What I've learned
over the years.

Tip 01 — Start early

The best exits are planned years in advance. Buyers pay a premium for businesses that are clearly well-run and not dependent on the owner. If you wait until you are ready to sell to start preparing, you will leave significant value on the table.

Tip 02 — Saleability before valuation

Most owners ask "what is my business worth?" before asking "is my business actually saleable?" The second question matters more. A business that cannot operate without its owner, has customer concentration, or lacks proper financial records will struggle to find a buyer at any price.

Tip 03 — Clean up your numbers

Buyers scrutinise three years of accounts. Personal expenses run through the business, inconsistent accounting treatment, and one-off items all create uncertainty. Normalise your EBITDA properly — and if there is significant capital expenditure, make sure your earnings figure reflects it accurately.

Tip 04 — Working capital is often overlooked

Significant value can be won or lost in the working capital adjustment at completion. Most owners do not focus on this until it is too late. Managing your debtors, creditors and stock levels in the months before completion can make a material difference to the cash you receive on the day.

Tip 05 — You only need one buyer

Advisers often boast about their wide market reach. In reality, you only need one buyer — the right one. A focused, targeted approach to identifying the buyers who will pay the most and move the fastest is far more effective than a scattergun process that creates noise and risks confidentiality.

Tip 06 — If a buyer approaches you

Being approached by a buyer can feel flattering — but it puts you at a disadvantage from the start. They have chosen their moment carefully. Before you respond, take advice. Understanding their motivation, running a parallel process where possible, and knowing your walk-away number are all essential before you engage seriously.

Tip 07 — Management team matters

A buyer is not just buying your profits — they are buying the team that will deliver future profits after you have left. A strong, credible management team that can run the business independently will attract a higher multiple and give buyers the confidence to proceed without a long earn-out.

Tip 08 — Structure matters as much as price

A headline price is only part of the story. Deferred consideration, earn-outs, loan notes, and retained equity all affect what you actually receive and when. Two offers at the same headline figure can have very different real-world outcomes. Always model the cash you will receive on day one before comparing offers.

Tip 09 — The best time to sell is when someone approaches you

When a buyer approaches you, they have a specific need — and a buyer with a need will pay a strategic premium that you are unlikely to achieve by marketing your business yourself. An inbound approach is the strongest negotiating position you can be in. The challenge is being ready when it happens.

Tip 10 — Know your buyers before you need them

Years in advance, spend time identifying who the likely buyers for your business will be. Approach them. Build relationships. You may even end up selling them product in the meantime. The more visible you are in your market, the more likely it is that a buyer will come to you. Keep a live list of potential buyers and revisit it regularly — so that when the time is right, you are not starting from scratch.

Tip 11 — Avoid cold approaches from company brokers

Be wary of unsolicited approaches from business brokers. They will typically inflate your valuation to get you on their books, charge upfront fees, and then do very little. A broker with a large generic database and a commission incentive is not the same as an adviser who understands your business, your sector, and your likely buyers.

Tip 12 — Sell to buyers, don't just approach them

Different buyers have different motivations, and your sales documentation should reflect that. Focus on a small number of the most credible candidates and tailor your approach to each one — rather than sending hundreds of identical, generic information packs. Remember: you only need one buyer. A narrow, focused process done well will almost always outperform a wide, impersonal one.

Tip 13 — Competitive tension is your friend

That said, having more than one serious buyer changes everything. Competitive tension drives price and pace. If you find yourself with multiple interested parties, make sure each of them has all the key information — the good and the bad — before they submit their offers. Full disclosure at this stage maximises your price and removes any grounds for price chipping later in the process.

Tip 14 — Deliverability matters as much as price

It is not all about the number on the offer letter. Before you grant exclusivity, satisfy yourself that the buyer can actually complete. Do they have the cash or confirmed funding? Does the deal stack up for them financially? Have they made acquisitions before and seen them through to completion? Are they using experienced advisers? A higher offer from a buyer who cannot close is worth less than a lower offer from one who can.

Tip 15 — After Heads of Agreement, the power shifts

Once you have signed Heads of Agreement and granted exclusivity, the balance of power moves to the buyer. Do not give them any reason to chip the price. Everything material should be on the table before that point. And between signing Heads and completion, keep delivering to your forecast — a performance miss during due diligence is one of the most common causes of late-stage price reductions.

Tip 16 — Buyers pay for the present, not the future

A buyer will not pay today for profits you have not yet made. To get paid for future growth, you either accept an earn-out — which means staying on and hitting targets — or you present credible, evidence-based reasons why future profitability will be materially higher than the present. Hope and ambition are not enough. Evidence is.

Tip 17 — Ignore the golf club advice

Every business owner knows someone who sold their business and now considers themselves an expert. Their experience is real, but it is also singular — one deal, in one market, at one point in time, with one set of advisers. No two transactions are alike. Take that advice in good spirit, then take proper professional guidance from someone who has been through this many times.

Tip 18 — Analyse your numbers before a buyer does

A serious buyer will want to dissect your financials by customer, by product, and by route to market. Do that work for them — and start at least three years in advance. Presenting clean, well-organised management information signals professionalism and removes uncertainty. Uncertainty is the enemy of valuation.

Tip 19 — Build your dataroom before you need it

Ask your lawyer to assemble a dataroom of the documents a typical buyer will request — well before any sale process begins. This exercise will surface gaps you had not noticed, and it removes the stress of scrambling to find or create documents mid-due-diligence. Starting from a well-prepared dataroom tells buyers that you are a serious, organised seller.