What is the FUTURE BUYER READINESS CHECK?
The Future Buyer Readiness Check helps owner-managed businesses consider how a future buyer may view the business.
It contains 21 questions across seven areas of readiness and takes only a few minutes to complete.
WHY THIS MATTERS
You may not be planning to sell.
The questions still matter.
A future buyer will want to understand whether the business can continue to perform without depending heavily on the current owner.
The same questions are also relevant when you are thinking about:
growing the business;
reducing your daily involvement;
strengthening the management team;
preparing for succession;
protecting the business against unexpected events;
or creating more choice for the future.
Buyer readiness is not only about selling.
It is about building a business that is more resilient, transferable, and less dependent on any one person.
WHAT THE CHECK EXPLORES
Seven areas that shape buyer confidence
The check explores:
1. Owner dependency
How dependent is the business on your daily involvement, decisions, knowledge, and relationships?
2. Leadership and management
Could other people lead the business confidently and make important decisions without you?
3. Customers and relationships
Are key customer relationships, commercial knowledge, and account responsibilities shared across the business?
4. Systems and processes
Are important activities documented, repeatable, and understood by more than one person?
5. Financial visibility
Can the business explain clearly how it makes money, where risk exists, and what drives performance?
6. Revenue resilience
How dependent is the business on particular customers, contracts, products, or individuals?
7. Future continuity
Could the business continue confidently if you stepped away unexpectedly or permanently?
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
A simple readiness score
For each of the 21 questions, you will select the answer that most closely reflects the business today.
Your responses will help you see:
where the business appears strongest;
where there may be uncertainty;
and which areas may deserve further thought.
The check is deliberately simple.
It is intended to start a useful conversation, not to produce a complete diagnosis.
WHAT THE CHECK IS NOT
A starting point, not a verdict
The Future Buyer Readiness Check is not:
a business valuation;
a formal due diligence review;
a sale-readiness certification;
an improvement plan;
a legal, tax, or financial assessment;
or a prediction of what a particular buyer would pay.
It is an introductory reflection tool designed to help you view the business from a different perspective.
Designed for owner-managed businesses
The check is particularly relevant for owners who:
remain central to the daily running of the business;
hold important knowledge or relationships personally;
are considering growth, succession, or stepping back;
want to understand what may concern a future buyer;
or are simply curious about how transferable the business may be.
You do not need to be preparing for a sale.
You only need to be willing to look at the business honestly.
WHO IT’S FOR
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Your results belong to you
Once you complete the check, take time to consider the areas where you felt confident and the areas where the answer was less clear.
You may decide that the check has given you enough to think about.
You may also find that a conversation would help you interpret what the answers could mean for the business.
There is no obligation to continue.
Take ACTION
See what a future buyer may notice.
Twenty-one questions.
Seven areas of readiness.
One clearer view of the business.