How Selling Works
Four clear steps, and no surprises along the way.
You've spent years building your business. Deciding what comes next can feel overwhelming. It shouldn't. Confidence comes from understanding your options, knowing what your business is truly worth, and having a clear path forward, guided by an advisor who puts your interests first.
Get the business ready before it ever goes to market.
Preparation is where good outcomes are made. We help you organize your financials, document how the business runs, and reduce its dependence on you, so a buyer can see a company that works without its owner. Owners who start one to two years before they want to exit sell on their schedule instead of under pressure.
What you have at the end: a business a buyer can understand and a lender can underwrite.
Understand what your business is likely worth, and why.
Most owners have never sold a business and have no reliable idea what theirs is worth. Value is driven by your earnings after add-backs, the consistency of those earnings, your industry, and how transferable the business is to a new owner. We prepare a valuation grounded in real transaction data, the Business Readiness Assessment, and walk you through how we got there. See the assessment
What you have at the end: a defensible valuation and the reasoning behind it.
Reach qualified buyers without anyone finding out.
Your business is presented without identifying details: a general description, a regional location, and financial highlights only. Buyers must sign a nondisclosure agreement and be financially qualified before they learn who you are. Your employees, customers, and competitors do not find out.
What you have at the end: serious, vetted buyers at the table, and your confidentiality intact.
Negotiate, survive diligence, and hand over with confidence.
We negotiate terms on your behalf, support due diligence and lender underwriting, and manage the closing timeline through to the wire transfer and transition plan. This is where deals are won or lost, and where steady, experienced guidance matters most.
What you have at the end: a closed sale, on your terms.
What to expect
Most business sales take six to twelve months from listing to closing, depending on price, financing, and how prepared the business is.
Buyers sign an NDA before they learn anything that could identify your business. Nothing is shared without your consent.
Many sales are financed with SBA loans. Clean records and consistent earnings expand your buyer pool and support your price.
You don't need everything perfect before we talk. We help you assemble and present these:
Free eBooks
Three short reads for the questions that come up before an owner ever picks up the phone. Each is free and arrives in your inbox.
eBooks are provided through The Value Builder System™. Your information is used only to send the eBook and is never shared without your consent.
FAQ
Most business sales take six to twelve months from listing to closing, depending on price, financing, and how prepared the business is. Owners who start preparing one to two years before they want to exit sell on their schedule instead of under pressure.
No. Your business is presented without identifying details: a general description, a regional location, and financial highlights only. Buyers must sign a nondisclosure agreement and be financially qualified before they learn who you are, and nothing is shared without your consent.
You do not need everything perfect. The documents that do most of the work are three years of financial statements and tax returns, a current profit and loss statement, a list of what is included in the sale, and your lease or property information. We help you assemble and present them.
Many sales are financed with SBA loans. Clean records and consistent earnings expand your buyer pool and support your price, which is why preparation comes first in the process.
Our fee has two parts. A success fee is earned when your business sells and is paid at closing, so we are rewarded for the same outcome you want: a completed sale at a fair price. An engagement fee, paid up front, varies with the scope of work needed to prepare the business for sale. Assessment and business valuation costs may be credited back at the closing of a successful sale. We walk through the exact structure before you sign anything. See the valuation FAQ →
Earlier than feels necessary. Preparation is where good outcomes are made, and the things a buyer pays for, such as how dependent the business is on you and how clean the books are, take time to change. The first step is a conversation, not a commitment. See Exit Planning →
