Wanting to sell is a decision. Being ready to sell is four more, and taking them in the wrong order is how owners end up on the market for a year at a price nobody will pay. This page is those four, in the order that costs the least.
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One: what you actually want out of it
Maximum price, a fast exit and a good outcome for your staff are three different objectives and they trade against each other. A sale to a competitor usually pays best and disrupts most. A sale to a manager or an employee ownership arrangement pays less and preserves more. Deciding which you are optimizing for tells you which buyers to talk to, and everything else follows.
Two: whether the business survives you
Buyers pay for earnings that continue after you leave. If the customers are yours personally, if the estimating or the selling is all you, or if one client is most of the revenue, that is the discount and it is often larger than the fee you are worrying about. Some of it can be fixed in a year of deliberate delegation, which is the highest return work available to a seller.
Three: what the books say
Three years of financial statements a stranger can follow, and a written add back schedule with evidence behind each item. Personal expenses run through the company are normal and are added back, but only where you can show them. An add back you cannot document is not a discount on the price, it is a reason for the buyer to distrust the rest.
Four: who sells it
Yourself on a marketplace, a local business broker, or an M&A adviser running a process. Each is a different cost and a different buyer pool. Only at this point is talking to firms useful, because now you can ask them the questions that separate them rather than listening to their pitch.
Questions people ask about i want to sell my business
How long before I should start preparing?
A year is a realistic run up if the business depends on you or the accounts need tidying. Three months is enough only if the records are already clean and the business runs without you.
Should I tell my accountant first?
Usually yes, because the add back schedule and the tax shape of the sale start there. Tell them what you are considering rather than asking them to run the sale, which is a different job.
Is it better to sell when the numbers are rising?
Yes, and that is not a trick. Buyers price the last twelve months and the story of the next twelve, and a rising line makes the story easy. Selling after a bad year means arguing that the bad year was exceptional, which is a much harder sale.