Buying A Business? Here’s What You NEED To Do In Your First 100 Days
Updated on June 13, 2025
Transcript
Most business buyers make the same critical mistake. They acquire a profitable business and then do absolutely nothing for months. Believe it or not, I've seen this happen with even big acquisitions. A client of mine bought a $1 million business from us and then, after all that negotiation and due diligence, they ended up doing absolutely nothing. They even had the website down for over a year post-acquisition, with a placeholder page saying, “Hey, new design incoming.” Spoiler alert: nothing ever came. As far as I'm aware, that new design never got launched, and that business is largely no more.
I bring this up because this type of stuff happens even at the high level of the M&A game. If you look at investment bankers or bigger people playing the game, it's not uncommon to hear about a merger that just, well, did not go well, and they didn't get the value they thought they were going to. Often, these buyers are so afraid of breaking what they already have that they freeze and miss the golden opportunity of the first hundred days after the acquisition.
So today, I'm going to show you exactly how to avoid this costly mistake by, instead of doing nothing, implementing a relatively proven 100-day plan that can dramatically increase the profits right after your acquisition. This comes from us helping over 2,000 businesses being sold on the Empire Flippers marketplace. I've seen what separates those who immediately boost their returns versus people who buy something and the business just stagnates. The first hundred days are really your chance to create some real momentum, so here's exactly what to do.
**Days 1–30: Discovery and Stabilization (“Deep Operational Audit”)**
The first 30 days is all about understanding exactly what you've bought and ensuring it doesn't break on your watch. This isn't a time for major changes; it's about discovery and stabilization. A lot of people, when they acquire a business, want to go full throttle and make as many changes as possible. But this is really the wrong move because you probably don't understand the business that well yet on an intimate level, and the things you change could have some serious consequences.
I always advise buyers: for the first month, just dig into the deep end of how the business is running. Make your goal to keep the status quo for that first month. By the way, when you acquire a business, it's quite common to make less money for the first month or two than what the business was making before you acquired it. This is extremely common, and it's going to be all right—don't freak out. Usually, it bounces back within two to six weeks post-acquisition. Part of why this happens is because you're still in training mode—spelunking through the caves of this new business. If it happens to you, don't worry; it's pretty normal as you come to grips with running the business.
So, how do you do an operational audit? It's actually pretty straightforward. You want to document every system in the business, every process and workflow it relies on. Pay special attention to how money flows through the business. Good financial documents, such as a cash flow statement, are very helpful for you during your due diligence phase to help figure out what activities you'll need to maintain when you acquire the business.
As you're going through this, look at your products and services. Which ones generate the most revenue? Which ones have the highest margins? Are there any hidden gems or underperforming assets you can take advantage of? Most of this you'll probably know from your pre-acquisition due diligence. So, in a sense, your due diligence transitions into your operational audit post-acquisition.
Let me give you an example. Some of my clients have acquired Amazon FBA businesses. We sell more Amazon FBA businesses than pretty much anyone in the market. These clients review the brand SKU by SKU. It's not uncommon to see a lot of SKUs simply not performing up to standard. The company is spending energy on low-revenue SKUs when it should be focusing elsewhere. So, the client ends up liquidating those SKUs or simply not reordering them, so they can focus on winning products. This kind of decluttering can create short-term pain but long-term wins. It can also help you lower your cost of acquiring the business if you negotiate on these factors before buying.
One strategy I've seen in this scenario is where a buyer gives 100% of the profit from loss-leader or low-performing SKUs to the seller as part of a post-acquisition down payment, since the buyer isn't planning to restock those products anyway. For example, if you have $20,000 worth of inventory that would normally sell at $80,000 but is moving slowly, you might sell it at a discount to get rid of the product and stop paying storage fees. If you collect $30,000–$40,000, that goes to the seller. While you don't get that profit, you liquidate the product at a higher level than you would through a vendor, and you negotiate that with the seller as part of your down payment. It's a win-win: the seller gets more money up front, and you get to focus on the winning products.
Next, you should be deep diving into customer data. Who are your best customers? What's their lifetime value? How do they find you? What do they love about your product or service? I interviewed someone for a HubSpot role here at Empire Flippers who did something similar. He went through their CRM and discovered a completely new buyer persona already in the system that no one had ever considered. By launching new marketing and sales playbooks for this persona, they tapped into a much better customer than their original ideal customer profile. There is so much gold lurking in the digital dust of your customer data. If you acquire a business with customer data, I highly recommend you dig into it.
Team and talent assessment comes next. If your acquisition includes a team, use this period to assess the talent you've inherited. Who are the A players? Who knows the business inside and out? Who might be a flight risk due to the ownership change? This is something you have to consider as a business buyer. Do they have business scorecards so the team knows if they're doing a good or bad job? Spoiler: most businesses don't have this. You want to bring that data to light. If your team knows what everyone's shooting for, and how they contribute to the big picture, they'll perform way better. One of the biggest killers of productivity is simply confusion and lack of clarity on what's important, rather than any lack of motivation.
If all your key KPIs are buried across different data aggregators (which is common, to be honest), and you, the buyer, have a hard time finding them, rest assured the rest of the team likely has no clue either. Just by clarifying KPIs and showing the team how to find and track them, you’ll inherently motivate them to do better. Most people want to do a good job—they just need clarity.
A really quick win: fix your leaky buckets. While major changes can come later, since this is still the stabilization period, look for obvious leaks. Are there subscriptions or services the business is paying for but not using? Are there inefficiencies in ad spend? Can you renegotiate vendor contracts? We regularly do this at Empire Flippers due to our many software subscriptions and vendors. Go through everything with a fine comb and cut as much bloatware as possible. Businesses naturally build up these charges over time—think about all those free trials you signed up for and forgot. When you take over a business, do this right away, and then schedule it at least twice per year. There's always something on your P&L you aren’t sure about, and sometimes the software name won’t match what shows up on your credit card. This quick check helps increase margins immediately—most businesses have some level of this bloat.
**Days 31–60: Optimization and Quick Wins**
Now, we're moving to days 31–60, the second month of owning your business. Let's talk about optimization and quick wins.
First: pricing optimization. Not everyone will have control over this depending on the business, but most will. Day 31–60 is when you start implementing strategic changes based on your discoveries so far. Most sellers and entrepreneurs leave money on the table with their pricing. Review your pricing structure with fresh eyes. Could you increase prices on high-value products? Create a premium offering? Bundle products differently to increase your average order value? These are questions to ask yourself now.
One client bought a $500,000 SaaS business from us; a year later, it was worth $1.3 to $1.4 million. One of the main things he did was put all current customers on a monthly subscription plan—crazy that they weren’t already! That changed their revenue drastically. Additionally, he updated the pricing that hadn't changed in six or seven years, bringing prices back up to market value, resulting in a huge boost to the bottom line with very little effort. Even if you don't find something as juicy, you'll almost always find a pricing opportunity with the business you buy.
People often think cheaper pricing attracts more customers, but that's not always true. Sometimes, it's better to position yourself as a premium brand. If I had to choose, I’d prefer you aim for premium pricing over cheap pricing when possible. I’m not saying overprice yourself out of the market, but do stretch your confidence and charge more, especially if you’re acquiring a service business. It’s often a happier life to have fewer, higher-paying clients than to be the cheapest option with tons of stressful, low-margin clients.
Next, let's talk about low-hanging conversion improvements. Where are people dropping off in your customer journey? What small tweaks could you make to significantly increase conversions? This depends on your business model. In e-commerce, that could mean optimizing checkout or improving product pages; in SaaS, maybe refining onboarding or adding popups for website visitors; in service businesses, you might tweak your sales playbooks or scripts so your team addresses objections more effectively.
If you don’t have experience with conversion rate optimization (CRO), I highly recommend hiring a freelancer or agency to run these tests for you. We did this at Empire Flippers on our valuation tool, and doubling the conversion rate led to millions of dollars in revenue from a $2,000–$3,000 per month testing team. As long as your acquisition gets steady traction and converts some customers, you can do the same. For businesses with low traffic—like local or certain service businesses—CRO might not work as well, but for most, it’s one of the easiest ways to boost your top line.
**Days 61–100: Strategic Growth Initiatives**
Now we're in phase three: days 61–100. In this final stretch of your 100-day plan, start implementing growth initiatives based on what you’ve learned.
First, diversify your traffic sources. Most businesses rely on just one or two channels. In my experience, having seen over 2,000 businesses sold, many only have one traffic channel—which is risky. If most of your traffic comes from Google, can you expand into YouTube or Pinterest? If you're on Facebook ads, try adding TikTok, or LinkedIn for B2B. Don’t try to do too much at once—take it slow to avoid poor execution. And don’t be afraid to hire people to help with new channels. If you’re currently handling a “winning” channel, replace yourself there first—this lets you learn new channels and, eventually, hire help for those too. You’ll be able to effectively delegate what you know best while learning the basics of new channels for smart delegation later.
Where do you start with new channels? Use your winning angles from one channel to test in another. Try the same creatives and adapt them to the new channel. Paid ad angles that work often do well as organic content, particularly in short sales cycles like e-commerce. Use your best performing ads to inform your content strategy as you expand.
Next is product expansion and enhancement. Use customer feedback to guide strategic product or service expansion. What do your existing customers want that you don't currently offer? Can you create complementary products or services? This doesn’t have to be complex. I have a friend who simply emailed his newsletter asking what people wanted to buy from him. He designed and sourced that product, which then sold out months in advance. Just by asking, you can save yourself the risk and cost of launching products no one wants. If you buy a business with a newsletter or email list, definitely take advantage of it.
Another way to brainstorm expansion is to think about your customer’s journey: What do people want before buying your product, during ownership, and after? For example, someone buying running shoes might want cardio info or training before purchase, compression socks during, and accessories after. There are multiple avenues for expansion with almost any product.
Finally, look for strategic partnerships and integrations. Are there complementary businesses you could partner with to create bundled offers or referral deals? All you need is one solid business partnership to overflow your business with revenue. These partnerships are extremely powerful and often overlooked. Unlike affiliates—where you need a ton to get results, since most won’t do anything—with partnerships, just two or three good ones can change your business trajectory. These partners likely have large, relevant audiences.
On that positive note, I'll see you in the next video. And if you haven't yet, sign up for our marketplace at EmpireFlippers.com—I’ll see what you buy next time. See you soon!
