Thinking of selling someday? Start two years out.

Most owners start thinking seriously about selling when something forces the question: a health scare, an offer out of the blue, a partner who wants out, or simply being tired. Those are the hardest times to start. You end up selling the business as it is on that day, to whoever is ready to buy it.

The owners who get the best outcomes usually start about two years before they want to sell. Not because the sale itself takes two years, although it often takes most of one: the median time to sell across 16 industries in DealStats closed-deal data is 323 days. Two years is how long it takes to make the changes that matter, and then show a buyer, and the buyer’s bank, a clean record of results after those changes.

Three places to start.

1. Clean up the books

Buyers and their banks go through your financials line by line. The question they are answering is simple: how much does this business really earn, and can we prove it?

Many owners run some personal spending through the company. It is common, and much of it can be added back to show a buyer the business’s true earnings. But every add-back has to be documented and believable, and when one does not hold up, the earnings shrink and so does the price. (More on that in five things buyers look at first.)

What to do now:

• Keep personal spending out of the business, or track it clearly in its own account.
• Make sure your profit and loss statements match your tax returns, or that you can explain every difference.
• Close your books every month, on time. A buyer will ask for monthly numbers.
• Record every dollar of revenue. Income you cannot show is income a buyer will not pay for.

This matters more in 2026 than it used to. Since October 1, SBA-financed acquisitions must show 1.25x debt coverage on historical results, so lenders lean harder than ever on what your books actually show. Acquisitions of $3 million or more now also need a quality of earnings report.

2. Get it in writing

A handshake deal is worth a lot to you. To a buyer it is worth very little, because they cannot count on it once you are gone. Look at:

• Your lease. How many years are left, and can it be assigned to a new owner? A buyer’s lender will usually want the lease, with renewal options, to run about as long as the loan.
• Service agreements and big customer deals. Recurring work on paper is worth more than recurring work on a handshake.
• Key employees. Clear roles and fair pay, and for the people a buyer will depend on most, consider a plan that keeps them through the sale.
• Licenses, permits and vendor terms. Know which ones transfer to a new owner and which ones have to be applied for again.

3. Build your bench

A good foreman or office manager makes your business worth more. If every job, customer and decision runs through you, a buyer sees risk, and risk lowers the price. Train a lead person, write down how you do things, and introduce your key customers to your team. We wrote a whole piece on this one: could your business run for a month without you?

What two years buys you

Every change above takes time to show up in the numbers. A buyer and a lender will look at your last three years of results. Clean up the books this year, and you will have at least one or two full years of clean numbers behind you when you go to market. Build your bench this year, and a buyer can see that the business ran well with your lead person in charge.

Two years also gives you choices. You decide on the timing. You can wait out a slow season, fix a problem before a buyer finds it, or turn down an offer that is not the right one. Selling from strength, not urgency, is the biggest thing an owner controls.

Small steps now, a better price later. Start with a free, confidential estimate of what your business could be worth today, then talk to us about what would move that number.