Is your business ready to sell?
Gives your business a readiness score out of 100 for selling, and a plan for the next 12 to 24 months to raise it.
Your answer
Answer the questions above to see how ready your business is to sell.
About this calculator
For owners who might sell or step back in the next few years. It marks five things buyers look at: how much depends on you, how much depends on a few customers, how regular your income is, how tidy your books are, and whether a team could run the business without you.
You get a score out of 100, the areas to fix first, and a plan with suggested dates over the next 12 to 24 months. You type in your own figures: we don't connect to your bookkeeping, Companies House or payroll.
The marking scales are our own judgement of what buyers look for, not law. It's a rough guide, not a valuation, and it doesn't work out tax on a sale.
What happens to your answers
We don’t keep them. Your answers go to our server to do the sums and aren’t stored or logged. If you copy a link to your answers, they’re in the link itself, so only share it with people you trust.
How it’s worked out
Each area has a set number of points: 25 for how much depends on you, 20 for customers, 20 for regular income, 20 for your books and 15 for your team. Inside an area, each answer earns a share of the points.
A number such as weeks away earns nothing at one end, everything at the other, and a straight line between. A yes or no earns all or nothing. Each area is rounded to whole points (halves go up) and the five are added up: 75 or more is ready, 50 to 74 nearly ready, below 50 not ready yet.
In the example, 4 weeks away earns a third of its share and 40% of sales depending on the owner earns 60%. The owner scores 9 of 25, customers 10, regular income 9, books 12 and the team 4: 44 out of 100, not ready yet.
Worked example
Your business scores 44 out of 100 for being ready to sell: not ready yet.
our own marking scales, not law · your typed answers · every answer given · selling in 24 months
| Weeks you could be away: 4 (full marks at 12) | 3.33 points |
|---|---|
| Sales that depend on you: 40% (full marks at none) | 6 points |
| You approve most spending and decisions: yes | 0 points |
| How much the business depends on you, rounded to whole points | 9 of 25 |
| Your biggest customer: 30% of sales (full marks at 10% or less, none at 50% or more) | 5 points |
| Your three biggest customers: 55% of sales (full marks at 30% or less, none at 80% or more) | 5 points |
| How much it depends on a few customers, rounded to whole points | 10 of 20 |
| Regular income: 25% of sales (full marks at 60%) | 5.83 points |
| Months customers stay: 12 (full marks at 24, counted only with some regular income) | 3 points |
| How regular your income is, rounded to whole points | 9 of 20 |
| Months your books are behind: 2 (full marks at 0, none at 6 or more) | 4 points |
| Last yearly accounts filed on time: yes | 2 points |
| A profit report every month: no | 0 points |
| Personal spending through the business: yes | 0 points |
| Years in profit, of the last 3: 3 | 6 points |
| How tidy and up to date your books are, rounded to whole points | 12 of 20 |
| People who could each run a whole part without you: 1 (full marks at 3) | 2 points |
| Someone who could run the whole business for a month: no | 0 points |
| Main jobs written down: no | 0 points |
| Signed contracts for key staff: yes | 1.5 points |
| Whether a team could run it without you, rounded to whole points | 4 of 15 |
| Your readiness score | 44 out of 100 |
The score follows our own marking scales for what buyers look for. They are our judgement, not law or HMRC rules. Each area is marked from your answers, rounded to whole points and added up. Not a valuation, and not advice to sell.
Questions people ask
Is this a valuation of my business?
No. It shows how ready you are, not what the business is worth. A valuation needs your full figures and a person to look at them.
What if I don't know an answer?
Leave the number empty or choose not sure. We mark that answer cautiously and tell you how many points it could be worth, so you can find out and try again.
Why does it ask about my books and my team?
Buyers check both. A buyer who can't trust the profit figures, or who sees that everything runs through you, will usually offer less or walk away.
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