Selling your business: what actually happens, step by step

Selling the business you built is one of the biggest financial events of your life, and for most owners it is also the most unfamiliar. You have never done it before, so it feels opaque and a little scary. It should not. Here is exactly what happens, in order, and where deals tend to wobble.

The typical timeline

Most trade business sales take three to nine months from listing to money in the bank. Smaller, clean, owner-operator businesses can move in 4-8 weeks. Larger platform deals take longer because there is more to check. Either way, here is the path.

Step 1: Valuation and preparation

It starts with knowing what you have. You get a ballpark valuation, then a broker firms it up using your adjusted profit and the factors that move the multiple. In parallel you tidy the things buyers will scrutinise: accounts, contracts, the customer list, the equipment register. This prep stage is where you quietly add value before anyone has even seen the listing.

Step 2: Going to market (quietly)

Your business is listed as a blind listing - the numbers and the story, but never the name. That protects your staff, customers and competitors while it is for sale. Buyers see enough to know if it is a fit, and nothing that identifies you. We cover why this matters in why blind listings protect you.

Step 3: Buyer enquiries and qualifying

Interested buyers enquire through the listing. Before any sensitive detail is shared, they sign an NDA and are qualified - are they serious, and can they actually fund the purchase? This filters out tyre-kickers so you only spend time on real prospects. Your broker handles this; you stay focused on running the business, which matters more than ever right now.

Step 4: Meetings and offers

Qualified buyers get the full picture and usually a meeting or call. Strong businesses attract more than one offer, which is exactly the position you want - competition is what gets you full price or above. Offers typically come as a Letter of Intent (LOI) or heads of terms: the headline price and the broad structure, subject to verification.

Step 5: Due diligence (where deals slow down)

Once you accept an offer, the buyer verifies everything they have been told. They will look at:

• Financial records, tax filings and bank statements
• Customer contracts and the concentration of revenue
• Supplier terms, leases and any liabilities
• Staff, licences, accreditations and insurance

This is the stage that breaks weak deals. If the numbers on the listing do not match the numbers in the bank, trust evaporates and the price gets chipped. If your books are clean, due diligence is a formality. This is the single biggest reason to get your books sale-ready before you ever list.

Step 6: Legals and completion

Your lawyer and theirs draft and negotiate the sale agreement - what is included, warranties, any handover period, and how the money is paid (often some upfront, sometimes a portion deferred or tied to a transition). When it is signed and funds clear, the business is theirs and the proceeds are yours.

Step 7: Handover

Most sales include a transition period - a few weeks to a few months - where you introduce key customers and staff and pass on what is in your head. Done well, it protects the value for the buyer and gets you cleanly to the exit.

Who does what

• You: keep the business performing, provide information promptly, make the decisions.
• Broker: values, markets, qualifies buyers, drives competition, manages the process to completion.
• Lawyer: protects you in the contract and gets you paid safely.

You do not assemble this team yourself. When you list with ContractorExit, we connect you with a vetted broker and lawyer from our network - and the first valuation costs you nothing. See the full picture on how it works.