You Closed the Deal — Now the Real Work Begins
Congratulations. You’ve navigated the SBA loan process, completed due diligence, signed the closing documents, and the business is officially yours. The hard part is over, right?
Not exactly. The first 90 days of ownership are the most critical period in any business acquisition. How you handle the transition — from your first interactions with employees to your first operational decisions — will set the tone for everything that follows.
Get it right, and you’ll establish trust, maintain revenue, and position the business for growth. Get it wrong, and you risk losing key employees, alienating customers, and watching the business you just bought deteriorate before your eyes.
At GoSBA Loans, we’ve helped facilitate over $320 million in SBA-financed acquisitions in 2025. We’ve seen what happens after closing — the successes and the failures — and we’ve identified the patterns that separate owners who thrive from those who struggle. This guide gives you a detailed roadmap for your first 90 days as a new business owner.
Days 1-30: Transition, Listen, and Establish Your Presence
The first month is about learning, listening, and building trust. Resist the urge to make dramatic changes. You don’t yet fully understand how the business operates day-to-day, and premature changes can do more harm than good.
Week 1: The Handoff
- Seller transition training: Most SBA deals include 2-4 weeks of seller training. Use this time intensively. Shadow the seller, ask questions about everything, and take detailed notes
- Meet every employee individually: Schedule one-on-one meetings with each employee. Ask about their role, what they enjoy, what frustrates them, and what they’d change. Listen more than you talk
- Introduce yourself to key customers: The seller should make personal introductions to the top 10-20 customers. This handshake moment is critical for retention
- Meet key vendors and suppliers: Establish relationships with your most important suppliers. Confirm payment terms, credit lines, and delivery schedules
- Secure all access: Ensure you have login credentials, keys, codes, and access to every system, account, and facility. Change passwords on critical accounts
Weeks 2-4: Observe and Understand
- Learn the daily rhythm: Every business has a natural flow. Understand peak hours, slow periods, and the daily routine before trying to change anything
- Review all contracts and agreements: Read every customer contract, vendor agreement, lease provision, and employee arrangement. Know what you’ve inherited
- Understand the financial systems: Learn how invoicing, payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and reporting work. If the seller managed finances personally, establish your own system
- Identify informal processes: Many small businesses run on unwritten rules and tribal knowledge. Document everything you observe
- Assess the team: Start forming impressions about each employee’s strengths, weaknesses, and attitude — but don’t make any personnel decisions yet
Key Principles for the First 30 Days
- Don’t change things that are working. You bought a functioning business. Preserve what made it valuable
- Be visible and approachable. Employees are watching you closely. Be present, be consistent, and be accessible
- Communicate your vision — briefly. Share your general philosophy and reassure employees about job security, but don’t overwhelm them with grand plans
- Respect the culture. Every business has a culture. You may want to change it eventually, but not in month one
- Take notes on everything. You’re learning at maximum speed. Write down observations, questions, and ideas for later action
Days 31-60: Optimize Operations and Identify Quick Wins
By month two, you should have a solid understanding of how the business operates. Now it’s time to start making improvements — carefully and strategically.
Identify Quick Wins
Quick wins are improvements that deliver visible results with minimal disruption. They build credibility with your team and create momentum. Examples include:
- Fix obvious pain points: That broken piece of equipment everyone complains about? Fix it. The outdated software that wastes 30 minutes a day? Upgrade it
- Improve communication: Implement a brief daily or weekly team meeting if one doesn’t exist. Regular communication reduces uncertainty and builds team cohesion
- Streamline a process: Identify one process that’s unnecessarily complicated and simplify it
- Address a customer complaint: If there’s a recurring customer issue the previous owner ignored, solve it
- Clean up the space: Sometimes a fresh coat of paint, organized storage, or updated signage signals positive change
Review and Optimize Financials
- Implement your own financial reporting: Set up weekly or monthly financial reports so you always know where the business stands
- Review all recurring expenses: Cancel unnecessary subscriptions, renegotiate vendor contracts, and shop insurance policies
- Analyze pricing: Many small businesses haven’t raised prices in years. If the market supports it, a modest price increase can significantly improve profitability
- Establish cash flow forecasting: Build a rolling 13-week cash flow forecast to anticipate and avoid cash crunches
- Set up proper accounting: If the previous owner used shoebox accounting, implement proper bookkeeping software and establish a relationship with a CPA
Strengthen Customer Relationships
- Reach out to the top 20% of customers: These customers drive the majority of revenue. Call them, visit them, ask for feedback
- Survey customer satisfaction: A simple survey reveals what customers value and where the business is falling short
- Identify at-risk customers: Customers who had a personal relationship with the previous owner need extra attention during the transition
- Explore upsell opportunities: Existing customers are the easiest path to revenue growth
Begin Documenting Processes
- Create standard operating procedures (SOPs) for critical business functions
- Document vendor contact information, ordering procedures, and payment terms
- Build an employee handbook if one doesn’t exist
- Create checklists for recurring tasks (opening/closing procedures, quality checks, etc.)
Days 61-90: Growth Initiatives and Team Evaluation
By month three, you should feel comfortable in the business and ready to shift from maintenance mode to growth mode.
Launch Growth Initiatives
- Marketing audit: Evaluate the business’s current marketing efforts. Many small businesses have minimal marketing — even basic improvements can drive significant new revenue
- Digital presence: Update the website, claim and optimize Google Business Profile, and establish or improve social media presence
- New revenue streams: Based on your first two months of observation, identify opportunities to add products, services, or customer segments
- Strategic partnerships: Identify complementary businesses for referral partnerships or joint marketing
- Sales process improvement: If the business lacks a formal sales process, implement one. Even simple improvements to lead follow-up can significantly increase conversion rates
Evaluate Your Team
By day 60-90, you’ve had enough time to fairly assess each team member. Now it’s time for honest evaluation:
- A-players: Your best performers. Invest in them. Discuss their career goals, offer development opportunities, and consider retention incentives
- B-players: Solid contributors who may need coaching, training, or clearer expectations to reach their potential
- C-players: Underperformers who aren’t meeting expectations despite having adequate time and support. Begin performance improvement conversations
- Cultural fit: Some employees may be competent but resist your leadership or actively undermine changes. Address this directly
Strategic Planning
- Set 12-month goals: Based on everything you’ve learned, establish clear, measurable goals for the next year
- Create a budget: Build a detailed operating budget that reflects your plans and priorities
- Plan capital expenditures: Identify equipment, technology, or facility investments that will drive efficiency or growth
- Review your SBA loan terms: Understand your payment schedule, covenants, and any reporting requirements
Common Transition Mistakes to Avoid
Even well-intentioned new owners make these mistakes during the transition period:
Making Too Many Changes Too Fast
You see a dozen things you want to improve. That’s natural. But implementing them all at once overwhelms your team, disrupts operations, and creates chaos. Prioritize ruthlessly and sequence changes so the team can absorb each one before the next one lands.
Neglecting Key Relationships
The previous owner spent years building relationships with customers, vendors, and employees. Those relationships don’t automatically transfer to you. Invest significant time in the first 90 days personally connecting with every important stakeholder.
Ignoring Employee Concerns
Your employees are anxious. They’re wondering if they’ll keep their jobs, if their roles will change, and if they’ll like working for you. Silence feeds anxiety. Communicate early, often, and honestly — even when you don’t have all the answers.
Trying to Be the Expert
Your employees know the business better than you do — at least initially. Don’t pretend otherwise. Ask questions, seek input, and respect their expertise. Humility earns trust faster than authority.
Neglecting Self-Care
The first 90 days are intense. New owners often work 80-hour weeks, skip meals, and abandon sleep. This isn’t sustainable and leads to poor decision-making. Establish boundaries early. The business needs you at your best, not your most exhausted.
Forgetting About Cash Flow
Revenue often dips during transitions as customers take a wait-and-see approach. At the same time, you may be spending more on improvements and onboarding. Monitor cash flow weekly during the transition period and maintain adequate reserves.
Maintaining Relationships with Key Customers and Vendors
Customer and vendor relationships are among the most valuable (and fragile) assets you acquired. Here’s how to protect them:
Customer Retention Strategies
- Personal outreach: Call or visit your top customers within the first two weeks. Introduce yourself, express your commitment to the relationship, and ask what matters most to them
- Maintain service quality: Don’t let transition chaos affect the customer experience. This is not the time to experiment with service delivery
- Honor existing commitments: Every promise the previous owner made — pricing, delivery terms, special arrangements — should be honored, at least initially
- Ask for feedback: Customers appreciate being heard. A simple “how can we serve you better?” goes a long way
- Communicate proactively: If the transition will cause any disruption (new systems, changed hours, temporary delays), let customers know in advance
Vendor Relationship Strategies
- Introduce yourself promptly: Don’t let vendors find out about the ownership change through the grapevine
- Pay on time: Nothing builds vendor trust faster than reliable payment. If cash is tight, communicate proactively rather than going silent
- Review terms: Some vendors may have given the previous owner favorable terms based on a long relationship. You may need to renegotiate — but not in the first 30 days
- Explore new vendors: After you’re established (90+ days), start shopping for better terms. Competition keeps vendors honest
Your 90-Day Transition Checklist
- ☐ Complete seller transition training
- ☐ Meet all employees individually
- ☐ Get introduced to top 20 customers
- ☐ Meet key vendors and suppliers
- ☐ Secure all system access and change critical passwords
- ☐ Review all contracts, leases, and agreements
- ☐ Set up financial reporting and cash flow forecasting
- ☐ Identify and implement 3-5 quick wins
- ☐ Review and optimize recurring expenses
- ☐ Assess pricing and implement adjustments if appropriate
- ☐ Document critical processes and SOPs
- ☐ Evaluate team performance and fit
- ☐ Launch initial marketing improvements
- ☐ Set 12-month goals and budget
- ☐ Establish regular communication cadence with team
Set Yourself Up for Long-Term Success
The first 90 days are a sprint, but building a successful business is a marathon. The habits you establish during this period — how you communicate, how you make decisions, how you treat your team — will define your ownership for years to come.
At GoSBA Loans, our relationship with buyers doesn’t end at closing. We’ve helped facilitate over $320 million in SBA-financed acquisitions in 2025, and we understand that the real measure of success isn’t just getting the deal done — it’s building a thriving business afterward.
If you’re preparing to acquire a business with SBA financing, we’re here to help from start to finish:
- 50+ lender network to find the best terms for your deal
- Free business plan and financial projections (a $2,500-$5,000 value)
- Expert deal structuring to ensure adequate working capital for your transition
- 100% free service — we’re paid by the lender, not by you
Ready to acquire a business and start your ownership journey? Contact GoSBA Loans today for a free consultation. We’ll help you find the right financing, structure the deal properly, and set you up for success from day one.
