Knowing how long you’ll stay to help with the transition is critical.

Today I want to talk about transition. Every buyer will ask you how long you are willing to stay and help them with the transition after you sell the business. There’s no right answer, but this will depend on what you want to do post-closing. To help you with this, I’m sharing a few ways you can do this right.

First, you can tell a buyer that you can help for six months before leaving. This is fine, but it may reduce the valuation of your business because you won’t be there for the long term to help with the transition.

“Before you sell your business, consider how long you want to help the buyer after the sale.”

Your second option is to stay for a year or two. If you choose this route, the buyers gain confidence that all your relationships and sales contacts will stay with the business. Chances are the key employees will also stay. For these reasons, the buyer might pay you a little bit higher for your business going forward.

One of the things you want to consider before you take your business to the market is what you want to do and how long you want to help the buyer after the sale. If you’d like to discuss a strategy, call or email us. We’d love to hear from you!