Start With What a Stranger Would Pay
Owners think about selling for many reasons. Some are ready to retire, a partner wants out, or a buyer called unannounced and nobody could say whether the offer was fair.
All of them need the same first fact: what a buyer with money and no history with your company would pay. Ask too much and the listing sits. Ask too little and the buyer keeps the difference.
A broker who sells companies in Northeast Ohio can show you a realistic range and explain what moves it up or down.
Buyers Pay for Profit, Not Sales
Provable earnings set the price. A company with seven million dollars in sales can still sell for about two million when margins are thin.
When the owner works in the business, brokers use seller discretionary earnings, which is what one working owner could take home. Bigger companies with managers in place are priced on EBITDA.
Most Main Street companies trade at roughly two to three times that cash flow. Where yours lands depends on risk, such as how much depends on you and how concentrated your customers are.
Our note on add backs buyers accept shows how that figure gets built.
A City That Still Makes Things
Cleveland grew on steel, machines and shipping, and many of those firms still operate as smaller shops and suppliers. Polymers, healthcare, printing, distribution and the trades add more.
Each draws a different buyer. Our companies buyers want pages explain what each one checks first.
Signs Your Company May Be Ready
- Annual sales near one million dollars or more
- Tax returns and internal books that tell the same story
- A team that keeps working when you are gone for a week
- No single customer making up a big slice of sales
- A lease, or a deed, that is current and written down
If a few are missing, you now know where to start. A broker can tell you which gaps cost real money and which ones buyers overlook.
How Long Selling Takes
Plan on seven to nine months from signing with a broker to closing. Six months counts as fast, though many owners feel it drags even when the sale moves at a normal pace.
Keep the company performing the whole way. A slump worries buyers, and a sudden spike just before listing makes them suspicious. Steady results sell best.
How the buyer pays also affects the schedule, which is why earnouts, seller notes and holdbacks are worth understanding early.
Why Owners Use a Broker
Most owners sell one company in a lifetime, and many buyers have done it before. A broker evens the match, screens buyers, protects your privacy and creates competition for your company.
The fee bothers some owners. Taxes on a sale usually cost more than the commission, and a good broker often earns the fee back through a better price or a deal that survives diligence.
A broker also helps you avoid signing a letter of intent with a buyer who called you directly. Those offers often come from people hoping for a bargain.
Who Sees Your Details
We send your answers to one brokerage partner, and we may be paid a referral fee. Nothing about your company reaches a buyer without your approval, and the first call carries no commitment.