Selling a business is often more preparation than event. Owners who start early — typically 12–24 months before marketing — achieve cleaner processes, stronger buyer confidence and better pricing. Below is a pragmatic, corporate-style guide to the essential areas to review and the first practical steps to take.

Start with the numbers

• Compile 36 months of core financials (P&L, balance sheet, cashflow) and a current month-by-month year-to-date pack.

• Produce a one-page normalisation schedule that removes non-recurring items and owner-specific adjustments to show buyer-facing EBITDA.

• Ensure tax filings and payroll records are reconciled and any historic issues are resolved.

Commercial & customer certainty

• List your top customers and revenue concentration (top 5 as % of sales). Prepare short summaries of major contracts, notice periods and transferability.

• Document key supplier relationships and any single-source dependencies.

Operational resilience

• Identify single-person risks and create concise SOPs for critical roles (sales, operations, finance).

• Prepare a simple 30/60/90 day transition plan demonstrating how the business will run post-sale.

People & culture

• Produce an HR summary: contracts, notice periods, key hires and any incentive or retention schemes.

• Consider short-term retention packages for essential staff where necessary.

Legal & commercial housekeeping

• Gather leases, IP registrations, material contracts and insurance certificates. Resolve open disputes or disclose them early with mitigation notes.

• Set up a basic data-room index so documents can be shared in a controlled manner.

Confidentiality & process control

• Plan staged marketing (teaser → NDA → IM → data room). Appoint a single point of contact for buyer Q&A and limit site visits.

Engage advisers early
A broker, accountant and solicitor will accelerate preparation and help present value drivers without oversharing. Advisers also manage buyer interaction, protect confidentiality and reduce execution risk.