What Is My Business Worth? An Indiana Broker Explains
By Troy Frank, Owner — Indiana Equity Brokers
Estimated read time: 7 min
The short answer: Most Main Street businesses in Indiana sell for 2 to 3 times their annual seller’s discretionary earnings (SDE). Nationally, the median small business sold for $349,250 in Q2 2026 on median cash flow of $155,921 — an average multiple of 2.7x. But the multiple is the last step, not the first. What actually sets your number is earnings quality, how much the business depends on you, and how concentrated your customer base is. Two businesses with identical profit can be worth $600,000 apart because of those three things alone.
An owner called me last spring with a number in his head. He’d been told his HVAC company was worth “about a million.” He’d built a retirement plan around it. He’d told his wife.
His actual range was $1.6 million. He’d been under-planning his own retirement by six figures for years.
That happens in both directions, and it happens constantly. According to the UBS Investor Watch survey, 58% of business owners who planned to exit had never had their business formally appraised. Forty-eight percent had no formal exit strategy at all. That means most owners are making the largest financial decision of their lives using a number someone mentioned at a golf outing.
Here’s how the number actually gets built.
What Is My Business Worth? Start With SDE, Not Revenue
Revenue is the number owners quote. Buyers barely look at it.
What buyers and their lenders underwrite is seller’s discretionary earnings — your net profit, plus your owner salary, plus the personal expenses running through the business, plus depreciation and interest. SDE is the honest answer to “how much money does this business actually put in the owner’s pocket each year?”
Get SDE right and you’re most of the way to a valuation. Get it wrong and every conversation after that is wasted.
For scale: in Q2 2026 the national median small business transaction showed $692,087 in revenue and $155,921 in SDE. That’s a business with roughly 22% owner earnings on revenue. If your margins are meaningfully below that, the multiple conversation gets harder no matter how good your top line looks.
Add-backs have to survive a lender
This is where most owner-prepared valuations fall apart.
Owners add back everything. The truck, the phone, the family member on payroll, the trip to Scottsdale that was “partly a conference.” Some of that is legitimate. Some of it isn’t. And an SBA lender will strip out every add-back you can’t document with a receipt or a clear pattern.
I’ve watched a deal lose $180,000 of value in underwriting because $60,000 of add-backs couldn’t be supported. At a 3x multiple, undocumented add-backs are expensive.
Then the Multiple — and Why Yours Might Not Be 2.7x
The average cash flow multiple nationally is about 2.7x. Treat that as a starting point, not a promise.
Main Street businesses under roughly $250,000 in SDE tend to land between 2x and 3x. Once SDE clears $500,000 to $1 million, you move into lower middle market territory, buyers change from individuals to search funds and private equity groups, and multiples step up — often 4x to 6x EBITDA depending on the industry.
Industry matters too. In Central Indiana over the past 18 months, we’ve seen strong buyer demand for commercial service businesses — HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping — with recurring or contracted revenue. Those trade at the top of their range. Businesses with one-time project revenue and no backlog trade at the bottom.
The Three Things That Actually Move Your Number
Same profit, different value. Here’s why.
Owner dependency. If revenue drops when you leave, a buyer isn’t purchasing a business. They’re purchasing your job. Every buyer prices that risk, and lenders price it harder. The fix is boring and it works: a real second-in-command, documented processes, customer relationships that belong to the company.
Customer concentration. One customer above 30% of revenue is a material issue. A top three above 50% is the central issue in the deal. It rarely kills a sale, but it reshapes the structure — more of the price moves into a seller note or an earnout tied to those accounts sticking around.
Clean, reconciled books. What actually kills deals isn’t price. It’s the seller’s books. If your P&L doesn’t reconcile to your tax return, a buyer stops trusting every other number you’ve given them. That distrust gets priced in, and it never gets priced in your favor.
Myth: A Valuation Means You’re Selling
This is the belief that costs owners the most money.
A valuation is a diagnostic. It tells you where the value is concentrated, what’s suppressing it, and what a buyer would flag. Then you have time to fix those things — which is the entire point of getting one early.
Fixing customer concentration takes two to three years. Building a management layer takes eighteen months. Getting three clean years of financials takes three years, by definition. None of that is possible at the moment you decide to sell.
There’s a practical reason too. Unsolicited offers arrive. A partner retires. Health changes. When you already know your range, you can evaluate an offer in a week instead of scrambling for three months while the buyer loses interest. That’s a real risk — we’ve seen what it costs owners who wait too long.
How a Broker Values a Business Differently Than a Formal Appraisal
There are two different products and owners often ask for the wrong one.
A certified appraisal is a defensible document for estate planning, divorce, litigation, or an ESOP. It costs several thousand dollars and follows formal standards.
A broker opinion of value answers a different question: what will the market actually pay right now? It’s built from comparable closed transactions, current buyer demand, and what lenders are willing to finance this quarter. For an owner thinking about a sale in the next one to five years, that’s usually the more useful number.
At Indiana Equity Brokers we’ve closed more than 880 transactions over 24 years, representing over $808 million in value. That transaction history is what makes a market-based opinion of value useful — we’re not pulling multiples off a chart, we’re pulling them off deals we closed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is my small business worth?
Most Main Street businesses sell for 2 to 3 times seller’s discretionary earnings, with the national average landing near 2.7x in Q2 2026. Businesses above roughly $1 million in earnings typically shift to an EBITDA multiple in the 4x to 6x range. Your specific number depends on owner dependency, customer concentration, and whether your financials reconcile cleanly.
What is SDE and how is it different from profit?
Seller’s discretionary earnings is net profit plus the owner’s salary, personal expenses run through the business, depreciation, interest, and one-time costs. It represents the total financial benefit to a single working owner. Net profit alone understates what the business produces, which is why nearly all Main Street valuations are built on SDE rather than net income.
How much does a business valuation cost in Indiana?
A certified appraisal generally runs several thousand dollars. A broker’s opinion of value is typically provided at no cost as part of an initial conversation about selling. They answer different questions — an appraisal is a defensible document for legal or estate purposes, while an opinion of value estimates what buyers will actually pay in the current market.
How often should I get my business valued?
Every two to three years if a sale is more than five years out, and annually once you’re inside a five-year window. Regular valuations show whether the decisions you’re making are actually increasing value, and they mean you can respond to an unsolicited offer with real information instead of a guess.
Will getting a valuation obligate me to sell my business?
No. A valuation is confidential and carries no obligation. Most owners who get one are not selling that year — they’re using it to identify what a buyer would discount and to fix those issues while there’s still time.
Know Your Number Before You Need It
Your business is probably your largest asset. Most owners can quote their home’s value within 5% and have no idea what their company is worth within 50%.
The gap matters most at the moment you can’t control — an unsolicited offer, a health event, a partner’s exit. Owners who already know their range make good decisions quickly. Owners who don’t make fast decisions with bad information.
If you’re curious what your business would bring in today’s market, a confidential conversation costs nothing and obligates you to nothing. Over 24 years I’ve helped Indiana business owners sell more than 880 companies, and most of those conversations started years before the listing did. Reach me at troy@indianaequitybrokers.com, or start with what we look at when we assess what makes a business worth more. If you’re further along, our guide to selling a business walks through what comes next.
Can You Sell a Business Without a Partnership Agreement?
By Troy Frank, Owner — Indiana Equity Brokers
Estimated read time: 7 min
The short answer: You can sell a business without a partnership agreement, but it costs you time, leverage, and usually money. Without one, every partner has to agree to the sale, the price, and the split — and any single holdout can stop the deal. In Indiana, partnerships with no written agreement fall back on the Indiana Uniform Partnership Act, which splits profits equally regardless of who invested what. The fix takes weeks if you handle it before going to market and can take months if a buyer is already waiting.
The worst call I get is the one where a business is under contract and the partners aren’t speaking.
It usually starts the same way. Two people who trusted each other started something. Nobody wanted to spend $3,000 on lawyers to document a relationship that felt obvious. Fifteen years later the business is worth $2 million, one partner wants out, the other wants to keep running it, and there is nothing in writing that says how that’s supposed to work.
At that point the business is fine. The partnership is the problem. And buyers can smell it.
Here’s what a partnership agreement actually does for a sale, and what happens when there isn’t one.
Why Selling a Business With Partners Gets Complicated
A single owner selling a business has one decision-maker. Every additional partner is another person who can say no — and they can say no to different things at different times.
Partner A wants to sell now. Partner B wants two more years. Partner C is fine selling but thinks the price is low. None of them are wrong. Without a written agreement establishing how that decision gets made, the default is unanimity, which means the most reluctant partner controls the timeline for everyone.
I’ve watched this stall businesses for years. Not because anyone was acting in bad faith — because nobody had ever written down what happens when smart people disagree.
What Indiana law does when you have nothing in writing
Indiana’s Uniform Partnership Act fills the gaps, and owners are usually surprised by how it fills them.
Absent a written agreement, profits and losses are split equally among partners regardless of capital contributed or hours worked. The partner who put in $200,000 and the partner who put in $20,000 are treated the same. So is the partner working 60 hours a week and the one working 10.
That default is fine right up until there’s a $2 million check to divide. Then it’s a lawsuit.
The Provisions That Actually Matter at Exit
Most partnership agreements cover ownership percentages and profit splits. That’s the easy part. The clauses that determine whether a sale goes smoothly are further down the document, and they’re the ones most often missing.
The buy-sell provision. This is the single most important clause for exit purposes. It says what happens when a partner wants out, dies, becomes disabled, divorces, or goes bankrupt. It should name the valuation method, the payment terms, and the timeline. Without it, a partner’s ownership stake can end up in the hands of a spouse, an ex-spouse, or an estate — none of whom want to run a business.
Drag-along and tag-along rights. Drag-along lets a majority force a minority to join a sale, so one 15% holder can’t block a full-company exit. Tag-along protects the minority by letting them sell on the same terms. Buyers want the whole company, not 85% of it. This clause is often what makes a clean sale possible.
The valuation method. Name it in advance — a multiple of SDE or EBITDA, a named appraiser, or a formula. Partners who agree on a method years ahead of time, when nobody knows who’ll be the buyer and who’ll be the seller, agree far more easily than partners negotiating it the week someone wants out.
Decision thresholds. Which decisions need unanimity, which need a majority, which are one partner’s call. Selling the company should be explicitly addressed.
Myth: A Partnership Agreement Means You Don’t Trust Each Other
This is the reason most agreements never get written, and it’s backwards.
An agreement isn’t a hedge against your partner turning out to be dishonest. It’s a plan for the situations neither of you controls. A partner’s spouse files for divorce and the ownership stake becomes marital property. A partner has a stroke at 54. A partner’s adult child expects to inherit a seat at the table. None of those are betrayals. All of them will freeze a business that has nothing in writing.
The partners I’ve seen handle exits best are the ones who wrote the agreement while they still liked each other. Nobody negotiates well from a hospital room or a courtroom.
What Buyers Do When They See Partner Risk
This is the part owners don’t anticipate.
A buyer evaluating a multi-partner business is asking one question: can all of these people actually deliver the company at closing? If the answer is unclear, the buyer responds in predictable ways. They discount the offer. They move more of the price into escrow or a seller note. They add representations and indemnities that survive closing for years. Or they walk, quietly, and buy something simpler.
Partner disagreement is one of the most common reasons a deal falls apart between agreement and closing — and it belongs on the short list of things that kill deals after the LOI is signed.
The good news is that this is fixable, and cheaply, if you fix it before going to market. Getting an agreement drafted or updated costs a few thousand dollars and a few weeks. Fixing it while a buyer waits costs leverage you can’t get back.
If You Already Have Partners and Nothing in Writing
Do it now, while there’s no deal on the table and no reason for anyone to posture.
Start with the buy-sell provision — what happens when one of you wants out. Agree on a valuation method before anyone knows which side of that transaction they’ll be on. Address death, disability, and divorce specifically. Then write down how the decision to sell the company gets made and what vote it takes.
At Indiana Equity Brokers we’ve closed more than 880 transactions across 24 years, and partner structure comes up in nearly every multi-owner deal we handle. We’re not attorneys and we don’t draft these agreements. But we can tell you exactly which provisions a buyer will look for, which ones we’ve watched cause problems at closing, and what needs cleaning up before you go to market.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sell my share of a business if my partner doesn’t want to sell?
It depends on what your agreement says. With a buy-sell provision, your partner typically has a right of first refusal at a defined price and terms. Without an agreement, you generally cannot force a sale of the company, and selling your individual interest to an outside buyer is difficult because few buyers want a minority stake in a business run by someone they’ve never met.
What happens if business partners disagree about selling in Indiana?
Without a written agreement, the Indiana Uniform Partnership Act governs, and major decisions generally require unanimous consent. That means one partner can block a sale indefinitely. The practical resolutions are a buyout of the objecting partner, mediation, or a court-ordered dissolution — all slower and more expensive than a drag-along clause written years earlier.
What is a buy-sell agreement and do I need one?
A buy-sell agreement defines what happens to a partner’s ownership stake when they exit, die, become disabled, divorce, or go bankrupt. It names the valuation method, the payment terms, and who has the right to buy. Any business with more than one owner needs one, and it’s the single most valuable clause in a partnership agreement when an exit finally happens.
How do partners split the money when a business sells?
By whatever the partnership agreement specifies, which is usually ownership percentage adjusted for capital accounts and any partner loans. With no agreement, Indiana law defaults to an equal split regardless of what each partner contributed. That default is the source of most partner litigation at exit.
How much does a partnership agreement cost in Indiana?
An attorney-drafted agreement for a small business typically runs a few thousand dollars. Compared with the cost of a stalled sale, a discounted offer, or partner litigation, it is one of the cheapest pieces of insurance a multi-owner business can buy.
Fix This Before You Need It
A partnership agreement is not a document about distrust. It’s a document about time — specifically, about making decisions while everyone is calm rather than while someone is angry, sick, or gone.
If you own a business with a partner and there’s nothing in writing, that’s the highest-return few weeks of work available to you right now. If there is something in writing, pull it out and read the buy-sell section. Most of the ones I see were drafted at formation and never touched again, and the valuation method in them stopped making sense a decade ago.
If you’re thinking about an exit in the next few years and want to know what a buyer will flag in your ownership structure, a confidential conversation costs nothing. Reach me at troy@indianaequitybrokers.com, or read more about why owners who plan their exit early sell for more. You can also see how we handle the sale process from valuation through closing.
How Do You Break a Deadlock in a Business Sale?
By Troy Frank, Owner — Indiana Equity Brokers
Estimated read time: 6 min
The short answer: Most business sale deadlocks are not really about price. They stall because one side has a concern they haven’t said out loud — usually about employees, transition, or whether the money is actually going to arrive. The fastest way to break a deadlock is to stop trading numbers and start asking why the number matters. When the gap truly is money, structure resolves it more often than price does: a seller note, an earnout, or a longer transition can close a six-figure gap without either side moving their headline number.
Two parties, $150,000 apart on a $1.4 million business. Three weeks of silence. Both sides told me the other one was being unreasonable.
The actual problem was that the seller had promised his shop foreman a job for life and the buyer had mentioned “restructuring.” Nobody said that out loud. They argued about price for three weeks because price is the thing that’s easy to argue about.
We closed it in nine days once the real issue surfaced. The price didn’t change.
That’s not an unusual story. Over 24 years and more than 880 closed transactions, the deals that stall almost never stall for the reason stated.
Why Business Sale Negotiations Actually Stall
Price is the symptom. Here’s what’s usually underneath it.
The seller doesn’t trust that they’ll get paid. When a chunk of the price sits in a seller note or an earnout, the seller is financing a buyer they met four months ago. If they don’t believe the buyer can run the business, they’ll fight for a higher price to compensate — when what they actually want is more money at closing, not a bigger number.
The buyer found something in diligence. Customer concentration, a lease problem, add-backs that don’t hold up. Rather than saying “your SDE is $40,000 lower than represented,” they just make a lower offer and let the seller guess why.
Somebody’s identity is in the number. Sellers benchmark against what a competitor got, or what they told their brother-in-law the business was worth. That’s not a valuation dispute. It’s a pride issue, and no amount of comparable data solves it.
The seller isn’t actually ready to stop working. This is the quietest one. The price stops moving because the seller doesn’t want the deal to close. They’ll never say it, sometimes not even to themselves.
The Questions That Break a Deadlock
When a negotiation locks up, the move isn’t a better counteroffer. It’s a better question.
“What does this number need to do for you?” A seller who needs $1.5 million to retire has a real constraint. A seller who wants $1.5 million because that’s what the guy down the road got has a comparison problem. Those require completely different responses, and you can’t tell them apart from the offer sheet.
“If price were settled, is there anything else that would keep you from signing?” This is the single most useful question in a stalled deal. It surfaces the employee promise, the seller’s spouse who wants a different closing date, the buyer’s silent partner nobody mentioned.
“What would have to be true for this to work?” It moves both sides from defending a position to describing conditions. Conditions are negotiable in a way that positions aren’t.
“Can we split the difference?” Simple, and it works more often than it should — not because the math is compelling, but because it signals good faith. It tells the other side you’re trying to finish rather than win. I’ve had six-figure gaps close on that sentence alone.
Myth: The Highest Offer Is the Best Offer
This is the mistake that costs Indiana sellers the most money, and it costs them after closing, when it’s too late.
A $1.6 million offer with $400,000 in a three-year earnout tied to revenue targets is not better than a $1.4 million all-cash offer. It’s a $1.2 million offer with a lottery ticket attached. Earnouts miss their targets regularly — sometimes because the buyer runs the business differently than the seller would have, which the seller no longer controls.
What matters is how much is paid at closing, how much depends on future performance, what’s held in escrow and for how long, and whether the buyer’s financing is actually approved or merely “in process.” A buyer with an SBA pre-qualification letter and 15% down is worth more than a higher offer from someone still shopping for a lender.
We walk sellers through this in detail — deal structure determines what you actually keep, not the headline price.
Where Structure Solves What Price Can’t
When the gap is real, structure is usually the answer.
A seller note bridges a valuation gap while giving the buyer a reason to keep the seller engaged. A short earnout tied to something the seller can influence — customer retention rather than net profit — can be fair to both sides. A longer transition period costs the seller a few months and can be worth six figures to a nervous buyer. A consulting agreement moves money out of the purchase price into ordinary income, which sometimes helps the buyer’s lender and sometimes helps the seller’s tax picture.
None of these change the headline price much. All of them change risk, and risk is what the parties are actually arguing about.
The other thing structure does is protect the relationship. Sellers and buyers in a small business deal have to work together for six months to two years after closing. A negotiation that ends with both sides feeling beaten produces a transition that goes badly, and a transition that goes badly is how a seller note stops getting paid.
Why a Broker Helps More Here Than Anywhere Else
Direct negotiation between a buyer and a seller works fine until it doesn’t. Then it fails hard, because there’s no way to say something difficult without saying it to the person’s face.
A broker can deliver a hard message without the relationship absorbing it. I can tell a seller their add-backs won’t survive underwriting. I can tell a buyer their offer implies a multiple no lender in Indiana will finance. Neither party has to hear that from someone they’ll be working with for the next eighteen months.
Just as important, I’ve seen how these end. When a seller tells me a buyer’s behavior in week six is a bad sign, I usually know whether it is. That pattern recognition is most of what a broker is actually selling — and it’s why negotiating the sale of your business goes better with someone between the parties.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you do when a business sale negotiation stalls over price?
Stop exchanging numbers and find out what the number represents. Ask each side what the price needs to accomplish and whether anything besides price would keep them from signing. Most stalls involve an unstated concern about employees, transition, or payment security, and those can be resolved through deal structure without either party moving their headline price.
How far apart do a buyer and seller usually end up?
Most gaps that reach a serious negotiation are within 10% to 15% of the final price, which is almost always bridgeable. Nationally, the median small business sold for $349,250 in Q2 2026, so a typical gap in a Main Street deal is in the tens of thousands rather than the hundreds of thousands. Gaps larger than 25% usually mean the parties disagree about the earnings, not the multiple.
Should I accept the highest offer for my business?
Not automatically. Compare cash at closing, the size and terms of any seller note, whether an earnout depends on performance you’ll no longer control, escrow holdbacks, and whether the buyer’s financing is actually approved. A lower all-cash offer from a pre-qualified buyer frequently nets more than a higher offer loaded with contingencies.
Is it a bad sign if a buyer lowers their offer after due diligence?
Not necessarily, but they owe you a specific reason. A retrade backed by documented findings — add-backs that don’t reconcile, a lease issue, customer concentration that emerged in diligence — is a normal part of the process. A retrade with no explanation is a warning sign about how the rest of the deal will go.
Can you negotiate the sale of a business without a broker?
Yes, and some owners do. The difficulty is that you have to deliver every hard message yourself to a person you’ll work alongside after closing, while also being the party with the most emotion invested. A broker absorbs that friction and brings pattern recognition from prior deals about which buyer behaviors predict a closing and which predict a collapse.
The Deal Usually Isn’t About the Number
Deals rarely die because two reasonable people couldn’t agree on a price. They die because nobody asked the right question early enough, and the silence hardened into positions.
If a negotiation on your business has stalled, the useful next step is not a revised offer. It’s a conversation about what’s actually in the way.
If you’re in the middle of one now, or thinking about a sale and want to know what buyers in this market will push back on, a confidential conversation costs nothing. Over 24 years I’ve helped Indiana owners close more than 880 transactions representing over $808 million in value, and most of that experience is in the gap between offer and closing. Reach me at troy@indianaequitybrokers.com, or see what we look at when helping a business sale reach the closing table.
Understanding Business Broker Fees in Indiana
When selling your business in Indiana, understanding broker fees is essential. Many sellers are surprised by the range of costs and fee structures among brokers. This guide compares the standard business broker fees in Indiana with the transparent, client-friendly model offered by Indiana Equity Brokers.
Q: What are the typical fees for business brokers in Indiana?
A: Most Indiana business brokers charge a success fee (commission) of 8–12% of the final sale price, with some also requiring upfront fees, valuation fees, or marketing expenses.
Q: How does Indiana Equity Brokers’ fee structure compare?
A: Indiana Equity Brokers charges a lower success fee (4–10%), and does not charge any upfront, valuation, or marketing fees.
| Fee Type | Typical Indiana Broker | Indiana Equity Brokers |
|---|---|---|
| 8–12% of sale price | 4–10% of sale price | |
| $1,000–$5,000 | $0 | |
| $0–$3,000 | $0 | |
| $0–$2,000 | $0 |
Typical brokers may require upfront or marketing fees, especially for larger or more complex sales.
Indiana Equity Brokers only charges a success fee, paid at closing, and covers all valuation and marketing costs themselves.
Checklist: What to Ask Before Choosing a Broker
- What is your success fee percentage?
- Do you require any upfront, valuation, or marketing fees?
- What services are included in your commission?
- Can you provide references from past clients?
- How do you market businesses for sale?
Q: Are broker fees negotiable?
A: Sometimes, especially for larger transactions. Indiana Equity Brokers’ fees are already among the lowest in the state.
Q: Do I pay anything if my business doesn’t sell?
A: With Indiana Equity Brokers, you pay nothing unless your business sells. Many typical brokers also work on a success-fee basis, but some may keep upfront or valuation fees regardless.
Q: What services are included in the fee?
A: Indiana Equity Brokers includes business valuation, marketing, buyer screening, and transaction management in their fee, with no extra charges.
How To: Get the Best Value from a Business Broker
- Step 1: Interview multiple brokers and request a written fee schedule.
- Step 2: Compare all fees, not just the commission percentage.
- Step 3: Ask for details on included services and marketing efforts.
- Step 4: Choose a broker who is transparent and aligns with your needs.
Summary
Typical Indiana brokers charge 8–12% commission, sometimes plus upfront, valuation, or marketing fees. Indiana Equity Brokers charges a lower 4–10% commission, with $0 upfront, valuation, or marketing fees. Always compare total costs and included services before choosing a broker. For sellers seeking maximum value and transparency, Indiana Equity Brokers offers one of the most competitive and client-friendly fee structures in Indiana’s business brokerage market.
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Determining the Right Time to Sell
Determining the Right Time to Sell Your Business
Determining the right time to sell your business can be a challenging decision. If you’re considering selling, one of the best steps you can take is to contact a business broker. A seasoned business broker will have years, or even decades, of proven experience and can guide you through the process of preparing your business for sale.
Why Contact a Business Broker Early?
One major reason to contact a business broker well before you think you might want to sell is the unpredictability of the market. Market forces can change, unexpected events like a large competitor entering your area can occur, and various other factors could lead you to conclude that now, not later, is the time to sell.
Key Factors in Determining the Right Time to Sell
In a recent article by The Tokenist titled “When is the Best Time to Sell a Business?“, author Tim Fries outlines several factors to consider when determining the best time to sell. At the top of Fries’ list is growth. Demonstrating a consistent history of growth is crucial, as buyers look for this key component. Growth will help you justify your asking price when you place your business on the market.If your business is experiencing significant growth, it could be a strong indicator that now is the time to sell. Pamela Wasley, CEO of Cerius Executives, states, “When your business has grown substantially, it might be time to consider selling it. Running a business is risky, and the bigger you get, the bigger the risks you have to face.” Growth is central to determining whether or not you should sell.
Understanding Market Conditions
Knowing the “lay of the land” is essential. For example, have similar businesses to yours been sold or acquired recently? If the answer is “yes,” this is a good indicator of substantial interest in your type of business. Reviewing recent sales of comparable businesses can help you determine how much buyers are willing to pay, allowing you to spot potential trends.As Fries points out, various market factors such as relatively low taxes, low interest rates, a strong overall economy, and an upward trend in sales prices can all impact the optimal time for a sale.
Timing and Preparation
Now might not be the perfect time for you to sell, but getting your business ready for sale takes time and preparation. Fries emphasizes that smart sellers “look for a good time, not the perfect time” to sell a business. Working with a business broker can help you determine if now is the right time to sell and what steps you need to take to be prepared. For more insights on the emotional aspects of selling your business, visit our article on The Emotional Side of Selling Your Business. If you’re considering selling your business, learn more about the process at Selling a Business. By starting the preparation process early and staying informed about market conditions, you can make a well-timed decision to sell your business at the best possible price.
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