Planning to sell in a year or three? Start now.
The owners who get the best price are rarely the ones who decided to sell last month. They spent a year or two making the business easier to buy. Here is what that looks like.
What buyers actually pay for
For most main street businesses, value comes down to earnings times a multiple. You can raise the earnings, and you can raise the multiple. The multiple moves on risk: the less risky the business looks to a buyer and their lender, the more they will pay for each dollar of profit.
BizBuySell's Q3 2026 Insight Report put it plainly: buyers are gravitating toward businesses with reliable cash flow, clean financials, limited owner dependence and a clear path to financing (source). Those are the same things a good exit plan works on.
The value drivers we work on
| Driver | What hurts value | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Owner dependence | You are the main salesperson, estimator or license holder. Customers call your cell. | A manager or lead who runs the day to day. Written processes. Relationships spread across the team. |
| Financial records | Personal expenses mixed in, cash not recorded, books that do not match tax returns. | Clean P&Ls that tie to tax returns, documented add-backs, monthly closes. |
| Customer concentration | One or two customers make up a big share of revenue. | A broad customer base, contracts or recurring revenue. |
| Trend | Flat or falling revenue and margins in the last 12 months. | Steady or rising earnings going into the sale. |
| Lease and location | Short time left on the lease, no renewal option, landlord unknown. | A lease that runs long enough for a buyer's loan, with assignment terms that work. |
| Team | Key people with no agreements who could walk. | Stable staff, fair pay, and key people likely to stay. |
| Transferability | Licenses, permits, vendor deals or franchise rights that may not transfer. | Known requirements and a plan to transfer each one. |
Exit readiness checklist
Go through this honestly. Every "no" is something a buyer will notice, and something you have time to fix.
- Could the business run for a month without you, with no drop in sales?
- Do your P&Ls match your tax returns, and can you explain every add-back with a receipt?
- Is any single customer more than 15 to 20 percent of revenue?
- Do you have at least three years of financials ready to hand over?
- Does your lease have enough term left, or a renewal option, to cover a buyer's financing?
- Are your key processes written down: quoting, scheduling, purchasing, hiring, billing?
- Would your top two employees stay under a new owner?
- Are equipment, vehicles and inventory listed and in good shape?
- Are there any lawsuits, tax issues, liens or compliance problems to clean up?
- Do you know what you need to net from the sale, after taxes and debt payoff?
- Have you talked to your CPA about how the sale structure affects your taxes?
- Do you know what you want to do after you sell?
How we work with owners who are not ready yet
- Baseline valuation. What the business would likely sell for today, and why.
- Gap list. The specific things holding the price down, ranked by impact and effort.
- Plan and check-ins. A timeline to fix the big items, with a fresh look at value as you go, so you can decide when the number is right.
When you are ready to go to market, the hard work is already done, and the sale tends to move faster.
Read more
- Preparing a business for sale: start three years out (with a ready-to-list checklist)
- Owner-dependent businesses sell for far less, and how to fix it
How early should I start planning an exit?
Ideally one to three years before you want to sell. That is enough time to show a buyer a clean, steady track record after you make changes.
Will planning commit me to selling?
No. Some owners find out the business is worth more than they thought and keep it. The plan makes the business better either way.