A Price Range Before a Plan
Very few owners who reach out are ready to sell next month. Most want to know where they stand. Is the company worth enough to retire on? Enough to buy out a partner? Enough to make a few more years of work worth it?
The first call answers that. A broker walks through a realistic range, what pushes it up or down, and how long a sale from where you are now would likely take. You decide what happens after that, if anything.
The Companies We Hear From
Our owners run established companies, usually with $1 million or more in yearly sales. Plenty of them make or finish parts for the auto industry: tool and die shops, molders, coaters and the integrators who build the lines.
Others run dealerships, dental labs, pizzerias, snow crews and service firms that grew up with the neighborhoods around them. Our what we sell page covers several of them in detail.
We also hear from owners in Troy, Dearborn, Livonia, Sterling Heights and Novi. The suburbs page has notes on each.
How Buyers Arrive at a Number
Buyers don't pay for sales. They pay for profit they can prove. For most companies worth under about $2 million, the yardstick is seller's discretionary earnings: profit plus what the business pays you as owner.
Larger companies with managers in place are usually priced on EBITDA. Either way, the figure gets a multiple. Many established companies trade around two to three times their yearly cash flow.
A few things move a company toward the top of that range:
- Tax returns that match the books
- A team that runs the day without you
- No single customer, or single automaker program, carrying the company
- Leases, contracts and licenses a new owner can keep
Buyers also check those claims, line by line. Our page on what buyers check in due diligence shows what that looks like.
Model Years and Timing
Suppliers here tend to think in program launches and changeovers. Buyers do too. A company coming off a lost program will get hard questions, and a company that just won a five year award has a story to tell.
Still, waiting for a perfect year rarely pays. Multiples barely move from one year to the next. What moves your price is your own trend, so steady profit beats a one year spike.
The best time to ask about value is a year or two before you want out. That gives you room to fix the things a buyer would mark down.
Michigan Paperwork Comes Along
Every sale here carries state filings. Michigan expects a buyer to hold back money until you prove your state taxes are paid, so your tax clearance shapes how much cash you take home at closing.
Then there is the unemployment notice you owe the buyer before the transfer, the forms that close your tax accounts, and in some deals a liquor license. Our paperwork and taxes guides walk through each one in plain words.
What Happens After You Send the Form
A broker reads your details, then calls you. The call is about value, not a contract. If you want to keep going later, the broker explains how a confidential sale runs from listing to closing.
If you'd rather talk first, call (313) 555-0152 on a weekday. Or send the short form and pick up when the broker calls.