Business Owners Skills Show at Sale Time

Business Owners Is The Business

A business tends to look a lot like the person running it.

If the owner makes decisions quickly, keeps the books up to date and has built a team that knows what it is doing, that usually shows in the way the business trades. If the owner is stretched, slow to act or keeps everything in their head, that shows too.

For most of the years someone owns a business, those habits are just part of day-to-day life. When it comes time to sell, they become something a buyer can see, test and put a price on. Across Bsale's conversations with brokers, the same message keeps coming up: the way a business has been run is a big part of what it is worth.

 

It's All About the Management

 

Phil Mammolito has seen this from both sides. Before becoming a broker and later a director at CRE Brokers, he spent years owning and operating hotels, motels, accommodation venues, restaurants and service stations. Now based in Melbourne, he sells pubs, motels and caravan parks, mostly across Victoria.

When it comes to pubs, he puts it plainly.

"There's no such thing as a bad pub really. It's all about the management."

He has seen what happens when an underperforming venue ends up in the right hands.

"I've got some great success stories where we've sold pubs turning over $300,000 or $400,000 a year. With the right operator in place, within a couple of years they're turning over ten times that, and the venue becomes a true destination."

That story works in both directions. A venue a good operator can turn around is often a venue a previous owner let slide. For an owner planning to sell, it is worth thinking about which side of that story their business sits on.

 

What Buyers Are Asking For

 

In Perth, Catherine Screaigh works with her family at Zircom Business Brokers, selling larger private businesses, often to strategic buyers. Like her father David, she trained as a Chartered Accountant before moving into broking.

Describing the Western Australian market, she was specific about where the demand sits.

"We are finding there is really strong demand from buyers for established businesses that have consistent profits and strong management teams."

Bsale marketplace data points in a similar direction. In the April to June 2026 quarter, email enquiry activity on Bsale rose by approximately 13% compared with the March quarter, with a clear preference for businesses that demonstrate cashflow, essential demand, simple operations or low owner involvement. Cleaning, home and property service businesses lifted their share of enquiries to approximately 6.1%, while laundry, vending and automated service businesses held steady at around 2.5%.

Those businesses are not attracting attention because they are glamorous. Buyers can see how they run, and they can picture themselves running them.

 

 

When the Owner Is the Business

 

There is a difference between a business that has a good owner and a business that only works because of the owner.

Dione Mauric, a director of Advantage Business Sales & Valuations on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, has written about that distinction. Looking at why some businesses sold in 2026 and others didn't, she pointed to owner dependency as an increasingly important issue.

"Buyers are more cautious about businesses where the owner controls every customer relationship, operational decision or key function," she wrote. "A capable management team, documented processes and systems that allow the business to operate independently can have a significant impact on both buyer confidence and business value."

It can feel like a contradiction.

The owner's energy and decision-making may be the very reason the business is profitable. But a buyer is not buying the owner. They are buying what stays behind when the owner leaves.

The owners who sell well tend to have built that into the business along the way. Customer relationships sit with the team as well as the owner. Processes are written down. The numbers are kept in a way someone else can follow.

 

Tight Systems Keep Deals Moving

 

Good management does not only affect value. It affects whether a deal gets done at all.

At Advantage, Dione and her husband Stephen Wolff, also a Chartered Accountant, split the work. She handles communication and negotiation with buyers and sellers. He handles appraisals, research and financial analysis.

"Stephen's the detailed guy," she said. "He makes sure everything is perfect because surprises kill deals."

In her article, Dione notes that buyers increasingly expect accurate financial statements, clear explanations of adjustments, lease information, employee details and contracts earlier in the process.

"Where this information is available and well prepared, transactions tend to maintain momentum," she wrote. "Where it is incomplete or inconsistent, confidence can quickly fall away."

This is where an owner who moves quickly makes a difference. A buyer's questions during due diligence are, in effect, a test of how the business is run. An owner who can answer promptly, with records that back up what they are saying, keeps the deal moving. An owner who needs weeks to find a document gives the buyer time to have second thoughts.

 

What a Very Good Business Can Achieve

 

Jonathon Parker, multiple AIBB Award Winner, sells a wide range of businesses in Western Australia, from liquor stores and taverns to supermarkets, lottery agencies and cafes. One of his recent sales shows what can happen when buyers see genuine quality.

The retail business was listed at $3.75 million, plus $500,000 in stock, for a total asking price of $4.25 million.

"We had five competing offers," he said. "I'd never seen that sort of competition for a business before."

It sold for $5.7 million.

"It was a perfect storm," Jonathon said. "It was a very good business and a very good result for the seller."

A busy Western Australian market played its part. But the starting point, in Jonathon's own words, was a very good business.

 

It Starts Long Before the Sale

 

Much of this is hard to fix in the weeks before a business goes to market. Clean financials, documented systems and a team that can run things without the owner are usually built over years, not assembled for a listing.

At Advantage, the relationship often continues after settlement. Stephen says the brokerage keeps in regular contact with buyers after a sale, helping them understand and improve the value of their business so they are well positioned when it is their turn to sell.

"We've sold a lot of businesses three times," he said.

Or, as Dione wrote; "Perhaps the biggest lesson from 2026 is that a successful business sale usually starts well before the business is advertised."

Tags: selling a business management business owner

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