechanics end to end.
| RCA handles | The seller |
|---|---|
| Market valuation and financial modeling | Keeps running the business day-to-day |
| Preparing the confidential information memorandum | Provides financial statements and requested information |
| Strategic identification and outreach to buyers | Makes the key decisions (accepting/rejecting an offer) |
| Negotiating price and terms | Validates the transaction terms |
| Coordinating due diligence | Stays available for buyers' questions |
| Coordinating closing with lawyer, CPA, tax specialist | Signs the purchase and sale agreement |
You keep doing what you do best — running your business — while RCA does what we do best: executing the transaction.