A properly run sale process takes six to nine months from appointing an advisor to money in the bank: 4-8 weeks of preparation, 6-10 weeks of marketing, 4-6 weeks converting offers into exclusivity, and 8-12 weeks of due diligence and legals. That is the honest range for a founder-led business in the lower mid-market with clean numbers and a competitive process. The part most owners miss is that the price achieved in those six to nine months is largely set in the 12-24 months before the process starts.
What is the realistic timeline for selling a business?
Six to nine months, assuming you run a proper process rather than react to a single inbound approach. In our deals across the UK, US, Europe and the Middle East the shape barely changes by geography: the work divides into four stages, each with its own clock, and the stages mostly run in sequence. A deal that completes inside six months has usually had the preparation done in advance. A deal that drags past twelve has usually gone to market underprepared and is paying for it in diligence.
Note what the six to nine months excludes: it starts when you appoint an advisor, not when you first think about selling. It also assumes a share sale of the whole business at 8-9 figure enterprise value. Smaller deals priced on SDE can move faster because diligence is lighter; larger or cross-border deals sit at the top of the range because regulatory and tax workstreams multiply.
One number worth knowing: of the mandates we take on, 93% reach close. That is not luck. It is a function of only going to market when the business is ready, which is a timeline decision as much as a valuation one.
How long does each stage take?
The four stages of a run process, with realistic ranges for a lower mid-market business:
- Preparation: 4-8 weeks. Three years of financials rebuilt into a monthly pack, adjusted EBITDA and add-backs documented and defensible, the information memorandum written, the data room populated. Rushing this stage is the most expensive shortcut in M&A.
- Marketing: 6-10 weeks. Buyer list built and approached under NDA, management calls, site visits, questions answered. We run this against a network of 5,000+ verified buyers, which compresses the front end; cold outreach to unqualified buyers stretches it.
- Offers to exclusivity: 4-6 weeks. Indicative offers in, shortlist negotiated, final bids, heads of terms signed with one buyer. Competitive tension does its work here - this is where an extra 0.5x-1x of multiple is won or lost.
- Diligence and legals: 8-12 weeks. Financial, legal, tax and commercial due diligence running in parallel with the sale and purchase agreement. The longest stage, and the one where unprepared sellers lose price through retrades.
- Total: 22-36 weeks. Six to nine months in practice, because the four stages rarely all land at their minimums on the same deal.
What makes a sale go faster?
Three things, in order of impact. First, financials that survive scrutiny: monthly management accounts, a documented adjusted EBITDA bridge, revenue recognised properly. Diligence is quick when there is nothing to find. Second, a warm, qualified buyer list - a process that starts with buyers who already want assets like yours skips a month of discovery. Third, a decisive seller. Deals move at the speed of the slowest response, and an owner who takes two weeks to return each diligence request adds those two weeks to completion several times over.
One shareholder with clean title to the shares, no property complications and no change-of-control consents buried in customer contracts also helps more than most owners expect.
What slows a deal down?
Predictable things. A revenue dip mid-process is the most damaging: buyers reprice or pause, and a paused deal loses momentum it rarely fully recovers. Messy or cash-basis accounts add 4-8 weeks of diligence and invite retrades. Heavy owner dependence pushes buyers towards earnout structures, which take longer to negotiate and longer to paper. Surprises found in diligence - undisclosed liabilities, unregistered IP, related-party arrangements - each cost weeks and, worse, credibility. And the calendar itself: launch a process into August or December and expect the timetable to slip by a month.
The buyer's side has its own clock too. A buyer raising debt adds the lender's diligence on top of their own, typically 3-4 weeks. A private equity buyer needing investment committee approval works to a fixed meeting cycle. Neither is a reason to avoid these buyers - they are often the ones who pay - but it is a reason to ask every bidder, before granting exclusivity, exactly how they are funding the deal and what approvals stand between heads of terms and completion.
Why is the money made before you go to market?
Because price is a multiple of EBITDA, and both the number and the multiple are set before an advisor ever sends a teaser. In the lower mid-market, consumer and services businesses typically trade at 3.5x-9x EBITDA depending on category and scale. Every £100k of additional, defensible EBITDA built in the 12-24 months before sale is therefore worth £350k-£900k at completion. No amount of negotiation in week 30 matches that arithmetic.
The preparation window is also when you fix the things that move the multiple itself: reducing owner dependence, converting one-off revenue to recurring or repeat, diluting customer concentration, documenting processes so the business transfers without you. This is the core of preparing a business for sale, and it is why we tell owners to start 12-24 months before their intended exit, not when the first approach lands in their inbox.
Can you sell a business in under six months?
Yes, in two situations. A pre-emptive approach from a strategic buyer who already knows the business can complete in three to four months - but with no competitive tension you are trusting one buyer's number, and diligence still takes its 8-12 weeks. Alternatively, a genuinely prepared business - data room built, EBITDA bridge documented, buyer list warm - can run marketing and diligence workstreams in parallel and land near the five-month mark. What does not work is compressing the timetable by skipping preparation: every week saved up front comes back as two in diligence, usually with a price reduction attached. A sell-side process run properly is faster end-to-end than a fast start.
What to do next
If you are planning an exit in the next one to two years, the clock has already started. Get an indicative number from our free 10-question valuation tool, then talk to us about whether to go to market now or spend twelve months building the EBITDA first.
What is your business actually worth?
Run your numbers through our free valuation tool. Ten questions, an indicative range built on real transaction multiples, and the exact build-up behind it.
Get your free valuation ↗Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to sell a business?
Six to nine months for a properly run process: 4-8 weeks of preparation, 6-10 weeks of marketing to buyers, 4-6 weeks negotiating offers into exclusivity, and 8-12 weeks of due diligence and legals. Add 12-24 months of preparation before going to market if you want the best price - that window is where the EBITDA and the multiple are actually built.
Can I sell my business in 3 months?
Only realistically via a pre-emptive offer from a buyer who already knows the business, and even then due diligence alone typically takes 8-12 weeks. A three-month sale means no competitive process, so you are accepting one buyer's price. In our experience the discount for speed usually exceeds any benefit unless the offer is exceptional.
How long does due diligence take when selling a business?
8-12 weeks for a lower mid-market business, with financial, legal, tax and commercial workstreams running in parallel alongside the sale and purchase agreement. Clean, well-documented businesses land near eight weeks; messy or cash-basis accounts, undisclosed liabilities or missing contracts push it past twelve and often trigger price reductions along the way.
When should I start preparing my business for sale?
12-24 months before you want to go to market. Sale price is a multiple of adjusted EBITDA - typically 3.5x-9x for consumer and services businesses in the lower mid-market - so every unit of profit built or defended in that window is multiplied at completion. Deal preparation at engagement takes only 4-8 weeks; value creation takes a year or more.
What takes the longest when selling a business?
Due diligence and legal documentation, at 8-12 weeks. It is also the stage with the most slippage: slow responses to information requests, surprises in the numbers, or change-of-control consents in customer contracts each add weeks. Marketing takes 6-10 weeks and preparation 4-8, but neither stalls a deal the way an unprepared data room does.
Does using an M&A advisor speed up the sale?
A good advisor compresses the marketing stage by going straight to qualified buyers rather than discovering them - we run processes against a network of 5,000+ verified buyers - and prevents the diligence delays that kill momentum. Of the mandates we take on, 93% reach close. The bigger effect is on price: competitive tension in weeks 10-16 is what moves the multiple.