--- title: SGR Advisory · The people side of exit readiness description: "SGR Advisory partners with dealmakers to reduce owner dependence and validate human capital strength before a sale: the conversation, the calculation, and the work." --- [![SGR Advisory](https://www.sgradvisory.com/hubfs/Web%20Logo.png)](https://www.sgradvisory.com#top) [How It Works](https://www.sgradvisory.com#how) [Conversation Starter](https://www.sgradvisory.com/conversation-starter?hsLang=en) [About](https://www.sgradvisory.com#about) [Contact](https://www.sgradvisory.com#contact) SGR Advisory · The people side of exit readiness # No people. No business. No deal. Buyers don’t just buy the numbers. They buy the business that keeps running after the owner steps back. Your owner-led business clients are working on exit strategies, exploring a sale, or starting to plan retirement. What they walk away with depends on more than earnings. It depends on how much of the business still runs through the owner, and whether the people are ready to carry it. That’s what I bring to the deal: a clear read on owner dependence, a number your client can understand, and the work to shift that dependence to their team before a buyer prices it in. Reduce owner dependence. Validate human capital strength. Business owner planning your exit? Talk with your dealmaker, or [contact me](https://www.sgradvisory.com#contact) and I’ll introduce you to one I trust. What owner dependence looks like ## Built by the owner, and on the owner. Owner dependence is how much of a business’s value, relationships, and decisions rest on one person. It’s natural; the owner built it. But buyers see it as risk and price it in: commonly a 10 to 25 percent key-person discount, more of the price held back, or an earnout that keeps the owner tied in. Less dependence means more turns of EBITDA on the same earnings. - The top customers call the owner, not the team. - Pricing, hiring, and spending decisions wait for the owner. - The know-how that wins and delivers the work lives in the owner’s head. - There’s no tested second-in-command. - Key people have no reason to stay through a change in ownership. - The best supplier terms rest on a handshake with the owner. None of these is a flaw. Each is a current situation, and money left on the table. Why it matters ## The hardest conversation in the deal. For most owners, the business isn’t just an asset. It’s who they are. It’s their identity. Pointing out that the business depends on them can land as criticism of something they’ve spent decades building, so the conversation gets put off, softened, or skipped, until a buyer raises it in diligence. It’s an emotional conversation. It’s also a necessary one, and it goes better with the right tools and the right partner. I help you start it with respect for what the owner built, and keep it focused on what they stand to gain. [Get the free Conversation Starter](https://www.sgradvisory.com/conversation-starter?hsLang=en) How it works ## Dollars today. Dollars tomorrow. How to get there. 1 Start the conversation Free The **Owner Dependence Conversation Starter** gives you a simple way in. It opens with one question, the 90-day opener: “Could your business run for 90 days without you?” Most owners pause, and that pause is where the conversation starts. From there, **five yes-or-no questions** about the owner’s day-to-day involvement, and a **six-area rating** the owner scores from 1 to 5: customer relationships, decision making, operations and know-how, leadership bench, key-person retention, and supplier ties. It takes **one sitting**, with no prep and no financials, and the total tells you whether to take the next step. [Get the Conversation Starter](https://www.sgradvisory.com/conversation-starter?hsLang=en) 2 Dollars and sense $500 per calculation Helping your client reduce their dependence on the owner drives the price their business sells for. SGR Advisory’s **Economic Opportunity Calculation** makes that value visible, in dollars your client can see. I prepare it with you from about ten data points you validate, most of them already in your file. It shows your client two pictures side by side: **the business as it stands today**, with the key-person discount a buyer would apply, and **the same business once the dependence shifts** to the team, including **added turns of EBITDA**. The difference is **the economic opportunity**. **You present it.** I give you presentation concepts, speaking points, and the words to use, and I’ll join the call with your client if you’d like. [Request a demo](https://www.sgradvisory.com/meetings/rues/calculation-demo?hsLang=en) 3 How to get there The scope When your client asks, “How do I get untangled?”, you bring me in. I **scope the work**: the owner’s goals for the transition, conversations with the key leaders, where revenue, operations, decisions, and leadership still run through the owner, and an **honest read on whether the key people are ready**. If the key person isn’t the right person, I’ll say so. The scope also shows what other expertise the transition needs, so the right advisory team is in place well before going to market. Your client gets **the plan, the timeline, and the cost** before committing, and the scope fee is credited toward the work. 4 The untangling The work I work with your client and their team to **shift the dependence**: customer relationships introduced and transferred, decision rights moved to named leaders, know-how captured in people and process, successors developed, key people given reasons to stay, and a plan for how employees and customers hear the news. You structure the deal, and we **re-score as we go** so you can see the dependence come down. Don’t have the resources in place? I’ll bring in **partners I trust**: to value the business, and to assess and streamline operations, including the documented processes a buyer expects to see. Depending on your role, I’ll help you round out the advisory team around your client. The result: a business that runs on its people, and a client who walks into diligence with confidence in the value, the operations, and the human capital. Reduce owner dependence. Validate human capital strength. About ## I’ll tell you what you need to hear. ![Sharon Rues](https://www.sgradvisory.com/hubfs/SGR%206.jpeg) Not what you want to hear. If your client’s key person isn’t the right key person, I’ll say so, and then we’ll work out what to do about it. If the business leans on its owner harder than anyone thought, you’ll know where and why, before a buyer does. You get a partner who won’t surprise you in diligence, and your client gets a straight answer about what it takes to hand off what they built. I’ve spent 25+ years on the people side of the business, across insurance, banking, construction, state government, pharmaceutical distribution, and private equity and venture-backed companies. I led the merger of two state agencies with zero turnover by the day it took effect, and followed the FDIC into failed banks to bring their people over on Monday morning. Transitions are where I do my best work. ### What to expect - Straight talk, in plain English. - You keep the client relationship. I work alongside you. - Business first. I learn how the business runs before I say what has to change. - The work lands on your client’s team, not on me. Sharon Rues · Founder & Principal Advisor Get in touch ## Let’s talk about your clients. Book a demo of the calculation, or grab 30 minutes to talk through a client situation. Business owners: I’m glad to introduce you to a dealmaker. [Request a demo](https://www.sgradvisory.com/meetings/rues/calculation-demo?hsLang=en) [Schedule a call](https://www.sgradvisory.com/meetings/rues?hsLang=en) [sharonrues@sgradvisory.com](mailto:sharonrues@sgradvisory.com) · 402.968.8017 · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonrues) © 2026 SGR Advisory · Omaha, Nebraska · Working with dealmakers nationwide