Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
Straight answers on business value, leadership and how we work. Can't find yours? Contact us.
NOT SURE WHERE TO START?
See what your business is worth to a buyer, in 13 minutes.
01
Getting started
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Owners and founders of established, privately held businesses who want the business to be worth more and depend less on them. Most of our clients have a leadership team in place and know their numbers, but have never had a clear read on what drives the value of their business.
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Take the free Value Builder Score. It takes about 15 minutes and shows how your business performs on the eight drivers buyers and investors use to judge value. From there, we'll talk through your results with you at no cost.
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It's our approach to building a business that's ready for whatever comes next: growth, a new leadership team, a family transition, a sale, or simply stepping back. The work is the same in each case. Make the business valuable, and make it able to run without you.
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Value → Elephants → Alignment → Action.
We measure what your business is worth to a buyer, name the issues nobody is saying out loud, align the leadership team around them, and turn that into a plan people actually carry out.
Business value and owner independence
02
Why owner independence drives what a business is worth.
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Because buyers, investors and successors pay for a business that keeps performing when the owner steps away. Value Builder data shows owner-dependent businesses sell for about 2.9 times earnings, compared with 3.9 times for businesses that can run without the owner. That gap is often the largest single factor in what an owner walks away with.
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Yes. The things that make a business valuable also make it easier to own: a leadership team that makes decisions, steady cash flow, recurring revenue and fewer surprises. Owners who build value usually find they have more time, more options and less risk, whether they sell in two years or never.
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Value Builder looks at eight drivers, including financial performance, growth potential, owner independence, recurring revenue, customer concentration and how well the business stands apart from competitors. Most owners are strong on some and weaker on others. The score shows you which.
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It's the distance between what the business needs from its leaders and what they're able to give. We look at it three ways: Capacity (do they have the time?), Capability (do they have the skills?) and Authority (are they allowed to decide?). Most owner dependence comes from a gap in one of the three.
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The issues everyone on the team knows about but nobody raises: a partner who has checked out, a key customer the business relies on too heavily, a successor who isn't ready. Elephants quietly lower the value of a business, and they rarely fix themselves.
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Illness, death, divorce or a partner dispute can drop the value of a business quickly, especially when the owner holds the key relationships and decisions. Planning for it early, with a leadership team that can carry on, is one of the most practical ways to protect what you've built.
The Value Builder Score
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The free assessment most owners start with.
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A free online assessment, used by thousands of business owners, that scores your business out of 100 on the eight drivers of value. It's delivered by Curtis Scaplen, our Certified Value Builder™.
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Yes. There's no cost and no obligation. You'll receive your score and a report, and we offer a free conversation to walk through what it means for your business.
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About 15 minutes. You answer questions about your business; no financial statements are needed.
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The higher the score, the more attractive the business is to a buyer or investor. Value Builder data shows businesses scoring 80 or higher receive offers 71% higher than the average business. Your report shows where you score well and where value is being held back.
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Yes. Your answers and results are kept confidential and are not shared with anyone outside Leadership In Focus.
Owner-dependent businesses sell for about 2.9x earnings. Independent ones, 3.9x.
Find out where yours stands. Free, confidential, 13 minutes.
Our services and pricing
04
AT A GLANCE
Value Builder Score
Business Value Diagnostic™
The Elephant Blueprint™
Free
$1,500–$2,000
Strategic Execution Partnership
$5,000
Custom
[CAD, plus HST]
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1. Business Value Diagnostic™ — a deeper look at your score, your leadership team and what's holding value back.
2. The Elephant Blueprint™ — our core engagement, including The Elephant Meeting™ and a practical roadmap.
3. Strategic Execution Partnership — ongoing support to carry out the plan, with us as your Business Quarterback.
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The Value Builder Score is free. The Business Value Diagnostic™ is [$1,500–$2,000].
The Elephant Blueprint™ is [$5,000].
The Strategic Execution Partnership is priced to the scope of the work after the Blueprint.
[Add currency and tax, e.g. "CAD, plus HST."]
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A focused engagement that turns your Value Builder results into a plan. It includes The Elephant Meeting™, a facilitated conversation with your leadership team about the issues holding the business back, and ends with a written roadmap: priorities, owners, timelines and how each one adds value. It takes approximately 4–6 weeks depending on team availability.
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An honest, structured conversation with you and your leadership team. We bring the issues into the open, agree on what's true, and decide what to do first. Most teams leave with more clarity, and more energy, than they expected.
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A written Business Value and Alignment Blueprint: your score and an indicative estimate of value, the elephants your team named, the leadership gaps, and a prioritized roadmap with who owns each step.
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No. It's an estimate based on your Value Builder results and current market multiples, meant to show the size of the opportunity. A formal valuation must be completed by a Chartered Business Valuator (CBV). We're glad to refer you to one.
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The free score tells you where you stand. The paid work tells you why, what to do about it, and in what order, with your leadership team aligned behind the plan.
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In the Strategic Execution Partnership, we stay with you to run the play: keeping priorities on track, coaching the leadership team, and holding people to what they committed to. It's for owners who want help carrying out the plan.
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Yes, if you choose to move forward with the Elephant Blueprint, we will apply the fee paid against the final Blueprint.
BrandTruth Alignment™ and RESTORE
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Our turnaround system, and how it raises value.
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Our turnaround system for businesses that have drifted: from their customers, from their identity, or from what made them successful. It brings what you say, what you do and what your customers experience back into line.
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The seven-principle method behind BrandTruth Alignment™. We developed it by studying some of the most successful business and cultural turnarounds and testing it with our own clients. It starts with a Reality Check and ends with a system that keeps working without you.
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A business that's clear about who it is and who it serves wins and keeps better customers, relies less on the owner, and is easier for a buyer to understand. Each RESTORE principle strengthens one or more of the drivers in your Value Builder Score.
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Common signs: growth has stalled, good people are leaving, customers are harder to win, the team is busy but not moving forward, or you're working harder for the same result. If two or more sound familiar, start with the free score.
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Yes. Watch the BrandTruth Alignment™ explainer on the BrandTruth Alignment page.
06
Working with us
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Our founders, Kurtis Graham and Curtis Scaplen, lead every engagement. Between them they bring more than 45 years of combined experience in leadership, culture and business value.
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Most of our clients are established, owner-led businesses with a leadership team in place.
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Both. We are happy to work with clients anywhere in Canada, virtually, or in person. Travel costs will be extra in addition to program fees.
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The Value Builder Score takes about 15 minutes. The Elephant Blueprint™ needs a few hours (or more depending on the complexity of the challenge) from you and your leadership team over 4–6]weeks, including The Elephant Meeting™.
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Yes. Many of the same principles apply to any organization that depends on its leaders and its people. Contact us to talk about what you need.
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Take the free Value Builder Score, or book a call with us. Either way, the first conversation is free.
Leadership questions
07
More answers on the Leadership Challenges blog →
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Usually because decisions have always come back to you. Give clear authority over defined areas, let people make some calls you'd have made differently, and stop overruling them. Over time, the team learns that their decisions stand.
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Start by agreeing on what's true about the business today. Most alignment problems are really disagreements about reality that nobody has named. A Reality Check and an honest conversation usually do more than a new strategy.
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Look at Capacity, Capability and Authority for each leader. Close the gaps one at a time, and hand over real decisions, not just tasks
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The first step in RESTORE, part of the BrandTruth Alignment system. An honest assessment of where the business stands today, from leaders, staff and customers, before deciding what to change.
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Name it plainly, describe its effect on the business, and ask for their view before offering yours. If it has gone unspoken for a long time, a facilitated conversation such as The Elephant Meeting™ can make it easier to raise.
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Most owners are, at some point. The first step is seeing which decisions and relationships still run through you. The Value Builder Score's owner independence result is a good place to start.