How to Sell a Business in 6 Months

Almost every owner we speak with has heard a story about someone whose company took 12, 18 or even 24 months to sell. It doesn’t have to be that way. We regularly close business sales in under six months, and the difference usually comes down to preparation, alignment and refusing to let the process drift.

Ask business owners how long it takes to sell a company and many will give you an answer measured in years.

That answer usually comes from a horror story. A friend or contact set out to sell their business, and 12… 18… 24 months later they were still grinding through due diligence, or the deal had fallen apart altogether.

Unfortunately, that has become the prevailing expectation. It needn’t be. A well-run sale process can often move from engagement to closing in roughly six months.

Deals that drag on for years rarely do so because of one big problem. They drag because of dozens of small delays that nobody treated as urgent.

What Does a 6-Month Sale Process Look Like?

In our engagements, we work to a clear timeline from day one:

• Weeks 1 to 6: Planning & preparation of the marketing package; buyer target list development
• Weeks 7 to 12: Confidential buyer outreach; offer reviews & buyer meetings.
• Weeks 13 to 15: Deal negotiation; LOI signing.
• Weeks 15 to 24: Final due diligence; agreements drafting.
• Weeks 15 to 24: Final agreements signing; Closing.

Some would view that as a very tight schedule and it is. But the timeline matters most at the very beginning. If a process doesn’t start strong out of the gate, everything tends to drag from there onward.

Why Should You Test the Market Before a Full Launch?

We aim to be in market after a maximum of 45 days of preparation and to have most of the marketing completed by the end of month three.

But we don’t send the marketing package to every potential buyer at once. We start with a small handful of well-chosen targets, typically fewer than ten.

The objective is to get good, candid feedback on the opportunity and the “story” before the broader market sees it. That feedback may point to adjustments in:

• valuation expectations
• deal structure
• how the products or services are described
• the owner’s transition plan

If something needs to change, we change it quickly. Then we make a full court press on the rest of the buyer list.

Skipping this step, or being slow to act on what you learn, lengthens the process. Even worse, it can cause valuable prospective purchasers to drop off before you’ve had a chance to fix the story.

Is Your M&A Advisor Motivated to Close Quickly?

Everyone starts out with the best of intentions. But a timeline only works if everyone has a reason to stick to it.

Be careful of advisor retainers that last 8-12 months or longer. Your M&A advisor should be focused primarily on the payout at the end of a successful transaction, not on earning consulting revenue whether a deal closes or not.

If the total retainer represents meaningful revenue to your advisor, you don’t have alignment around getting a deal done quickly. When we pitch new clients, we tell them plainly that if a deal doesn’t close, it is very painful for us.

Why Does Every Day Matter in a Business Sale?

One thing is constant in the M&A business: Time kills all deals. The longer a process takes, the more opportunity there is for deal-killing hitches to pop up on the purchaser’s side or the seller’s.

Years ago, I was two days away from closing a transaction for a client with a publicly listed purchaser when the purchaser’s Board fired its CEO. The interim CEO put everything on hold. The deal fizzled away in the months that followed.

What made it worse was how much time had been lost earlier in the process. Our client went on vacation at least twice during the sale, for a week or more each time, and spent countless days on the golf course. Everything ground to a halt each time. Their professional service providers regularly took up to a week to turn around key documents.

None of those delays seemed significant on its own. Together, they cost the client the deal.

It happens more often than we care to discuss. Selling your company is likely one of the most important events of your life. Treat it that way. The Bahamas trip can wait.

What Should You Do Before the Sale Process Starts?

Even when everyone is aligned and focused, unexpected issues can still delay a closing. Most of them can be dealt with in advance. Before going to market, owners should consider:

• updating the company’s minute books
• making sure key customer and supplier contracts are current and signed
• completing estate and tax planning with their accounting and legal advisors
• confirming their accountant and lawyer have genuine M&A experience

Any one of these items can cause weeks of delay. Combined, they can add months.

The last point is often underestimated. An accountant or lawyer who handles your day-to-day affairs well may not be the right person to guide you through a transaction.

What Happens When Something Goes Wrong?

Something will. No matter how committed everyone is, and no matter how much advance preparation has been completed, issues inevitably come up that threaten to push the closing date out. Some of the most common include:

• approvals from customers or suppliers
• landlord approval for a lease transfer
• paying out existing bank loans
• other third-party consents required to close

These are often the items that push a transaction beyond a six-month window. You can’t always prevent them. But you can refuse to let them sit.

Identify them early, assign responsibility and don’t take your foot off the gas until they are resolved. Don’t let one of these delays become the one that kills the deal.

The Bottom Line

Selling a business in six months isn’t luck. It comes from a clear timeline, early market feedback, aligned advisors, preparation completed before launch and an owner who treats the process with the urgency it deserves.

Deals that take two years don’t usually fail for one big reason. They slow down one lost week at a time.

You spent years building the company. The sale deserves the same focus.