Marketing Before Selling a Business · Québec
A buyer looks you up before they look at your books.
Imagine Robert, who runs a plumbing and heating company in Laval with eight employees, and wants to sell within three years. Here’s what an Accelerator partnership would look like for his business, step by step, and what he would get every year.
The Starting Point
Robert built a solid business. Online, it looks smaller.
Thirty years of loyal clients, a good team, steady contracts. Most of the work comes through Robert himself: his phone, his network, the builders who have known him for decades.
It isn’t a value problem. It’s a perception problem.
Online, the company has a website from 2014 and a Facebook page nobody updates. A buyer who searches for it sees a business that looks older and smaller than it is, and one that seems to depend on one man.
Sound familiar?
What We Would Do
What we’d look for
Before an offer, a buyer checks what the business looks like from the outside: the website, the Google reviews, whether requests come in on their own or only through the owner. So Robert needs a presence that matches the business he actually built: a current site, steady content, reviews that keep coming, and a clear record of where requests come from, month after month, ready to show.
The real opportunity
Most businesses for sale look the same online: a dated site and a phone number. The opportunity is what makes Robert’s company worth taking over. Maybe it’s the maintenance contracts that renew every year. Maybe it’s a team that can run without him. Finding that, and making it visible, is the first job.
The Process
The bloom unfolds in order.
-
Phase 01
Clarity
- A two-hour Business Clarity Session to find what a buyer should see
- A look at the business from the outside: search results, reviews, the site
- A Brand Persona for the company, not only for its owner
-
Phase 02
Strategy
- A site organized by service and by area, with the team front and centre
- A monthly rhythm: newsletter, posts, a new page every month
- A live dashboard that tracks requests and where they come from
-
Phase 03
Launch
- A 5-to-8-page website goes live, usually within 2 to 4 weeks
- The first monthly newsletter goes out
- The ECOMETRICS dashboard starts recording, 24/7
-
Phase 04
Momentum
- A new strategic page every month, one service or area at a time
- A 30-minute strategy call every month, with the sale date in view
- A track record that builds month by month, ready for a buyer’s questions
Where It Starts
Every partnership starts with a two-hour Business Clarity Session. For Robert, it’s where we would find what a buyer should see first, and what the business does without him.
That insight becomes the company’s Brand Persona: the message, the words, the services that carry the value. The website, the newsletter and every post are written from it, so the business speaks for itself, not only through its owner.
The Website
A site that shows the business as it really is.
Five to eight pages at launch: services, areas served, the team, maintenance plans, and an FAQ in clients’ words. Then a new page every month. Built to look as solid as the company is, and structured so Google and AI assistants like ChatGPT can tell who does what, and where. Mobile-first, fast, secure, connected to the Google Business profile.
The Newsletter
Every month, proof the business is alive.
One issue every month, with two short articles and two news items: when to service a heat pump, what changes with a new water heater, a team member’s twenty years, a new service area. Every article also lives on the website, so each issue builds search visibility and a record of activity a buyer can see.
12
issues a year
24
articles a year, each one a page on the site
The Social Posts
The team at work, not only the owner.
Four posts a month on Facebook and LinkedIn: a job well done, a technician’s tip, the team on site. The kind of post that shows a company with people, habits and clients, the things a buyer is paying for.
4
posts a month
2
platforms, Facebook and LinkedIn
Statement
Launch an engaging website that clearly communicates your expertise, helps the right clients find you online, and turns visits into booked appointments.
The Content Ecosystem
Every piece of content reinforces one thing.
The newsletter keeps clients coming back, every month. The posts show a team, not a one-man show. Each new page answers one more search a client makes. The dashboard records it all. Together, it all says the same thing: this business brings in its own work, and it will keep doing so after Robert.
What He Gets
His first year with Accelerator, in numbers.
-
5–8
Website pages at launch
Plus a new strategic page every month: twelve more in the first year.
-
12
Newsletters
One a month, two articles and two news items each, every article a page on the site.
-
48
Social posts
Four a month on Facebook and LinkedIn.
-
24/7
ECOMETRICS dashboard
Requests, traffic and their sources, live, plus a 30-minute strategy call every month.
What that produces depends on the business, the market and time. We don’t promise a sale price, rankings or new clients. What we can do is make the business visible as it is, and keep a clear record of where its requests come from. We set the targets with you in the Clarity Session and report on them, in plain words. Below, two real clients, and what happened for them.
Real Results
Two real businesses, same framework.
-
Piscine Évolution · Essential
From Holding Page to Page One
How a young pool-care company started from nothing online, and why 330 of its requests came in without an ad.
330 requests without ads · 13 months
Read
-
Escarpins et Vilebrequins · Essential + eCommerce
When Being Online Adds $82,000
Most of her sales still happen in the store. Opened on the side during the first lockdown, the online store has added $82,000 since.
+70% online sales this year · 6½ years
Read
Good Questions
Questions owners preparing to sell ask about marketing.
Does marketing change what a buyer will pay?
We can’t promise a price, and nobody honest can. What it can change is what a buyer sees: a business that looks current, with reviews, steady activity and requests that come in without going through the owner. That makes the business easier to understand, and easier to take over.
How long before a sale should I start?
Ideally two to three years. Search visibility, reviews and a track record of requests take time to build, and a buyer will want to see more than a few months of history. Starting late still helps, but the record is shorter.
What does a buyer look at online?
Usually the website, the Google reviews and how the business shows up in search. Many also want to know whether clients find the business on their own or only through the owner’s network. A dashboard that shows where requests come from answers that question with numbers.
Next step
It’s your turn.
30 minutes. Your business, your timeline, and what we’d do first.
Book a call