Our leadership team is distracted by the due diligence demands between signing the LOI and closing, and our monthly operating performance is starting to slip. How do we use our EOS tools to keep the business running at peak capacity so the buyer has no excuse to renegotiate the purchase price?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The period between the Letter of Intent and closing is the most dangerous phase of any transaction. Buyers frequently watch your performance like a hawk during this window, waiting for any dip in monthly revenue or profit to justify a late-stage price reduction or a grind on terms.

To protect your business from this operational drag, you must bifurcate your leadership team immediately. Your visionary and finance leader should handle the bulk of the transaction requests. The rest of your leadership team must remain entirely focused on running the business.

Use your weekly Level 10 Meeting to keep the organization laser-focused. Do not let transaction talk hijack your meeting. Keep the agenda focused strictly on your weekly scorecard, customer issues, and your current quarterly Rocks.

- Assign the due diligence workload as a specific Rock to one individual, typically your finance leader, so it does not distract other department heads.
- Keep your sales and operations teams completely insulated from the transaction rumors to prevent panic and drop-offs in productivity.
- Run your weekly IDS session to quickly solve any operational bottlenecks before they impact your weekly metrics.

By maintaining the discipline of the EOS Process, you ensure that your team continues to hit their weekly numbers. The best defense against a buyer's renegotiation tactics is a business that continues to grow and hit its targets right up to the day of closing.