Guide
How Long Does It Take to Sell a Business?
Most small business sales take six to twelve months from going to market to closing. Owners consistently expect faster, and the gap between expectation and reality is where bad decisions get made, usually in the form of accepting a weak offer out of fatigue.
Where the months actually go
Preparation and valuation: one to three months, longer if the financials need work. This happens before the clock most owners are counting even starts.
Marketing and finding a qualified buyer: two to six months, and the widest variable in the whole process. Price realism and industry demand drive it more than anything else.
LOI negotiation: two to four weeks. Due diligence and closing: 60 to 90 days on a clean deal.
What makes it take longer
Financials that need reconstruction. Landlord consent on an assignment. Franchisor approval of the buyer. Licence transfers, which in regulated categories like liquor, pharmacy and healthcare have their own statutory clocks you cannot compress.
Environmental review where property is involved. And overpricing, which is the most common cause by a distance: an overpriced business does not sell slowly, it sits until the price changes.
What you can compress
Almost all of the avoidable delay sits before you go to market. Clean books, a documented add-back schedule, the lease position confirmed in writing, licences and contracts gathered, and an honest price.
A prepared seller with a realistic number can close in six months. An unprepared seller with an aspirational number can spend two years discovering the same price.
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