Questions to Ask Before Selling Your Landscaping Business
The clearer you are going in, the better the deal coming out.
Key Takeaways
- Most landscaping owners are great operators. Very few have sold a business before.
- Owners who know what they want from a sale, and why, tend to get better deals.
- Most owners can answer the questions about their business. The harder ones are about themselves.
- If you have a partner, go through the checklist separately, then compare.
- The questions you can’t answer yet are the most useful ones.
What should I ask myself before selling my landscaping business?
Start with five things: why you want to sell, whether now is the right time, how sellable the business is, what you want the deal to look like, and what you think it’s worth. Then look at the people around you and what worries you most. The pre-sale checklist below covers all of it.
Some of these questions are simple. Still, in our experience, most landscaping owners who start a sale process can’t answer some of them, and many can’t answer quite a few.
A good M&A advisor should work hard to understand your business: your services, your market, your crews, your managers and your numbers. They should be just as curious about you. Why do you want to sell? What do you want out of it? What worries you? At Exit, we go through both with every landscaping owner we work with, because an owner who isn’t clear on these things usually ends up with a worse deal.
How do I use this pre-sale checklist?
Be honest with yourself. For each question, tap I’m clear, Not sure or No idea. The ones you’re not sure about are the ones worth your time. When you’re done, tap the button at the bottom to see your list.
You don’t have to do it all at once. Pick the section that matters most to you right now and start there. Most owners can get through one section over a cup of coffee.
Why should partners go through it separately?
Because two owners often want different things. One wants out. One wants to stay. One has a number. One has plans for where the business goes next. If those differences come up for the first time in the middle of a deal, they get expensive. If they come up early, they’re just a conversation.
The pre-sale checklist: 32 questions
Let’s get started!
Do I want to sell, and why?
- 1. Do I really want to sell? If yes, can I say exactly why?
- 2. Could I run this business for five more years if I had to? Would I be happy doing it? If not, why not?
- 3. Is there something I’d do after a sale that really excites me?
- 4. Does the business still energize me, or am I going through the motions?
- 5. Are personal reasons for selling bigger than the business reasons?
- 6. Is something temporary in my life pushing me toward selling?
Is this the right time?
- 7. Is now a good time to sell, given where the business has been and where it’s going?
- 8. Is anything happening in my market that makes this a good or bad time?
- 9. Have competitors near me sold in the last few years? Do I know roughly what they got?
- 10. Would the business be worth noticeably more next year if things keep going like this? Have I weighed that against selling now?
- 11. Is anything going on right now, like a lawsuit, losing big accounts or a key person leaving, that makes this a bad time?
How sellable is my business?
- 12. Could I sell the business the way it is today? Do I know why a buyer would want it?
- 13. What would make a smart buyer hesitate?
- 14. Do my revenue, cash flow and profit over the last three years tell a good story?
- 15. Does the business depend too much on me?
- 16. Do I have crew leads and managers who could run things for a month without me?
- 17. Is the business big enough to interest private equity?
- 18. Is a big share of my revenue tied up in a few large accounts?
- 19. Do I know how much of my revenue is recurring maintenance and how much is one-time design and enhancement work?
What do I want the deal to look like?
- 20. Do I want to sell all of the business, most of it, or just a piece?
- 21. Do I want to stay involved after a sale? If so, how and for how long?
- 22. Can I name my top three goals for a sale?
- 23. Can I name the terms I’d walk away over?
- 24. Do I roughly understand what a sale would mean for my taxes?
What is my landscaping business worth?
- 25. Do I have a number in my head? Can I explain where it came from?
- 26. Has anyone outside the business ever valued it? How did I feel about the result?
- 27. Do I know what I could do in the next twelve months to make the business worth more?
Who else does this affect?
- 28. Besides me and any partners, who would a sale affect most? How much does that weigh on me?
- 29. Have I decided when my crews should hear that I’m thinking about selling?
What worries me?
- 30. Can I name my three biggest worries about selling?
- 31. Is not knowing what life looks like after a sale affecting how I feel about selling?
- 32. Is the process itself, the paperwork and the disruption, part of what’s holding me back?
Mark WagnerCo-founder, The Exit Group
Talk through the ones you couldn’t answer.
A short, no-obligation conversation with Mark Wagner, co-founder of The Exit Group. He’s built and sold businesses himself, and these are exactly the questions he helps owners think through.
What if I couldn’t answer some of these?
That’s normal. It’s the whole point. Most owners can answer the questions about their business and get stuck on the ones about themselves. Sometimes it’s the other way around. Either way, it doesn’t mean you’re not ready to sell. It means you’ve found the work that comes before a good sale.
What’s next?
If this checklist got you thinking more clearly about a sale, now or down the road, it did its job. The next step is talking it through with an M&A advisor who works with buyers.
To see what private equity buyers look for in a landscaping business, read Selling Your Landscaping Business: What Private Equity Buyers Look For. You can also see examples of the deals we’ve worked on by visiting our transactions page.
Frequently asked questions
Does this checklist tell me what my landscaping business is worth?
No. The Exit Group doesn’t do valuations, and this checklist doesn’t estimate value. It shows you which questions a buyer, or a good advisor, will ask that you can’t answer yet.
Do I have to answer all 32 questions?
No. Start with the section that matters most to you. Every question you can answer clearly puts you in a stronger spot when a buyer calls.
Does this checklist work for other home services businesses?
Yes. The questions apply to HVAC, plumbing, electrical, tree service, roofing, fire protection and other home services companies. Only a few of them are specific to landscaping.
Should my partner and I go through it together?
Separately first, then together. Two owners rarely want exactly the same thing from a sale, and it’s much cheaper to find that out at the kitchen table than in the middle of a deal.
Should I tell my employees I’m thinking about selling?
In most cases, not until there’s a real deal to talk about. News travels fast, and good crew leads have options. Most owners bring in key managers first, closer to the finish line, and tell the rest of the team once things are settled.
Is anything I enter on this page saved?
No. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere. Your answers stay on the page and are gone when you leave it.
Has The Exit Group worked on landscaping transactions?
Yes. The Exit Group has advised on landscaping, lawn care, tree care and snow management transactions. You can see examples on our transactions page.
Who is The Exit Group?
A buy-side M&A advisory firm. In most cases we’re retained and paid by the buyers: private equity firms, family offices and larger landscaping companies looking to make acquisitions. That’s confirmed in writing before any process begins. We work with landscaping owners to get their businesses ready for a sale and introduce them to quality buyers with capital ready to deploy.
Does it cost anything to talk to The Exit Group?
Every engagement is scoped differently, but in most cases we are retained by the acquirer, not the owner, and that is confirmed in writing before any process begins. A first conversation is a chance to understand where your business stands, with no obligation.
About the author
Mark Wagner is co-founder of The Exit Group, a buy-side M&A advisory firm that has advised on 200+ transactions. He has built and sold businesses himself.
The Exit Group is a buy-side M&A advisory firm. This checklist is a thinking tool, not a valuation, an offer, or legal, tax, or financial advice. Every business and every transaction is different.
For business owners
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Mark WagnerCo-founder, The Exit Group
A short, no-obligation conversation with Mark Wagner, co-founder of The Exit Group. He has built and sold businesses himself, and Exit has advised on 200+ transactions. He will walk you through what buyers are actively paying in your sector.
No fee. No commitment. This is not a formal valuation.