I Helped 3 Home Service Companies Exit to Private Equity: Here’s What I Learned
I Helped 3 Home Service Companies Exit to Private Equity: Here’s What I Learned
Over the past few years, we’ve helped three home service companies grow past $5 million in revenue and exit successfully to private equity firms.
Today, we work with three different private equity groups that plug us into their acquisitions to help scale operations post acquisition. Just last week, I spoke with a PE firm looking to buy 5-10 home service businesses this year alone.
What they’re looking for isn’t magic.
It’s a proven system.
And by the end of this post, you’ll know exactly how to market your business like a private equity-backed company to drive enterprise value, not just topline sales.
Why Private Equity’s Perspective on Marketing Matters
Private equity isn’t a silver bullet. We’ve seen an HVAC contractor go from $3 million to $8 million, sell to PE and go out of business in two years.
But here’s the thing: PE firms do understand marketing. They know how to analyze what’s working, where the data lives, and how to drive repeatable growth. That’s where their model shines.
Let’s walk through the 3 key frameworks they use and how you can apply them to your own business starting today.
1. The 3X Framework: Visibility. Conversion. Retargeting.
Every private equity firm we’ve worked with wants to implement one thing across their portfolio: a standardized marketing system.
We call it the 3X Framework:
- Visibility: How are you driving awareness? Ads, content, partnerships, prospecting—all must be measured.
- Conversion: Are you turning attention into booked jobs and closed revenue? This includes call booking, job performance, estimates, and close rates.
- Retargeting: Are you marketing to past customers and unconverted leads? Most companies have gold in their CRM and never touch it.
This framework is what we use to take a $3M business to $5M+ and position them for a premium exit.
2. The Acquisition Funnel: Data-Driven Marketing Decisions
If you’re running ads and don’t know your return on ad spend (ROAS) by channel Google, Meta, Yelp, TikTok you’re flying blind.
Private equity doesn’t play that game.
They want to see: We spent $1,000 and generated $10,000 in booked revenue. That’s a 10X ROAS. Do more of that.
If you don’t have that clarity, you’re vulnerable to wasting budget and missing growth.
Example: We had a client spending $3K/month on Google Ads. Low returns. We pivoted to a more effective channel. Revenue tripled. Why? Because we had the data to make a better decision.
3. The Core Six Metrics: Operating Like an Investor
Imagine you couldn’t work in your business but you still owned the stock.
What would you need to see every week to know if things were working?
These are the Core Six metrics every owner (and PE firm) should monitor:
- Leads YoY: Are you generating more leads than last year?
- Booking Rate: What % of inbound calls or forms are being booked?
- Estimate Count YoY: Are you generating more sales opportunities?
- Sold Estimates: Are your estimates actually closing?
- Average Ticket: Are you charging enough per job to be profitable?
- ROAS by Campaign: Where are your marketing dollars making the biggest impact?
Track these six, and you’re running your company like an investor, not a hustler.
4. The Hidden Goldmine: Retargeting
Most home service businesses have databases of 1,000, 20,000+ contacts collecting dust.
No emails. No texts. No offers.
That’s lost revenue sitting in your CRM.
Here’s the playbook we implement:
- Monthly emails with seasonal offers and service education.
- Biannual text campaigns with time-sensitive offers.
- Cross-selling services customers didn’t know you offered.
You already paid for these leadsnow it’s time to extract the full value.
5. The Next Frontier: AI-Powered Growth
Private equity is betting big on AI and so should you.
They’re building knowledge bases from marketing data, sales data, P&Ls, and more. The result? Actionable insights generated instantly.
At Phlash Consulting, we do the same. Each client gets a custom GPT trained on their marketing, sales, and ops data. It answers questions. Drafts content. Generates estimates. And makes smart recommendations 24/7.
This is the future of scaling smart
If you’ve grown your business past the $1M mark through hustle, congratulations. But hustle won’t get you to $10M. Predictability will.
That’s what private equity is buying and that’s what you need to build.
Whether you plan to sell one day or just want to scale like the pros, now is the time to adopt an investor mindset, implement the right data systems, and install a marketing engine that drives real enterprise value.
We do this every day at Phlash Consulting. If you’re serious about turning your business into a sellable, scalable machine, book a strategy session on our website.
You don’t have to sell to private equity to grow like them.
But you do have to market like them.