Ten questions to ask any buyer before you sell

Most owners sell a business once in their lives. Most buyers have done it many times. That gap in experience is where good owners end up with outcomes they never intended: a staff restructure six months after completion, a deferred payment that never arrives, or a business resold to someone they would never have chosen.

The best protection is simple. Ask every buyer the same ten questions, early, and compare the answers. A good buyer will welcome them.

1. Do you intend to sell my business on, and when?

Many buyers plan to sell within three to seven years. That is not wrong, but it shapes every decision they make while they own it. Ask what happens at exit, and who the likely next owner would be.

2. How is the purchase funded?

Ask where the money comes from: the buyer’s own funds, investors, a lender, or a mix. Ask what approvals are still needed and when they will be in place. Plenty of good buyers arrange funding deal by deal. What matters is that they are open about it and the timetable is realistic.

3. Who makes the final decision?

The person you meet is not always the person who decides. Ask whether an investment committee, a board or a parent company has to approve the deal, and ask to meet them before you commit to exclusivity.

4. What happens to my staff in the first year?

Ask directly about redundancies, relocation, changes to pay or benefits, and who your team will report to. Vague reassurance is not an answer. Ask for it in writing.

5. Will the name, premises and customer contacts stay the same?

Customers buy from people they know. If the buyer plans to rebrand, move sites or switch account managers, you need to know before your customers do.

6. What role do you want me to play after completion, and for how long?

Some buyers need you for years. Others want a clean handover in three months. Neither is wrong, but it must match what you want for the next chapter of your life.

7. How much of the price is paid on completion?

The headline price and the cash on completion can be very different numbers. Ask how much is deferred, what any earn-out depends on, and who controls the decisions that drive it once you no longer run the business.

8. What will you change in the first 100 days?

A buyer with no plan is a risk. So is a buyer with a plan they will not share. The right answer is specific and honest: what will be invested in, what will change, and what will stay exactly as it is.

9. What have you built or run before?

Ask about the businesses the buyer has led, not just the deals they have done. Running a business through a difficult year teaches things that a spreadsheet does not.

10. What would make you reduce the price or walk away?

Ask this before due diligence, not after. A buyer who names the risks up front is far less likely to come back with a lower price at the last minute.

The answers we give

We ask owners to put these questions to us. We buy to own permanently, decisions sit with one principal, and we are open about how each deal is funded from the first conversation. We are as happy to discuss a staged retirement as a clean exit.

If you are thinking about the future of your business, we offer a confidential conversation and an indicative valuation range within 21 days. No fees, no obligation.