Confidential · Paid only when you are
You’ve spent years building your business. Selling it well means knowing what it’s worth, preparing for buyer scrutiny, protecting confidentiality, and negotiating terms that fit your goals, not just finding a buyer.
I bring a buyer’s perspective from investment banking, valuation, and acquisitions to the owner’s side of the table, from your first valuation through closing.
Quick answer
John M. Salony is an M&A advisor and business broker who sells privately held businesses with roughly $500K to $10M+ in revenue. He values the business, prepares it for buyers, markets it confidentially, and negotiates through closing. His success fee is 6% on a $1 million sale and goes down as the price goes up, with no upfront fees, and he is paid only as the seller is paid.
My commitment
A confidential process, a focus on the strongest outcome the market will support, and honest advice about where your business stands. For most owners, selling the business is the largest financial decision they’ll make, and often the one that funds retirement. It should be handled that way.
Blind marketing that doesn't name your business, a signed NDA before any buyer sees identifying details, and screening before anyone meets you. No advisor can guarantee a sale never becomes known, but these steps keep information tightly controlled.
Careful preparation, positioning your business for the right buyers, and negotiating price and terms on your behalf. The goal is the best result the market will reasonably support, not just any buyer.
Direct advice, not a sales pitch. If the timing isn't right or the business needs work before going to market, I'll tell you.
The process
A sale typically runs through seven steps over six to ten months, from a confidential first conversation to closing. Timing varies with the business, the buyer, and financing, and I’ll tell you what to expect before each stage so nothing catches you by surprise.
A private conversation about your goals, timing, and what you've built. Exploratory, with no obligation.
Typical timing: 30–60 min
A review of your financials, calculation of Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) or EBITDA, comparable transaction research, and a realistic value range.
Typical timing: Weeks 1–2
Normalizing financials, identifying value drivers, addressing likely buyer objections, and building the Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM) buyers review.
Typical timing: Weeks 2–4
Outreach to qualified buyers through direct relationships, targeted outreach, and industry channels, without disclosing your identity. Buyers sign an NDA before receiving details.
Typical timing: Months 2–5
Buyers are qualified for financial capacity, fit, and serious intent before they meet you, so your time goes to real prospects.
Typical timing: Ongoing
Managing offers, negotiating the letter of intent and terms, and guiding you through due diligence alongside your attorney and CPA.
Typical timing: Months 4–8
Coordinating attorneys, lenders, landlords, and licensing to close, then supporting the handoff to the new owner.
Typical timing: Months 6–10
Buyer types
Most buyers fall into three groups: individual buyers, many using SBA financing, strategic acquirers, and private equity groups. Which group pays the most depends on your size, earnings, and industry, so knowing who your likely buyers are shapes how the business is presented.
Experienced operators and former executives buying a business to run themselves, often with SBA 7(a) financing. They are the most common buyers for owner-operated businesses.
Larger companies in or near your industry buying to add customers, territory, or capabilities. They already understand your business, which can mean a smoother diligence process.
Firms buying platform companies or add-ons to businesses they already own. For the right business they sometimes pay the highest multiples, but they are selective about size and earnings.
Value drivers
Buyers pay more for businesses that are easy to verify, lower in risk, and able to run without the seller. These six factors usually decide where you land in your value range.
Service contracts, subscriptions, and repeat customers create predictable cash flow, one of the characteristics buyers value most.
A business that runs without you directing daily operations transfers more easily. Systems, documented processes, and capable managers widen the buyer pool.
Three years of accurate tax returns and clear profit-and-loss statements. Earnings you can't document are hard for a buyer to pay for.
When one or a few customers account for a large share of revenue, buyers see risk. How much it costs depends on contracts, the relationships, and your industry.
Rising revenue and profit generally support better multiples than flat or declining results.
Key employees who will remain after the sale reduce a buyer's risk. Heavy dependence on one or two people can lower value.
Valuation
Most owner-operated businesses are valued as a multiple of Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE); larger, management-run businesses as a multiple of EBITDA. The multiple depends on industry, size, growth, financial quality, and buyer demand.
SDE is the total financial benefit to one working owner: net profit plus the owner’s salary, personal expenses run through the business, depreciation, and one-time costs. It is the usual measure for businesses earning under roughly $1–2M, where the owner is central to daily operations.
EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) is used for larger businesses run by a management team. It deducts a market-rate salary for the owner’s role, so the earnings figure is smaller, but the multiples applied to it are usually higher. Private equity buyers generally work from EBITDA.
Example SDE valuation
Illustrative value range
$1,125,000 – $1,800,000
At 2.5× to 4.0× SDE. Actual multiples vary by industry and business, and can fall outside this range.
Avoid these pitfalls
The costliest mistakes are going to market unprepared and losing control of the process. Any of these can lower your price or derail a deal.
Listing before financials are normalized and objections are addressed gives buyers leverage to negotiate the price down.
A business is worth what a qualified buyer will pay. Overpriced listings tend to sit, go stale, and sell for less.
If employees, customers, or competitors hear about a sale early, key people may leave and customers may look elsewhere.
A sale often takes six to ten months. If results dip while your attention is elsewhere, buyers will renegotiate.
Owners who sell on their own often have a smaller pool of buyers, less negotiating leverage, and a harder time keeping deals together.
Income that isn't on your tax returns is very hard to get paid for. Buyers and lenders value what is documented.
With or without a broker
Most owners are better served by a broker, because valuing, marketing, screening, and negotiating a sale is a full-time job on top of running the business. It also helps to have someone who reads your business the way a buyer will.
Fees
My success fee is 6% on a $1 million sale, and the rate goes down as the sale price goes up. There are no upfront fees or retainers, and I am paid only as you are paid.
On a $1 million sale
You keep
$40,000 more
On larger sales my rate steps down further. Your exact fee is set out in writing before we begin.
6% applies on a $1 million sale, and the rate decreases as the sale price rises. Many brokers charge around 10% on a sale that size. I keep my fee lower by preparing materials efficiently and drawing on direct buyer relationships across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
No upfront fees and no retainers. If the business doesn’t sell, you owe no success fee. My fee comes from the money you receive at closing, and if part of your price is paid later, through a seller note or an earnout, the matching part of my fee is paid as you collect those payments.
Questions owners ask
Most owner-operated businesses are valued as a multiple of Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE); larger, management-run businesses as a multiple of EBITDA. The multiple depends on industry, size, growth, financial quality, and buyer demand. I can prepare a free written Broker's Opinion of Value as a starting point. Request an opinion of value →
Six to ten months from engagement to closing is a reasonable planning range for a well-prepared business, but some sales take longer. Pricing, financial quality, industry, and buyer financing all affect the timeline.
The process is built to prevent that: blind marketing, NDAs before any identifying details are shared, and buyer screening before introductions. No one can guarantee a sale never becomes known, but most owners tell employees and customers only at or near closing, on a plan we set together.
Only when you do. My fee is 6% on a $1 million sale and the rate goes down as the sale price goes up. There are no upfront fees or retainers. The fee is paid from what you receive at closing; if part of the price is a seller note or earnout, the matching part of my fee is paid as you collect those payments.
Ideally when the business is healthy, growing, and doesn't depend entirely on you. Starting to prepare one to two years ahead gives you time to fix what costs value. About the Exit Planning Program →
Most sales include a transition period, often 30 to 90 days, to help the new owner learn the business. Some buyers, particularly private equity groups, ask for a longer role or tie part of the price to an earnout. Transition terms are negotiated as part of the deal.
Privately held and family businesses with roughly $500K to $10M+ in annual revenue, across many industries. If yours is outside that range, one short conversation will tell us whether I'm the right fit or who would be.
Yes. I hold a commercial real estate license, so when you own the property your business operates from, the business and the real estate can be handled in one coordinated transaction, including a sale-leaseback if that suits you. Business and real estate transactions →
Other starting points
Then the best next step is preparation. The most valuable work often happens one to five years before a sale, while there is still time to fix what buyers discount.
For owners planning to sell in one to five years. Eight weeks, one-on-one, ending with a written plan: your value range, top value gaps, and a 12–36 month action plan. The fee is credited in full if you later sell with me.
Explore the Exit Planning Program →I handle business sales and the property they operate from together, so you don’t need two separate advisors.
Business and property sales →Confidential and no obligation
Start with a confidential, no-obligation conversation. We’ll talk through your goals, your timing, and what your business could be worth, and you decide every step after that.
Confidential · NDA before you share financials · 6% on a $1 million sale, lower above
