Question 1

What is my business worth?

Accepted Answer

It comes down to your sustainable profit and your sector, adjusted for how much of that profit is real, repeatable and transferable to a new owner. We normalise your earnings (EBITDA or seller's discretionary earnings), add back genuine one-off and personal costs, then apply the multiple your sector actually trades at and adjust for risk: customer concentration, owner reliance, lease, staff and growth trend. A free appraisal gives you an honest range you can defend in front of a buyer, not an inflated number designed to win your listing. The number that wins the listing is not the number that settles the deal.

Question 2

How long does it take to sell a business?

Accepted Answer

Around eight months on average, from first conversation to money in your account. Our fastest was 30 days. The single biggest lever is how sale-ready you are before we go to market: clean financials, add-backs you can prove, contracts documented and the owner not holding every thread. Businesses that are prepared sell faster and for more. Businesses we take to market “as is” spend months answering questions that should have been answered on day one.

Question 3

Is selling confidential?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and we treat it as the priority it is. We market your business without naming it or making it identifiable, every buyer is qualified before they get close, and each one signs a confidentiality deed before any sensitive detail is released. You approve who sees what. Staff, customers, suppliers and competitors do not find out you are selling from us. A leak at the wrong moment can cost you staff and customers, so we do not take chances with it.

Question 4

What does the free appraisal include?

Accepted Answer

The valuation method and the assumptions behind it, a realistic price range, the buyer profiles most likely to pay the top of that range, and how and over what timeframe we would take it to market. It is delivered by email, free, with no obligation to list. And if we do not believe we can sell it, or that now is not your moment, we will tell you honestly and tell you why. An appraisal you can trust is worth more than one that flatters you.

Question 5

Why is the highest offer often not the best offer?

Accepted Answer

Because the headline number is not the money you keep. An offer of $4M with half of it tied to an earn-out over three years, conditional on the buyer's bank, is worth less than a clean $3.6M in cash at settlement. What matters is how much is cash on the day, how much is deferred and at what risk, what conditions sit over it, and how certain the buyer's funding is. We have watched sellers chase the biggest number into a deal that never completed, while the “lower” offer would have settled in cash. Read the structure, not just the price.

Question 6

What actually kills a deal once it is underway?

Accepted Answer

Surprises. Almost every deal that collapses does so because something turns up in due diligence that the seller did not disclose upfront: messy books, a handshake deal with a key customer, tax that was not quite right, an add-back that cannot be proven, a lease problem. It is rarely the problem itself that kills it. It is the trust that evaporates when the buyer realises they were not told. Put every skeleton on the table early. A known issue gets priced. A hidden one gets the whole deal walked away from.

Question 7

How much value does my business lose because it depends on me?

Accepted Answer

More than most owners want to hear. If the business needs you personally to hold the customer relationships, win the work and make every decision, then a buyer is not buying a business, they are buying a job that only you know how to do. That risk comes straight off the price, or turns up as a long earn-out to keep you tied in. The most valuable business is one that runs well without the owner in it. Build that, and you build the price.

Question 8

Should I keep pushing hard while my business is on the market?

Accepted Answer

Yes, harder than ever. The most expensive mistake owners make is taking their foot off once they decide to sell. Buyers pay for momentum, and they read your most recent months more closely than any historical year. If revenue drifts and profit softens during the sale process, expect the buyer to re-trade you on price, and they will be right to. Run it like you are not selling, right up to settlement.

Question 9

Which add-backs will a buyer actually accept?

Accepted Answer

The ones you can prove and that genuinely will not exist for the new owner. Your above-market salary, a family member on the books who does not work there, a one-off legal cost, personal travel run through the business: those hold up if the paperwork supports them. What does not hold up is optimistic “normalising”, soft costs you cannot evidence, or add-backs that are really just the business underinvesting. A buyer's accountant will test every one in due diligence. Claim ten add-backs you cannot defend and you damage your credibility on the ninety you can.

Question 10

Why do buyers pay less if one customer is a big slice of my revenue?

Accepted Answer

Because concentration is risk, and risk is a discount. If one client is 30% or 40% of your revenue, the buyer is really asking one question: what happens the day after settlement if that client leaves? Even a great business with a single dominant customer will attract a lower multiple, a bigger earn-out, or a chunk of the price held back until that customer proves it is staying. If you have twelve months before you sell, the highest-return work you can do is spread your revenue.

Question 11

When should I tell my staff I am selling?

Accepted Answer

Later than your instinct says, and on a plan, not by accident. Tell people too early and you risk your best staff leaving out of uncertainty, which damages the very thing you are selling. Usually the right moment is once the deal is essentially certain, often close to or after settlement, with key people handled individually and carefully. The buyer will often want to retain and reassure them, so we coordinate that message. What you never want is your team hearing a rumour from a customer or a competitor.

Question 12

Should I sell to a competitor?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes they pay the most, and often they are the most dangerous buyer in the room. A competitor can justify a strategic premium because your customers, capability and territory are worth more to them than to anyone else. But a competitor also gains the most from simply looking: your margins, your pricing, your customer list, your key staff. Some enquiries from competitors are genuine, and some are fishing trips. So we stage the disclosure. Competitors get qualified harder, sign the deed like everyone else, and the most sensitive information, especially customer names, is held back until the deal is well advanced and their commitment is proven. Sell to a competitor by all means. Just never educate one for free.

Question 13

How does my lease affect the sale?

Accepted Answer

Far more than owners expect. If your premises matter to the business and you have a short lease or a landlord who can refuse to assign it, you have handed the buyer and the landlord a lever over your deal. A buyer will not pay full value for a business that might have to move in a year. Before you go to market, know your remaining term, your options to renew, and whether assignment needs landlord consent. Sorting the lease early has saved more deals than almost anything else we do.

Question 14

Should I take cash at settlement, an earn-out, or vendor finance?

Accepted Answer

Cash at settlement is king because it carries no future risk to you. Earn-outs and vendor finance can lift your total price and can be the thing that gets a good buyer across the line, but only take them with your eyes open, because you are now partly relying on the buyer's future performance or their willingness to pay. If you accept a deferred component, tie it to something clean and measurable, get security where you can, and never accept an earn-out built on a number the new owner controls and you do not. Structure it wrong and you are financing your own buyer with no say in how they run it.

Question 15

Is it better to sell the company or just the business assets?

Accepted Answer

Most SME sales in Australia are asset sales: the buyer takes the business, the name, the equipment, the goodwill and usually the staff, and leaves the company shell and its history with you. Share sales, where the buyer takes the company itself, tend to happen when contracts, licences or accreditations are hard to transfer. Buyers usually prefer assets because they do not inherit the company's past liabilities. Sellers sometimes prefer shares because the exit is cleaner and the tax outcome can differ. The structure affects the price, the risk and the tax on both sides, so it is a negotiation lever, not paperwork. Get your accountant across it before you agree anything.

Question 16

When is the right time to sell?

Accepted Answer

The best exits are planned years ahead, not decided the week you burn out. You want to sell into strength: two or three years of clean, documented growth, the business running without you, and you with the energy to steer the process. The worst time to sell is when you are exhausted, the numbers are sliding, or you are forced to by health or circumstance, because buyers can smell a distressed sale and they price it. If you think you might sell in three years, the work starts now.

Question 17

How do I stop a buyer chipping the price at the last minute?

Accepted Answer

Re-trading, where a buyer agrees a price then reduces it late in due diligence, is a real tactic, and the best defence is preparation. If your books are clean, your add-backs are proven and you disclosed the issues upfront, there is nothing for them to “discover” and use as leverage. The second defence is competitive tension: a buyer is far less likely to chip you if they know another qualified buyer is waiting. We run the process precisely so that you are never negotiating with only one option.

Question 18

What is a normalised owner's salary and why does it change my valuation?

Accepted Answer

It is the market-rate cost of paying someone to do the job you currently do. If you pay yourself $60,000 but a replacement manager would cost $180,000, then $120,000 of your reported profit is really an unpaid wage, and a buyer will adjust for it. It cuts both ways: if you pay yourself $400,000 for a role you could fill at $180,000, the difference is a legitimate add-back that lifts your earnings. And because the price is a multiple of profit, the error gets multiplied. Misstate this by $120,000 and at a three times multiple you have moved the price by $360,000.

Question 19

Will I have to stay on after I sell?

Accepted Answer

Usually yes, for a handover, and that is normal and healthy. Most deals include a transition period, anywhere from a few weeks to several months, where you introduce customers, transfer knowledge and keep things steady. If there is an earn-out, you may stay longer. The key is to agree the length, the role and the pay for that period before you sign, so “a few weeks of help” does not quietly turn into a year of running the business for someone else.

Question 20

What about tax when I sell?

Accepted Answer

The difference between a good and a bad tax outcome on a business sale is often six figures, and it is usually decided before the contract is signed, not after. Australia's small business CGT concessions can reduce the tax on your sale dramatically, in some cases to nothing, but eligibility depends on things like turnover, asset levels, how long you have owned the business and how it is structured. Some of those things can be fixed with time and cannot be fixed in the week an offer lands. We are brokers, not tax advisers, so we will not give you tax advice. We will give you the advice that matters more: get your accountant involved the moment you start thinking about selling, not the moment you receive an offer.

Question 21

What is the most expensive mistake owners make in the year before selling?

Accepted Answer

Starving the business to pump the profit. Owners hear that price is a multiple of profit, so they cut marketing, stop hiring, defer the equipment upgrade and squeeze one great year of numbers. A good buyer sees straight through it, because the declining investment shows up in the trend and the state of the business. You do not get the multiple on a number the buyer does not believe is sustainable. Invest in the business as if you are keeping it. Ironically, that is what makes it sell.

Question 22

How do I spot a business that has been dressed up to sell?

Accepted Answer

Look at the trend, not the last year. A sudden jump in profit right before sale, marketing or R&D that has been cut to the bone, deferred maintenance, staff who have recently left, or a big pile of add-backs that are hard to verify: those are the tells. Ask why every add-back exists and ask to see it in the bank statements, not just the P&L. A genuinely good business usually looks steady and slightly boring in the numbers. The one that looks suspiciously perfect in its final year deserves the most scrutiny.

Question 23

How much cash do I actually need beyond the purchase price?

Accepted Answer

More than the deposit, and this catches first-time buyers out. On top of the purchase price you need working capital to run the business from day one: stock, wages, rent and suppliers before the money starts flowing to you. You also need a buffer for the settling-in period, professional fees for your accountant and lawyer, and any stamp duty or transfer costs. Walking in fully committed to the purchase price with nothing behind it is how good businesses get into trouble under new ownership. Plan the first three months of cash before you sign.

Question 24

Is an earn-out good or bad for me as a buyer?

Accepted Answer

It can be your friend. An earn-out, where part of the price depends on the business hitting agreed numbers after you take over, protects you if the performance the seller promised does not hold up, and it keeps them motivated through the handover. The trap is complexity: if the earn-out terms are vague or the targets are easy to argue about, you are buying a dispute. Keep the measure simple, clean and hard to game, and an earn-out can turn a risky deal into a fair one.

Question 25

Should I buy a business that depends entirely on the current owner?

Accepted Answer

Only with your eyes wide open and the price and structure to match. If the owner is the business, holding every relationship and making every call, then on day one you inherit their absence, not their success. It can still be a good buy if you can genuinely step into that role, if there is a real handover, and if the deal is structured so the owner is tied to a proper transition. But pay a premium for an owner-dependent business with a short handover and you may have bought yourself a very expensive problem.

Question 26

How do I buy a business through Forward?

Accepted Answer

Register as a buyer and tell us what you are genuinely looking for, and we will keep matched listings in front of you, often before they hit the market. When a specific business interests you, sign the confidentiality deed and we will send you the full Information Memorandum. From there we help you ask the right questions, structure a sensible offer and get through due diligence. Reach us any time on +61 2 7901 6954 or at admin@forwardbusiness.com.au.

Question 27

What kinds of businesses do you sell?

Accepted Answer

Established B2B businesses with turnover between $1M and $20M: manufacturing, wholesale and distribution, logistics and freight, IT and managed services, e-commerce, and professional and commercial services. We do not sell hospitality, and that is a deliberate choice, not a gap. We sell what we understand and where we have real buyers waiting.

Question 28

What do business brokers charge?

Accepted Answer

In Australia, fees generally run between 5% and 12% of the sale price, usually with a minimum fee, scaling with the size and complexity of the deal. We charge a modest upfront fee for the marketing and preparation work, then the bulk of our fee is a success fee, paid only when the sale completes. That structure keeps us pointed at one thing: getting you to settlement at the right price. Be careful of anyone who wants a large fee upfront and loses interest afterwards.

Question 29

Do I have to sign an exclusive agreement?

Accepted Answer

No. We only sign open agency agreements. You can engage other brokers or sell privately at the same time, and we are paid only if we introduce the buyer who completes. We would rather earn your loyalty by doing the work than lock you into a contract. In practice, most owners give us the run of it anyway once they see how we handle a confidential process, because multiple brokers marketing the same business quietly damages your price.

Question 30

How do you find buyers?

Accepted Answer

Four ways, working together: our own database of more than 3,000 registered buyers, direct and targeted outreach to the specific people who should own your business, the major marketplaces, and our own network, built helping 500+ owners. A broader buyer network, including buyers from outside your local area, simply means more competition and a better price for you. The goal is never one buyer. It is several qualified buyers competing, because a competitive process is what moves the price up and the conditions in your favour.

Question 31

Who will I be dealing with?

Accepted Answer

Real operators. Our brokers have built, bought and sold their own businesses, so you are advised by people who have sat in your chair, signed the guarantees and felt the weight of it. That matters when the deal gets hard, because most deals hit a hard patch somewhere between offer and settlement, and that is exactly when experience earns its fee.

Question 32

Where can I learn more before I buy or sell?

Accepted Answer

We share free, practical content for both buyers and sellers: real deal breakdowns with real numbers, how valuations actually work, and the lessons from 500+ owners we have helped. No theory, no pitch, just what we have learned doing this every day. Subscribe to our YouTube channel at @fbsaau for a new video each week, and join our newsletter to get our best thinking on buying, selling and what your business is really worth, straight to your inbox. Whether you are years away from a sale or actively looking now, it is the easiest way to get sharper before you make one of the biggest financial decisions of your life.

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