Seven Deadly Seller Assumptions
Most business owners never see the traps they set for themselves. These Seven Deadly Seller Assumptions aren’t mistakes — they’re comfortable lies that feel true… until the buyer takes your leverage and your legacy.
Here are the seven assumptions that sabotage leverage, drain millions from your sale, and make an “ass-” out of “-u-” but not “-me.”
1. Selling my business will be like selling my house.
This is one of the most common myths. It feels logical: clean up the financials, slap on a fresh coat of paint, find an agent, wait for an offer. But a house sale is a simple asset transfer. A business sale is a high-stakes campaign to find the best strategic fit, tell the right story, and keep multiple buyers competing on your terms.
Hidden Cost: Treat it like most real estate — relying on mass exposure instead of precision outreach — and you invite the wrong buyers in and bleed leverage when the right ones don’t show up or feel no urgency to pay up. Mass exposure also signals to professional buyers that you’re easy prey for retrades and last-minute price drops.
2. I can run and grow my business while I sell it.
Mid-market owners believe this because they’re resourceful. But world-class M&A is a full-time job: positioning, narrative, buyer research, confidential outreach, and diligence prep.
Hidden Cost: Sellers who try to do both fail at one or both. The business stalls at the worst moment, buyer trust erodes, and you get retraded late in the game. Meanwhile, buyers have full teams working the process — you don’t. Split your focus and you undercut the very thing that commands top dollar.
The best return on your time is usually running the business for growth — because buyers pay a clear premium for credible momentum.
3. The price a buyer pays is mostly based on my company’s historical performance.
Past performance matters — but buyers pay for what they can do with it next. They care about future growth, strategic fit, and risk profile more than last year’s EBITDA.
Hidden Cost: Professional buyers often re-anchor you to stale past numbers to drain the premium you deserve. If you’re stuck in rearview metrics, you miss the chance to craft a forward story that unlocks strategic value.
A credible, defendable future unlocks multiple offers — stale history alone doesn’t.
4. All that matters is the price I sell for.
Headline price is only part of the real payout. What you keep, when you keep it, and what strings are attached matter just as much — sometimes more. Earnouts, escrows, indemnifications, reps & warranties, clawbacks — these buried terms can siphon millions away.
Hidden Cost: Owners who focus only on the top-line price often celebrate a number that never materializes. A big number today becomes a disappointment whenOr% is tied up in risky earnouts or gets clawed back by aggressive buyers.
Real value is what you keep after the deal is done.
5. Buyers will pay for speculative future performance.
Buyers don’t pay for hope — they underwrite for certainty. Speculative forecasts invite skepticism. What they will pay a premium for are credible markers of upside: signed deals, loyal customers, documented pipeline expansion, systems that scale, and a leadership bench ready to deliver.
Hidden Cost: Pitching pure potential makes you look desperate — and buyers discount accordingly. Hand-waving speculation destroys trust and leverage.
Documented, defendable growth plans attract a premium.
6. My M&A advisor will act in my best interest and keep the sale confidential.
Most business brokers and lower-tier M&A firms promise to represent you — but they’re double-dipping behind the scenes. They quietly accept fees from buyers, push in-house financing, blast your deal to anyone who will take a meeting — and many investment banks profit even more by cross-selling you post-sale wealth management, lending, or insurance. Your life’s work turns into a lead for their bigger business.
Hidden Cost: These conflicts drain your leverage and wreck confidentiality. Loose teaser blasts leak your plans to employees, suppliers, and lenders. A spooked team quits early or disengages.
An elite sell-side-only team acts as a fiduciary and runs a tight process that protects your leverage — and your legacy.
7. M&A advisors are a commodity. I should focus on their fee.
Too many owners treat their choice of advisor like buying insurance: cheapest wins. But your advisor determines whether you actually sell, how much you keep, and whether you sleep at night after close. A franchise business broker with generic docs is no match for buyers who field full teams across valuation, diligence, legal, and strategy.
Hidden Cost: Saving $100K in fees while leaving $5M on the table isn’t frugality — it’s sabotage.
Specialist M&A teams sharpen every angle of your story, keep buyers honest, and protect your time. Cheap is expensive when the stakes are this high.
Bringing It All Together
The Seven Deadly Sins seduce you with easy choices that cost you your soul. The Seven Deadly Seller Assumptions do the same. See them for what they are, and you’ll keep your leverage — and your legacy — intact.
Preserve your legacy by securing the best price, terms, and steward of your employees and company.
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