How long does it take to sell a business?

This is the second question almost every owner asks, right after what it is worth. The honest answer is that it depends on preparation more than anything else, but there are real ranges and it helps to know where the time goes.

The short version

From the appraisal to the day money changes hands, six to nine months is the realistic range for a well prepared business, and three to six of those months are the market campaign and the contract. Some go faster. Plenty take longer, and almost always for reasons that were visible before the process started.

What that range does not include is the preparation before the appraisal, and that preparation is where the price is actually made.

Where the months go

Appraisal and preparation. Working out what the business is worth, what a buyer will question, and what can be improved before anyone looks. This can be a fortnight if the records are clean, or it can be the twelve to twenty four months it takes to reduce owner dependence and build contracted revenue.

Preparing the information. Normalising the financials, documenting the add backs, assembling leases, contracts, plant lists and staff arrangements. Two to four weeks if the material exists, considerably longer if it has to be reconstructed.

Marketing and enquiry. The business goes to market anonymously and enquiries come in. Serious interest typically appears within the first four to eight weeks. If nothing credible has come through by then, the problem is usually price or presentation, not patience.

Meetings and offers. Qualified buyers meet the owner, ask their questions and form a view. Two to six weeks, running in parallel with continued marketing.

Due diligence. Once terms are agreed, the buyer verifies everything. Four to eight weeks is normal. This is the stage that most often runs over, and the cause is nearly always missing or messy information rather than genuine problems.

Finance and settlement. The buyer's lender does its own work. Four to eight weeks, sometimes longer if the business has unusual features or the buyer is using a specialised lender. Landlord consent for lease assignment happens here too and is a common source of delay.

What makes it slower

Records that do not reconcile. Add backs with nothing behind them. A lease with two years left and no option. A business that cannot run for a fortnight without the owner. Any of these adds weeks, and several together can stall a sale entirely.

There is also a cost to delay that owners underestimate. A business that sits on the market for a year starts to look like something nobody wanted. Buyers ask why it is still available, and the answer they invent is rarely flattering.

What makes it faster

Three clean financial years. Business and personal spending clearly separated. Every add back documented. Leases with genuine term remaining. Key contracts in writing. A business that keeps running when the owner takes a holiday.

None of that is exotic. It is just work, and it is far easier done calmly over eighteen months than urgently over six weeks.

The practical takeaway

If you are thinking about selling in the next two to three years, the conversation to have now is not about listing. It is about finding out where you stand and what would move the number. That costs nothing and commits you to nothing.