Valuation

What Is Goodwill in a Business Sale? An Indiana Broker Explains

By Troy Frank, Owner — Indiana Equity Brokers
[Estimated read time: 7 min]

The short answer: Goodwill is the part of your sale price that has nothing to do with your equipment. It is the value of your customer relationships, your reputation, your trained staff, and your proven earnings. In most Indiana Main Street sales, goodwill is the majority of the purchase price. A business with $150,000 of equipment can sell for $500,000 or more, and that gap is goodwill. The IRS treats it as a Class VII asset under Section 1060, which usually means capital gains treatment for you and a 15-year write-off for your buyer.

A few months ago an owner in Central Indiana walked me through his numbers. Two trucks, a shop full of equipment, and some inventory. He added it up and got about $180,000. He assumed that was what his business was worth.

It sold for well over three times that.

The difference was goodwill. It is the least understood number in a business sale, and for most owners it is the biggest one. This article covers what goodwill actually is, where it comes from, how it gets taxed, and what you can do in the next 12 months to build more of it.

What Goodwill Actually Is

Goodwill is not a reputation score. It is a math result.

Take the purchase price. Subtract everything a buyer can touch or count — cash, receivables, inventory, equipment, vehicles. Then subtract identifiable intangibles like customer lists and non-competes. Whatever is left over is goodwill.

That is the actual definition the IRS uses. Goodwill is the residual.

Here is why the number gets so large. In the first quarter of 2026, the median small business sold for $350,000 on a median cash flow of $165,256, according to BizBuySell’s market data. That is an average multiple of 2.7x. Very few of those businesses owned $350,000 worth of hard assets. Most owned a fraction of it.

Buyers are not buying your equipment. They are buying the earnings your equipment produces. Everything above the asset value is goodwill.

Where Goodwill Comes From

Goodwill is built slowly and it is built from specific things:

• A customer base that comes back without being chased
• Revenue under contract or on a recurring schedule
• Employees who know the work and plan to stay
• Vendor relationships and pricing a newcomer cannot get
• Documented systems that let someone else run the job
• Three to five years of consistent, provable earnings

Here is the one that matters most, and it is the one owners resist hearing. The biggest driver of goodwill is whether the business runs without you.

A business where the owner holds every customer relationship, prices every job, and signs every check has very little transferable goodwill. The value walks out the door at closing. Excessive owner dependence is a factor in roughly one in five failed business sales.

Two shops can have identical trucks and identical revenue. The one with a general manager, a service schedule, and customers on annual agreements is worth substantially more. That gap is pure goodwill, and it is the part you control. We cover this in more depth in our breakdown of what actually makes a business worth more.

The Balance Sheet Myth

The most common mistake we see is an owner pricing their business off the balance sheet.

Your balance sheet was built for taxes. It was designed to show the smallest possible number. Your CPA depreciated that $90,000 machine down to $4,000 because that was the right call for your tax bill. It does not mean the machine is worth $4,000, and it says nothing at all about what the business is worth.

Goodwill never appears on your books. Accounting rules only let goodwill onto a balance sheet after someone buys the company. So the single largest component of your sale price is, by design, invisible in your own financial statements.

Book value is not a valuation. It is a starting point that undercounts almost every profitable business we take to market.

Personal Goodwill vs. Enterprise Goodwill

This distinction is worth real money, and most owners have never heard it.

Enterprise goodwill belongs to the business. Brand, location, systems, contracts, trained staff. It transfers automatically when the company sells.

Personal goodwill belongs to you. Your individual relationships, your reputation in the trade, your technical skill, your personal referral network.

For most sellers this is a strategic question. If your goodwill is mostly personal, buyers will want you to stay on longer and will hold back more of the price. If it is mostly enterprise goodwill, you get a cleaner exit at a better number.

For C-corporation owners, the distinction can be worth six figures. Selling personal goodwill directly from the shareholder rather than through the company can avoid a layer of double taxation. This is technical territory and the IRS scrutinizes it. Get a CPA and a transaction attorney involved before you structure anything.

How Goodwill Is Taxed

In an asset sale — which is how most Main Street transactions in Indiana are structured — the purchase price gets allocated across seven asset classes under IRC Section 1060:

Class	What it covers
I	Cash and deposits
II	Securities and CDs
III	Receivables
IV	Inventory
V	Equipment, vehicles, furniture
VI	Customer lists, patents, non-competes
VII	Goodwill and going-concern value

Each class is filled to fair market value in order. Whatever is left lands in Class VII.

Three things you need to know about that allocation:

1. Both sides file the same form. You and your buyer each file IRS Form 8594. The numbers have to match. Mismatched forms are an audit invitation.

2. Goodwill is your best-taxed dollar. Gain on goodwill generally gets long-term capital gains treatment, topping out around 23.8% including the net investment income tax. Depreciation recapture on equipment and gain on inventory are taxed as ordinary income, which can run to 37%. Shifting a dollar from Class V to Class VII can be worth 13 cents to you.

3. Your buyer wants the opposite. Buyers amortize goodwill over 180 months — a straight 15 years under Section 197. Equipment they can depreciate far faster. So they push value down into Class V while you push it up into Class VII.

That tension is real, and it is negotiated. Bring it up during the letter of intent, not two weeks before closing. Allocation is one of several terms that decide how much of the offer you actually keep.

None of this is tax advice. It is what we see across deals. Your CPA runs your numbers.

How to Build Goodwill Before You Sell

The good news is that goodwill responds to work. Give yourself 12 to 24 months and focus on five things.

Clean up the books. This is first for a reason. Industry data from the IBBA indicates that 78% of buyers walk away when a seller cannot produce three years of reviewed or compiled financial statements. Get personal expenses out. Get the add-backs documented and defensible.

Take yourself out of the middle. Hand off customer relationships. Promote someone. Let them make decisions you would have made. Every relationship you transfer converts personal goodwill into enterprise goodwill.

Write it down. Pricing procedures, opening and closing routines, how you quote, how you handle a warranty claim. A documented process is an asset. A process in your head is a risk.

Lock in recurring revenue. Service agreements, annual contracts, standing orders. Contracted revenue is the highest-value earnings a small business can have.

Keep the earnings consistent. Three steady years beats one great year followed by two soft ones. Buyers pay for predictability far more than they pay for a peak.

Why This Matters in Indiana Right Now

Indiana’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation published a study in March 2026 that every owner over 55 should read. It found 43,880 Indiana businesses owned by people aged 55 and older — 51.7% of all business owners in the state. Those companies account for $205.5 billion in annual revenue. In 45 of Indiana’s 92 counties, the majority of business owners are already 55 or older.

Roughly $57 billion of that sits in the $1 million to $15 million range. That is squarely the acquisition market.

Here is what that means for you. A large number of Indiana businesses are heading to market over the next several years. Buyers will be able to choose. When a buyer has four options in your industry, they do not pick the one with the newest truck. They pick the one with clean books, transferable relationships, and a manager who can run it.

That is goodwill. It is the whole ballgame.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is goodwill in a business sale?
Goodwill is the portion of the purchase price that exceeds the value of a business’s identifiable assets. It represents intangible value like customer loyalty, reputation, trained employees, systems, and consistent earnings. Under IRS rules it is calculated as a residual — total price minus everything else — and reported as a Class VII asset on Form 8594.

How is goodwill calculated when selling a small business?
Goodwill is not calculated directly. A buyer values the business off its earnings, usually a multiple of seller’s discretionary earnings or EBITDA. Then the agreed price is allocated across asset classes at fair market value. Whatever is left after cash, receivables, inventory, equipment, and identifiable intangibles is goodwill.

Is goodwill taxed differently than equipment when I sell my business?
Yes, and the difference is significant. Gain on goodwill generally receives long-term capital gains treatment at a top rate near 23.8% including the net investment income tax. Gain attributable to depreciation recapture on equipment is taxed as ordinary income at rates up to 37%. This is why purchase price allocation is negotiated, and why your CPA should be involved before you sign a letter of intent.

Can I increase the goodwill in my business before selling?
Yes. Goodwill is the most improvable part of your valuation. The highest-return moves are cleaning up your financial records, reducing the business’s dependence on you personally, documenting your operating procedures, converting customers to recurring agreements, and delivering consistent earnings over three or more years. Most owners need 12 to 24 months to see the effect.

What is the difference between personal goodwill and enterprise goodwill?
Enterprise goodwill belongs to the business and transfers with a sale — brand, location, systems, contracts, staff. Personal goodwill belongs to the owner as an individual — their relationships, reputation, and skill. Businesses heavy in personal goodwill tend to sell for less and require longer transition periods, because the buyer is taking on more risk that value leaves with the seller.

Does goodwill show up on my balance sheet?
Not for the business you built. Accounting rules only recognize goodwill after an acquisition. If you started the company yourself, the goodwill you created over 20 years appears nowhere in your financial statements — which is exactly why book value understates what a profitable business is worth.

The Bottom Line for Indiana Owners

Goodwill is where your sale price actually comes from, and it is the part you can still change. Equipment depreciates on a fixed schedule no matter what you do. Customer relationships, clean records, and a business that runs without you are built on purpose.

If you are within a few years of selling, the most useful thing you can do is find out where you stand today. Indiana Equity Brokers has closed more than 880 business sales and over $816 million in transactions across Indiana. A confidential conversation about what your business would bring — and what would move the number — costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Reach Troy Frank directly at troy@indianaequitybrokers.com, call (317) 333-6655, or schedule a call at indianaequitybrokers.com. If you want a sense of the market first, our current business listings show what is trading in Indiana right now.

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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 884 transactions over 24 years, representing over $816 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 884 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.

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What Makes a Business Worth More?

By Troy Frank, Owner, Indiana Equity Brokers

Estimated read time: 6 min

The short answer: A business is worth more when a buyer can see steady profits, low risk, and a company that runs without the owner. The biggest business value drivers are recurring revenue, a diversified customer base, a real management team, clean financials, and consistent growth. Two businesses with the same earnings can sell for very different prices because of these factors. Most Main Street businesses sell for roughly 2 to 3.5 times their seller’s discretionary earnings, and the strongest value drivers are what move you to the top of that range.

Two owners walk into my office in the same month with the same number on their tax return. Both made about $500,000 in adjusted earnings last year. One sells for $1.4 million, and the other sells for nearly $1.8 million. Same earnings, very different price. The gap comes down to business value drivers, which are the things a buyer studies to judge how risky and how durable your profits really are.

You can’t always put an exact dollar figure on each one. But you can look at your business honestly and see where you stand. Below is the scorecard buyers use, what each driver does to your price, and where Indiana owners tend to leave money on the table.

The value-driver scorecard

Here’s a simplified version of what a buyer or appraiser weighs when they size up your company. Look at each row and decide, honestly, whether you sit on the low, medium, or high end.

The list could go on, because almost anything that affects risk affects value. But don’t just compare yourself to businesses in general. Compare yourself to the specific buyers and competitors in your market, because that’s the bar your sale price gets measured against.

The two drivers that move price the most

If you only fix two things before you sell, fix these. In my experience they swing the final price more than any other factors on the scorecard.

Customer concentration

Buyers get nervous when too much of your revenue comes from too few customers. The rule of thumb most buyers and appraisers use is straightforward. If your single largest customer is under 10 percent of revenue, you’re in healthy territory. Between 10 and 20 percent, a buyer gets cautious. Once one customer crosses 20 percent, and especially north of 30 percent, you’re in a high-risk zone, and the multiple usually gets compressed below the industry median.

The logic is simple. If losing one phone call could cut your revenue by a third, the buyer is buying that risk along with the business. Long-term contracts and high switching costs soften the blow, but the safest path is to spread your revenue across more accounts before you go to market.

Owner dependence

This is the one Indiana owners underestimate most. If the business only works because you’re the one answering the phones, holding the customer relationships, and making every decision, then a buyer isn’t purchasing a company. They’re purchasing a job that depends on you, and you’re the one person leaving. Key-person dependence on the owner compresses the multiple below the median for exactly that reason.

The flip side is real money. A business with a capable second-in-command, documented processes, and customer relationships spread across the team is far less risky to buy. De-risking owner dependence is one of the few moves that can meaningfully raise your multiple, and in some cases it can come close to doubling it. The earlier you build that bench, the more it’s worth at closing.

How business value drivers turn into a number

Main Street businesses generally sell in a range of about 2 to 3.5 times seller’s discretionary earnings, and larger lower-middle-market companies trade on a multiple of EBITDA. Where you land inside that range is the whole game. Strong, diversified, well-documented businesses earn the high end. Owner-dependent businesses with shaky books and one giant customer earn the low end, if they sell at all.

That’s why two companies with identical earnings can sell hundreds of thousands of dollars apart. Most of that gap is goodwill — the value that isn’t on the balance sheet. The earnings tell a buyer what the business made last year. The value drivers tell a buyer how confident they can be that the profits will still be there next year, without you. Confidence is what buyers pay a premium for.

This is also why the timing matters. Most of these drivers can be improved, but not overnight. Diversifying a customer base, building a management layer, and cleaning up financials are projects that take quarters or years, not weeks. Owners who start a year or two ahead consistently sell for more, which is the heart of good exit planning.

What you can do before you sell

Start by getting an honest read on where you actually stand, ideally from someone who sells businesses for a living rather than from your own optimism. At Indiana Equity Brokers we give every owner a free, confidential business valuation before they sign anything, so you know your range and your weak spots up front.

From there, the highest-payoff projects are usually the same. Reduce your reliance on any single customer. Build and document a team that can run the day-to-day without you. Get your books clean enough that a buyer’s accountant won’t find surprises. Each of those directly attacks the risk a buyer is pricing in, and lowering that risk is what moves you up the multiple.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main value drivers of a business? The main value drivers are recurring or repeat revenue, a diversified customer base, consistent and growing profits, a management team that can run the business without the owner, clean financial records, and a healthy industry trend. Buyers study these to judge how risky your profits are. The stronger they look, the higher the multiple a buyer will pay.

How much is my business worth? Most Main Street businesses sell for roughly 2 to 3.5 times their seller’s discretionary earnings, and larger companies sell on a multiple of EBITDA. Where you land in that range depends on your value drivers, so two businesses with the same earnings can sell for very different prices. A confidential valuation from a broker is the most reliable way to pin down your number.

Does customer concentration lower the value of my business? Yes. When one customer makes up more than 20 percent of your revenue, and especially more than 30 percent, buyers treat it as a real risk and usually pay a lower multiple. Under 10 percent from any single customer is considered healthy. Spreading revenue across more accounts before you sell is one of the most reliable ways to protect your price.

How does owner dependence affect business value? A business that only runs because of the owner is harder and riskier to sell, so it earns a lower multiple. Buyers want a company that keeps performing after the owner leaves. Building a capable management team and documenting your processes reduces that risk and can meaningfully raise your valuation, sometimes close to doubling the multiple.

How can I increase the value of my business before selling? Focus on the business value drivers that lower a buyer’s risk. Diversify your customer base, build a management team that can operate without you, clean up your financial records, and show steady growth. Most of these take a year or more to improve, so the owners who plan their exit early are the ones who sell for the most.

The bottom line

Your earnings tell a buyer what your business made. Your value drivers tell them how safe those earnings are going forward, and that’s what decides whether you sell at the top or the bottom of the range. The good news is that most of these drivers are within your control if you start early enough.

If you want an honest assessment of where your business stands and what it could be worth, a confidential conversation costs nothing. Troy Frank and the team at Indiana Equity Brokers have closed more than 884 deals for Indiana business owners, with no upfront fees and a free valuation to get started. You can reach Troy at troy@indianaequitybrokers.com

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Unraveling the Complex Realities of Valuations

The Art and Science of Business Valuation: Key Factors to Consider

Determining an accurate business valuation is a complex process that requires careful consideration of multiple factors. At Indiana Equity Brokers, we understand the intricacies involved in valuing a company and the impact it has on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions.

Ownership Structure and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)

The ownership structure of a company plays a crucial role in its valuation. Companies with employee ownership, such as those with Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), may face unique valuation challenges. While ESOPs can affect marketability, they also offer potential benefits that should be carefully evaluated during the valuation process.

Intellectual Property and Intangible Assets

Intellectual property (IP) is a vital component of many businesses’ value. Assessing the worth of patents, trademarks, and copyrights requires specialized expertise. At Indiana Equity Brokers, we have experience in valuing these intangible assets to provide a comprehensive assessment of a company’s worth.

Technological Advancements and Industry Disruptions

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, technological advancements can significantly impact a company’s valuation. Businesses must stay ahead of industry disruptions to maintain their value. Our team at Indiana Equity Brokers analyzes market trends and technological developments to provide accurate valuations that account for potential future challenges.

Product Diversity and Customer Base

Companies with diverse product portfolios and broad customer bases often command higher valuations. We assess the range of products and services offered by a business, as well as its customer concentration, to determine a fair and accurate valuation.

To learn more about the factors affecting business valuations, visit the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA) website.

The Importance of Professional Guidance

Valuing a business requires a delicate balance of analytical skills and industry knowledge. At Indiana Equity Brokers, our experienced M&A advisors can help navigate the complexities of business valuation, ensuring a thorough and accurate assessment for your company.

The Complexities of Business Valuations

 

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How Does Your Business Compare?

When considering the value of your company, there are basic value drivers. While it is difficult to place a specific value on them, one can take a look and make a “ballpark” judgment on each. How does your company look?

Value Driver	Low	Medium	High
Business Type	Little Demand	Some Demand	High Demand
Business Growth	Low	Steady	High & Steady
Market Share	Small	Steady Growth	Large & Growing
Profits	Unsteady	Consistent	Good & Steady
Management	Under Staffed	Okay	Above Average
Financials	Compiled	Reviewed	Audited
Customer Base	Not Steady	Fairly Steady	Wide & Growing
Litigation	Some	Occasionally	None in Years
Sales	No Growth	Some Growth	Good Growth
Industry Trend	Okay	Some Growth	Good Growth

The possible value drivers are almost endless, but a close look at the ones above should give you some idea of where your business stands. Don’t just compare against businesses in general, but specifically consider the competition.
As part of your overall exit strategy, what can you do to improve your company?

© Copyright 2015 Business Brokerage Press, Inc.

Photo Credit: kconnors via morgueFile

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