About the business

• 🗂️ Industry: Community & Events

• 📍 Location: Raleigh, NC

• 💰 Revenue: $105,443

• 🏢 Size: 51-250 employees

The challenges

When it came time to sell her Raleigh, NC-based TapSnap franchise, owner Pamela Lietz aimed to maintain the same level of customer service while also marketing and keeping operations humming. Like many owners of successful businesses, she turned to a traditional listing site. But the site was unable to deliver meaningful progress after 6 months despite a healthy volume of interest in her business from prospective buyers.

Pamela knew it was time to explore other options. She had set a firm deadline to close on a deal: within 3 months so that she could tour ballet companies and universities across the country with her daughter, Lucinda, a rising ballerina. This window wouldn’t come again. After screening several traditional brokers, Pamela landed on an alternative: Baton.

Why Baton?

When Pamela met Baton, we explained how our selling process worked, and how working with us was different from working with a traditional broker. Baton provided weekly updates and left no stone unturned with prospective buyers. We leveraged our database for competitive outreach, relationships with the biggest business listing sites, and access to our own network of pre-qualified buyers. We also presented Pamela with our pricing structure — 1/3 of the cost of a traditional business broker. We were not only delighted when Pamela signed on to work with us, we were confident we could get the deal closed on her expedited timeline.

From “hello” to close

Pamela came aboard in June of 2023. Here’s what her Baton journey looked like:

1. Pamela received our proprietary, data-backed valuation of TapSnap.

2. She received an upfront pricing structure and appreciated knowing exactly what she’d pay for.

3. Once she signed with us and uploaded her documents to the Data Room, Pamela was relieved that Baton would secure qualified buyers’ NDAs and to allow them to see her financials.

4. Effective and intuitive communication: Pamela’s Acquisition Advisor knew when she needed a call, text or email in between weekly email updates.

5. Significant time savings: Baton screened about 100 prospects, and Pamela interviewed about 8 so she could focus on running her business.

6. By the first week of August, her Baton Acquisition Advisor had presented her with 3 buyer offers, one of which Pamela accepted.

7. By September, once all of the paperwork had been completed, the deal was closed.

8. Steve Coakley had become the new official owner of TapSnap Triangle, and Pamela was set for her next adventure.

“The professional help I needed was turning the sales process over to Baton to assess the ~100 prospects! and then keeping the communication between us timely and effective - whether it was as simple as calendaring talks with potential buyers or going deep into negotiations. I gave them a very short window of time to sell and I trusted their advice throughout the process (which is sometimes hard for people who run their own business!) They understood the added dynamic of being a franchise in an industry Baton hadn't worked in previously and together we managed it seamlessly.

Lastly, I appreciated the simplicity of the transaction with Baton and knowing exactly what to expect.” - Pamela Lietz, Former Owner, TapSnap Triangle

From the buy-side

Steve quickly came to our platform to sign up as an owner after the sale. He plans to build the business over the next couple of years and utilize Baton services to sell.

“I was on the buy side. Baton represented the seller. The fact that I'm writing a review for the seller's representation should be a sure sign of truly outstanding service. I look at a lot of CIMS and data rooms. Baton made the process super easy, the data was actually there!, and it was well organized! I know the bar is fairly low with many business brokers even on these basics but I was impressed. As my deal progressed, the communications were timely, pleasant and professional. Even with a couple of hiccups (and what deal doesn't have hiccups), Baton was there to keep the momentum. Color me impressed.”

- Steve Coakley, Franchise Owner, TapSnap Triangle

Thinking about selling your business? Learn about our process and your business’s worth today.