There's a phone call most owners secretly hope for.
A serious buyer with deep pockets. Genuine interest. Real money on the table for the business you've spent decades building.
A Term sheet with high multiples and a deal that’s almost too good to be true.
It's flattering - right up until the questions start. Because that call doesn't come when you're ready. It comes when they're ready.
At Exitable and through my work with Synergy Groups - I've watched that call play out more than once with business owners I'd put in the same bracket - both in construction, a similar sized company, with roughly the same level of profit.
One of the owners ended up squeezed into a corner. The other turned down good money, comfortably, and went back to running his business.
The difference between them is what this email is about.
Take the first owner. The conversation started well - buyers are always warm at the beginning. Then diligence began, and the questions did what diligence questions always do: they went looking for the business underneath the owner.
What they found was a business that couldn't answer for itself. The management accounts needed explaining. The forecast was last year plus optimism. The biggest client relationships lived in his head, and everyone in the room knew it.
Every question the business couldn't answer came off the price.
The initial generous offer was getting chipped away at during the due diligence. By the way - this happens a lot and is sometimes a ploy by the potential buyer.
Anyway, in the end he wasn't negotiating - he was basically just accepting. And the hardest part is that he'd done nothing wrong by conventional standards - he'd grown revenue, protected margin, worked relentlessly. He'd simply spent 20 years building profit, and no time at all building what the business looks like without him.
I know I sound like a broken record but buyers don't pay a premium for revenue. They pay a premium for transferability, resilience and strategic clarity.
Now the second owner. Same call, completely different conversation.
His numbers were clean and current - reporting that told him what was coming, not just what had happened. A leadership team that fully ran the business day to day. Operational systems and best practices in tip-top condition. Revenue that recurred rather than needing to be re-won every year. A brand that customers bought because of what it was, not because of who he was.
Within a month there were 3 interested parties, and that changed the dynamics of the whole conversation. Nobody could squeeze him, because he could always talk to someone else - or to no one.
So he said no. Not because the money was bad. Because he didn't have to say yes.
Here's what really matters: what separated these two owners was decided years before either phone rang.
Net assets to one side - in simple terms what your business sells for - depends on what it earns and the multiple a buyer applies to those earnings. Most owners spend their whole careers on the first and never touch the second. Yet the second is where the difference between these 2 owners lived: systems that run without you, leadership depth, clean financials, recurring revenue, brand strength. Each one moves the multiple. Each one also makes the business stronger and more profitable today, whether or not you ever sell.
And for owners who want to go further, the multiple can be grown directly - by creating scale through building a group via acquisitions or partnerships. The same is true of doing a public listing. You can chat with me about how this works, by visiting Exitable.
A well-built group is more resilient, more attractive to buyers, and worth materially more than the standalone company. It's one of the most underused moves at the £5M–£75M level, and it can do in 12-24 months what organic growth takes 5-10 years to achieve.
If you’re thinking - I'm not planning to sell, so why does any of this matter?
Neither was the business owner I mentioned. That's the point.
Exit readiness isn't about leaving. It's about never being forced into anything.
The owner who runs their company as if they might exit tomorrow ends up with a stronger, more profitable, more resilient business - and the option to take money off the table, in full or in part, whenever the timing is right.
The owner who files exit planning under "someday" ends up negotiating on someone else's terms, or not negotiating at all.
So here's something to think about this week: if a serious buyer called next month, would you be negotiating from strength - or a position of weakness?
If the honest answer is the second one, don't try to fix everything. Pick the weakest link - the reporting, the founder dependency, the revenue that doesn't recur - and start there.
The exit you get is a direct result of the business you build today.
All the best,
Gavin
P.S. If you'd like an honest outside view of what would come off your price if a buyer called tomorrow, that's exactly what our business audit is built to show you - where value is being suppressed, and what to fix first. Just reply to this email.
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For construction and building services companies - see how your business can win more work and waste less time - Visit McGideon.
