Prepare your business before contacting buyers

Agree on the outcome first

A sale process becomes harder when owners disagree about proceeds, timing or their future role. Clarify who can authorize the transaction and whether the objective is a full exit, a partial sale, succession or another arrangement. Identify requirements that are essential and those that can be negotiated.

This is also the time to discuss practical constraints with your advisers. A preferred completion date is not a plan if ownership records, financial information or key contracts are incomplete.

Build an evidence pack

Collect historical financial statements, current management accounts, a supported earnings-adjustment schedule and a view of normal working-capital needs. Explain significant changes instead of allowing a buyer to discover unexplained inconsistencies.

Add the operating evidence: major contracts, customer and supplier concentration, equipment condition, management responsibilities and relevant regulatory records. Organize the material so that each claim can be traced to a document. A large collection of files is less useful than a clear index showing current documents and known gaps.

Turn gaps into assigned work

The Transaction Readiness Checklist records an issue, a required action, a responsible person, evidence and decision status. That structure prevents “we are working on it” from becoming the permanent answer to a material question.

For example, if key customer relationships depend entirely on the owner, the action may involve introducing another manager and documenting account responsibilities. If inventory records are unreliable, reconcile quantities, age and valuation before promising a working-capital position. These are preparation tasks, not cosmetic changes to a sales presentation.

Control the release of information

Agree which buyers are appropriate, who contacts them and what can be disclosed at each stage. Confidentiality arrangements and a controlled document room support the process, but the quality and consistency of the information still matter.

The purpose is not to conceal weaknesses. It is to understand them, explain their implications and avoid making commitments the evidence cannot support. Before outreach begins, ask whether each unresolved issue is acceptable, subject to a condition or serious enough to delay the process. A reasoned decision to prepare further can protect time and negotiating credibility.

Turn a sale timetable into a preparation plan

Illustrative example — not a client transaction.

Imagine an owner seeking a sale within six months. Two important customer relationships depend on the owner, the inventory records have not been reconciled recently, and a key lease needs review. These issues do not establish that the business cannot be sold. They identify work that should shape the timetable before buyers receive a presentation.

Assign a manager to document customer responsibilities and begin an agreed transition. Have the accounting team reconcile inventory quantities and identify obsolete stock. Ask the appropriate adviser to review the lease and any consent requirements. Set completion evidence for each task: a named account lead, a reconciled inventory report and a documented lease position.

Review the results before approving outreach. If a major issue remains unresolved, decide whether to delay, disclose it with a proposed solution or adjust the transaction terms. A completion date should reflect these decisions; it should not force the team to present assumptions as settled facts.

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