The PGI Advantage: A Proven Process for Maximizing Value
Create a Comprehensive Buyer Result
Market-Wide Outreach Strategy
Execute a ten-phase outreach program that reaches every corner of the market — including buyers most firms never access.
Ethical, Competitive Limited Auction Process
Run a disciplined, limited auction that is fair, ethical, and designed to maximize value through PGI’s. “Deal Point Process.”
A Clear Path to Closing
PGI leads each step with the “Roadmap to Closing”— creating a “team environment” with both sides of the table, coordinating advisors, managing timelines, and keeping momentum until the deal is closed.
How We Work
Principles that shape every decision we make
Compassion
We see the human side of every business. Selling a company is rarely just about the numbers — it’s emotional. We take the time to understand each owner’s goals, protect their loyal people, and ensure the transition honors the lifetime of work behind the business. So to us, it’s not just selling another business but successfully orchestrating for our client “a life-changing event.”
Trust
We believe good deals are built on honesty and transparency. That means setting realistic expectations, communicating clearly, and representing every client’s interests as if they were our own. As one of our clients described PGI, “Integrity is clear, unbroken honesty, that you can have trust, and have confidence in.” Integrity isn’t an act; it’s a discipline that has defined PGI for over forty years. Our decades of reference letters authenticate it the best.
Outcome
Our focus is on achieving the right outcome, not just any outcome. Through disciplined valuation, strategic preparation, and careful deal management, we deliver results that reflect both the value of the business and the vision of its owners, and the right fit for the future of the business. After we have created a market with multiple offers, there are times when, to ensure the right outcome for a successful future for the business and its loyal employees and customers, we have not taken the highest price.
Legacy
A Legacy Built on Trust and Continuity
Since 1981, under the leadership of Rick Piper i, Piper Group International has been a steady guide for business owners navigating one of the most significant decisions of their professional lives – transitioning into their next chapter of life.
What began as a small advisory practice rooted in personal relationships has evolved into one of the most trusted M&A advisory firms serving the lower middle market.
Bill Billingsley and Brent Freeman bring decades of M&A practice to the team and broaden our capability with their diverse backgrounds.
PGI has represented hundreds of closely held companies, helping owners protect what they’ve built, reward the people who helped build it with a successful future, and secure the best path forward for everyone involved. That legacy of care and precision continues today under the leadership of Jon Akers and Cindy Torio, who remain committed to the same values that defined the firm’s early years.
Today, the focus remains unchanged: to provide honest guidance, thoughtful strategy, and results that stand the test of time. Every transition PGI manages reflects not just a transaction, but a continuation of the business's story — one built on trust, respect, and the belief that integrity endures.
Advisors
Meet the Team
Community & Education
Sharing knowledge Strengthening communities
PGI's commitment to business owners extends far beyond the closing table. For decades, the firm has shared its expertise through educational programs, community partnerships, and a workshop with 50 growth ideas that have helped owners increase sales, understand valuation, succession, transition planning, build company value, and empower them to lead with foresight and confidence.
We have been told that this process is one of our methods that separates us from others in our field. We take our clients to school before we go to market. Some have called Rick – "Professor Piper." In PGI's Guidelines, the clients are taken through Confidentiality and Rumor Control, Making a Market, Seller/Buyer Discussions, Visits from Buyers, and Protocol to Closing a. PGi truly prepares its clients for the selling process, from creating a position of strength in the offering material, to what to say and not to say, and to teaching them that "time kills deals" and how to expedite the closing process.
From supporting local entrepreneurship to mentoring future business leaders, PGI invests in initiatives that strengthen communities and foster long-term economic growth – the reference letters tell it best.