Survey: Business owners weigh price against what happens next

Scott Bushkie

Guest Columnist

August 10, 2026

When we asked 750 business owners about their top worry when considering a sale, the leading answer was not surprising: money.

Thirty percent identified financial concerns as their biggest worry.

Another 18% pointed to deal structure and negotiation, while smaller groups cited legal considerations and market or industry conditions.

In all, that means roughly 57% chose a concern related to the economics or execution of the deal.

But owners were not thinking only about the transaction itself.

Sixteen percent were most concerned about the post-sale transition, succession or continuation of the business.

Another 13% worried about the effect on employees, and 8% wondered what would come next for them or whether they might regret selling.

After decades of advising owners through sales, I do not find the results especially surprising. 

What stands out is how closely these worries become connected once an owner receives real offers and has to decide what matters most.

Money is rarely just about price

“Financial concerns” can mean several things.

Owners may be worried about whether the sale will support their retirement, how much they will receive at closing or what they will owe in taxes.

The highest purchase price does not always produce the best financial outcome.

One buyer may offer more total consideration but require an earnout, seller financing or retained equity. 

Another may offer a lower headline number but provide more cash at closing and fewer conditions.

Working capital adjustments, indemnification provisions and the length of the owner’s transition can also change what a deal is truly worth.

The question is not simply, “Who offered the most?”

It is, “What am I receiving, when will I receive it and what risks am I taking to get it?”

Protecting the business may require tradeoffs

Nearly three in 10 owners identified either employee impact (13%) or the continuation and succession of the business (16%) as their primary concern.

That reflects something we see frequently – owners do not necessarily view their companies as financial assets alone.

The business may carry their family name, employ people who have been with them for decades or play an important role in the community.

We once represented owners who were choosing between a $15 million offer and a $17 million offer.

The lower offer came from a domestic buyer that planned to keep the business in the local community.

The higher offer came from an international conglomerate that the sellers believed might eventually move the operation overseas.

They accepted the $15 million offer.

The additional $2 million was not going to change their lives, they said.

Their employees had been loyal to them, and they wanted to go out to dinner in their community knowing those people still had their jobs.

Another seller saw the issue differently.

He had carried all the risk when business was difficult, and no employee had offered to give up a paycheck to help him through it.

When it was time to sell, he wanted to maximize his financial return.

Neither seller was wrong.

They simply defined a successful sale differently.

Priorities can change as the sale becomes real

The worry an owner names at the beginning of a sale process is not always the one that becomes most important later.

Only 8% of owners selected what comes next or possible regrets as their primary concern.

But in my experience, those questions often become more prominent as closing approaches. 

We have seen sellers derail a strong deal in the eleventh hour as the reality of leaving the business set in:

• What will I do next?
• Who am I without the company?
• Am I really ready to let someone else take control?

An owner can negotiate an excellent transaction and still struggle afterward if they have not thought seriously about what purpose they are moving toward after a sale.

Define success before an offer arrives

The worries identified in the study – money, employees, structure, succession and life after the sale – may look like separate categories.

In an actual transaction, they overlap constantly.

A seller may have to choose between more money and more certainty; a faster exit and greater value; or the highest bidder and the buyer they trust most with the company.

Those decisions are harder when a significant offer is already on the table.

Before entering the market, owners should ask what they want to maximize, what they want to protect, how much risk they will accept and how involved they want to remain.

Every seller wants a good price.

But not every seller wants the same deal.

The clearer you are about what a successful sale means before the process begins, the better prepared you will be to recognize the right deal when it arrives.