Pricing your business without scaring buyers off

An asking price does two jobs: it filters who contacts you, and it sets the ceiling on every conversation that follows. Price too high and you get silence, not offers. Price too low and you never find out what someone would have paid.

What buyers actually compare

Not your asking price against another asking price. They compare your multiple against businesses with similar earnings, then look at margin, customer concentration and how many hours you work. A high multiple with 45 owner hours a week reads as expensive no matter what the headline says.

Where the range comes from

The valuation tool applies a sector multiple to your reported earnings, then adjusts for recurring revenue, growth, how long you have owned it, how dependent it is on you, and customer concentration. It is a benchmark from reported figures, not an appraisal, and buyers know that.

The cost of pricing high

When to price above the range

• A contract or licence a competitor genuinely cannot replicate.
• Property included, where the range only reflects the trading business.
• Recurring revenue well above the sector norm, documented.
• A specific strategic buyer you already know wants it.

In all four cases say why in the listing. An unexplained premium reads as a seller who has not done the arithmetic.

Reducing an asking price

A reduction is public and buyers read it as leverage. Cut once and cut properly rather than in three small steps, and put a sentence in the listing saying what changed. Sellers who trim twice signal that a third cut is coming, and buyers wait for it.

What to do with a low offer

Read the reasoning before the number. An offer 8% under with a clear explanation about concentration is a negotiation. An offer 30% under with no reasoning is a buyer testing whether you are desperate. Counter the first, and ask the second for their reasoning before you respond.

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