A practical, month-by-month roadmap from your first thoughts of selling through to settlement and life after the sale.
By Graham Pudney | ABC Business Sales

Introduction

Selling your business isn’t simply a transaction. For most owners, it’s one of the biggest financial and emotional decisions they will ever make.

Most people sell a house several times during their lives. Many will buy and sell investment properties. Some will even change careers more than once.

But very few people will sell a business.

For many owners, their business has been part of their identity and family for years, sometimes decades, sometimes generational. They’ve sacrificed weekends, missed family events, worried about payroll, celebrated milestones, survived recessions, navigated COVID, employed locals and built something from nothing.

Then one day a thought appears.

“Maybe it’s time.”

Sometimes that thought arrives because you’re ready to retire. Sometimes you have just had enough.  Sometimes you’re exhausted. Sometimes another opportunity has appeared. Sometimes your health changes. Sometimes your children don’t want to take over. Or perhaps you’ve simply realised that while you’ve built a valuable business, you’ve never actually unlocked that value.

This guide has been written to help New Zealand business owners understand exactly what happens when selling a business, not just legally, but practically.

Over the next few chapters, we’ll walk through every stage of the process, from the moment you first think about selling to the day the money arrives in your bank account.

Why listen to me?

I’ve sat on both sides of the table.

Before becoming a business broker, I bought businesses. I sold businesses. I negotiated with buyers and sellers. I have taken over my family business then sold that.  I’ve experienced the excitement of buying a new opportunity and the uncertainty that comes with letting one go.

Today, I help business owners throughout Wellington, Marlborough and across New Zealand navigate that same journey.

One thing has become very clear. The businesses that achieve the highest prices are rarely the businesses with the highest turnover. They’re usually the businesses whose owners prepared well before they ever put them on the market.

Preparation creates confidence. Confidence creates competition. Competition creates value.

How to use this guide

Read the guide from start to finish or jump to the sections most relevant to where you are in your selling journey.

Throughout the guide you’ll also find ‘Graham’s Tips’—practical observations gathered from years of buying, selling and advising business owners.