Consulting
Not every important decision is a transaction — but every one deserves transaction-grade analysis. HMA's consulting practice brings the same industry data, buyer insight, and valuation discipline we apply in live M&A transactions to the decisions that come years earlier: preparing your business for a future sale, choosing among strategic paths, and planning acquisitions that create value. Every program is tailored to your business — and grounded in what we see every day as active M&A advisors in the automotive and heavy-duty aftermarket. We know what buyers pay for, because we sit across from them.
Consulting Services
Sale Readiness Assessment
We evaluate your business the way a buyer will — before a buyer does. Our marketability scorecard examines financial records, customer concentration, management depth, systems and ERP maturity, and operations, identifying the strengths to showcase and the risks that reduce value, so you can address buyer concerns years before they cost you at the negotiating table.
Exit & Succession Planning
Every business changes hands eventually — the question is whether it happens on your terms. We help owners build the transition plan: clarifying personal and financial goals, developing the management team buyers need to see, addressing family and leadership dynamics, and setting a realistic timeline that protects both value and legacy.
Value Enhancement Planning
Not every investment in your business increases its sale value — and some of the most expensive ones don't. We help you prioritize: which improvements buyers actually pay for, which risks most urgently need fixing, and which initiatives can wait. A clear roadmap of actions to take, and to avoid, in the years before a sale.
Business Valuation & Scenario Modeling
Make informed decisions with data, not instinct. We value your business as it stands today, then model what it could be worth under different strategic paths — grow in place, expand, acquire, relocate, or hold. Each scenario is built on your actual financials, comparable aftermarket transactions, and realistic assumptions, stated plainly.
Decision Support
Should we build the new facility? Add the second location? Invest in that equipment line? We put hard numbers on each path forward — projected earnings, exit-year value, debt implications, and risk — so decisions that will shape your company's future, and your eventual exit, rest on analysis rather than intuition.
Buyer Landscape Analysis
Who will buy your business — and what will they pay? We map the realistic buyer pool for your company at its current size and under each growth scenario: owner-operators, PE-backed platforms, and strategic acquirers, with the valuation multiples and financing structures each brings. Because the right buyer pool changes what your business is worth.
Acquisition Strategy & Value-Driver Analysis
For private equity firms, platforms, and strategic acquirers, we define what actually drives value in aftermarket acquisitions: which capabilities command premiums, which targets fit your thesis, and where consolidation opportunities exist. Industry-specific insight that turns an acquisition appetite into an executable strategy.
Market Research & Target Intelligence
Our in-house research team delivers the intelligence behind confident acquisition decisions: market mapping, ownership research, competitive landscape analysis, and custom studies across the automotive, heavy-duty, and industrial aftermarkets. The same proactive research capability that powers our buy-side engagements, available as a standalone consulting service.
Pre- and Post-Deal Consulting
Transactions succeed or fail on the work done around them. Before a deal, we support valuation analysis, deal structuring, and negotiation strategy. After close, we assist with integration planning, operational hand-off, and synergy execution — protecting the value the transaction was designed to create.
The HMA Advantage
Your goals set the strategy. Our job is to get you there.
Hart Marx Advisors' principals bring more than 150 years of combined experience in the automotive, heavy-duty, and transportation markets — as operators, executives, and dealmakers. Supported by our internal research team and a global advisory network, we deliver a proven, confidential process whether you are selling the company you built, acquiring your next platform or add-on, or deciding what path creates the most value.
We’re with you every step of the way.
- Principal-led engagements — no hand-offs
- 150+ years of combined industry experience
- Proactive, off-market deal sourcing
- Confidential process from first call to close
- Proven valuation and negotiation expertise
- Dedicated in-house research team
- Deep strategic and private equity buyer network
- Full support through due diligence and integration
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions. Clear answers.
Get insight into what to expect when partnering with HMA’s consulting practice.
What type of consulting do you offer?
Our consulting practice helps owners maximize the value of their business ahead of a future sale. Engagements include succession and exit planning, scenario-based valuations to support strategic decisions — such as whether and when to expand, relocate, or invest — and marketability assessments that evaluate your business the way a buyer would. Every engagement is grounded in real transaction data from our markets.
What is the typical length of a consulting project?
It depends on the nature and scope of the project. A focused valuation or marketability assessment may take a matter of weeks, while a multi-scenario strategic analysis or ongoing exit-planning engagement can run several months. We define the scope, timeline, and deliverables clearly before the engagement begins.
Can you tell me what I need to do to sell my business for the most money?
Yes — that is exactly what our consulting practice is built for. We review your business the way a potential buyer would, then provide specific recommendations to enhance your strongest attributes and address the concerns a buyer would raise. Owners who start this work two to three years before going to market consistently achieve better outcomes.
When should I start planning my exit?
Earlier than you think — ideally two to three years before you want to sell. That window allows time to strengthen financial records, develop the management team, reduce customer concentration, and address the other factors that drive valuation multiples. But it's never too late to start: even a year of preparation can meaningfully improve your outcome.
Related Projects
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