Ownership

* Determination of ownership model

* Determination of timing

* Determination of new owners

* Time (5 years to complete transition and prepare team and customer base)

* Potential for maintaining partial or complete family ownership interests

* Stable & healthy history of financial performance should attract quality prospects

* Current revenue is stable, but relatively stagnant (with little growth)

* The potential of Emma choosing to leave the business could necessitate a change in management or key strategic hire

* Change in ownership could lead one of Wehring's key customers to renegotiate or consider changing providers

Management

* Determination of responsibilities

* Determination of in-house talent matches

* Determination of go-forward managers

* Onboarding of go-forward managers

* Martha is clearly committed to remaining with the business long term, and may have interest in partial ownership.

* With 4-5 years until transition, there is no need to rush changes. This should provide Michael, Martha, and Emma time to contribute to planning, preparation, and transition.

* The potential of Emma choosing to leave the business could necessitate a change in management or key strategic hire

* Operating procedures are not codified and are largely based on the experience of Michael, Martha, and Emma (all who have worked in the business for many years). This will make training dificult until formalized

Staffing model

* Assessment of staffing needs/leverage

* Development of workforce plan

* Staff are currently happy and committed to the long-term success of Wehring

* Due to tenure of many team members, payroll and anticipated compensation adjustments are fairly predictable and digestible

* Due to tenure of several team members, there are already 3-4 planned retirements (natural attrition) over the next few years.

* A few of the most experienced team members (who are most qualified for management promotion) are among the anticipated upcoming retirements

* There is potential for disruption and demotivation from the staff, if the content and timing of communications to the broader team is not well managed

Customer base

* Determination of market focus/potential

* Determination of target customer base

* Determination of go-to-market plan

* Strong relationships with current core customers could provide recommendations or introductions to some other promising developers or contractors

* One of the current employees is currently studying marketing and would likely be enthusiastic about participating in research and planning, and perhaps outreach.

* Some promising customer prospects may be ""off limits"" due to competitive rivalry with one or both of the current core customers (""business partners"")

* Among Wehring's competitors, there is another plumbing supply and contracting business that has been growing rapidly over the past few years. They are now larger and this could lead to bidding wars for customers.

Financial position / reserves

 * Build up additional 12-months of cash reserves to cover operating expenses

* Leadership found a few areas of operating expense reductions during the recent economic downturn Some of those temporary measures could be used more long-term or ongoing.

* Compensation for the planned retirees is much higher than what we anticipate hiring to refill their positions

* There is the potential for not refilling the roles for a couple of the planned retirees, reducing overall compensation

* While some prices have normalized, overall business expenses have steadily been rising due to inflation. This has continued to reduce profit margins.

* The ability to raise prices on customers has been very limited, as customers are also experiencing the negative effects of inflation.

* Due to the recent economic downturn, compensation adjustments have been sparce over the past 2-3 years. There is a pressing need to provide some healthy raises to the employee base.

Operating procedures

 * Determination and review of needed operating procedures for both the supply and contracting side of the business. 

* Martha is very organized and process driven. She would likely enjoy the opportunity to lead efforts to improve and formalize Wehring's operating procedures

* There are a few procedures and controls that are not consistent between the supply and contracting side of the business due to disagreements between Martha and Mary. To date Michael has ""solved"" this issue by allowing each to use their own preferred method. Moving forward, decisions need to be made.

* Even with Martha's talents and interests in operations, she is limited in her knowledge and exposures to industry best practices and particularly internal controls. Assistance from our CPA and some consultants is needed, but will also become added expenditures