Business Brokerage &

Exit Planning

When You're Ready for What's Next, We'll Help You Get There.

Selling a business is one of the most important decisions you'll make as an owner. Whether you're planning for an eventual exit or actively considering a sale, Reale Business Advisors helps you build value, prepare strategically, and move forward with confidence.

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Build Value Before You Exit

We Don't Just Help You Sell a Business. We Help You Build One Worth Buying.


Too many business owners wait until they're ready to exit before thinking about what makes their company attractive to a buyer.

At Reale Business Advisors, we take a different approach.

We help owners strengthen the fundamentals that drive long-term value:

  • Leadership and accountability

  • Operational systems

  • Financial performance

  • Team development

  • Scalability

  • Strategic planning

When the time comes to explore a sale, you're not starting from scratch. You're prepared.

Experience You Can Trust

As business owners, buyers, and sellers ourselves, we've experienced the challenges that come with building a business, growing it, and planning for what's next.

That's why we take a hands-on approach to business brokerage and exit planning, helping owners evaluate opportunities, build value, and move forward with confidence.

Founder Perspective

Experience That Shapes Our Approach

Having personally bought, built, and sold businesses, I understand that planning an exit is about more than completing a transaction. It's about protecting what you've built and making sure the next chapter aligns with your goals.

That's why I work alongside business owners to help them create options, build value, and make informed decisions about the future.

Clay Reale

Founder, Reale Business Advisors

Frequently Asked Questions

Section 1: The Basics

  • Most business brokers show up at the end, when you've already decided to sell and you need someone to list the business. RBA is built differently. We believe the way you build your business determines what it sells for. That means we work with owners before a transaction is on the table; helping you build a business that generates consistent cash flow and is genuinely attractive to buyers. When the time comes to sell, together we are already the most qualified person(s) in the room. We know your business, your financials, and your goals because we helped you build toward them.

  • A business broker guides business owners through the process of selling their company, from establishing value and preparing the business for sale, to marketing it confidentially, qualifying buyers, negotiating terms, and managing the transaction through closing. The best brokers have done it themselves, not just for others.

  • No, but most owners who try to sell on their own underestimate the complexity, lose confidentiality, or leave significant money on the table. The difference between a prepared business and an unprepared one isn't just speed to close it can be millions of dollars in purchase price.

  • Business brokerage involves valuing the assets, the cash flow, the customer relationships, the staff, documented systems and managing a far more complex deal structure than a real estate transaction. It also requires protecting confidentiality throughout the process in ways that real estate never demands.

  • Most brokers have never owned and then sold a business themselves. Clay has more than once. He bought, grew and sold Sisco Safety delivering 20%+ EBITDA margins year over year, built it so it could run without him, conducted his own quality of earnings analysis, identified the add-backs that mattered, and sold it for over 20 times the original investment. He's not teaching theory. He's been exactly where you are.

Section 2: Valuation

  • Most small to mid-sized businesses are valued as a multiple of Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) or Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA). The multiple depends on industry, size, growth trend, customer concentration, and owner dependence. One of the most impactful things a broker can do is identify legitimate add-backs that increase your adjusted EBITDA — and therefore your purchase price. That's a skill Clay developed by doing it for his own exit, which returned over 20 times the original investment.

  • Seller's Discretionary Earnings is your net profit adjusted for owner compensation, one-time expenses, and non-cash items. It represents the true economic benefit a new owner would receive — and it is the foundation of how most buyer offers are calculated. Knowing how to properly construct and defend that number is one of the most financially consequential skills in the entire process.

  • Absolutely and it's often the smartest first step. RBA can provide you with an approximate value that will help you make an informed decision about timing, identify gaps, and build a roadmap for increasing value before you ever go to market. This is where exit planning and brokerage intersect.

Section 3: The Selling Process

  • On average, 3-12 months from listing to close for a well-prepared business. Businesses with clean financials, documented processes, and reduced owner dependence tend to close faster and at better terms. The work you do before going to market is the single biggest variable you can control.

  • Buyers sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) before receiving any identifying information. Marketing is done using a blind profile that describes the business without naming it. Employees, customers, and vendors are typically not notified until late in the process.

  • At a minimum: three years of tax returns and Profit & Loss Statements, a current balance sheet, a list of assets, lease or real estate details, and an operational overview. The more organized your documentation, the faster and smoother the process and the less leverage buyers have to renegotiate at closing.

  • A CBR — sometimes called a Confidential Information Memorandum or CIM — is the primary marketing document for your business. It tells your story to serious, qualified buyers: financials, operations, growth opportunity, and why this business is worth what you're asking.

Section 4: Buyers

  • Through a combination of channels: proprietary buyer databases, business-for-sale listing platforms (BizBuySell, BizQuest), direct outreach to strategic acquirers, private equity groups, and professional networks built over decades in business and banking.

  • Before sharing details about your business, buyers are screened for financial capacity, relevant experience, and genuine intent. The goal is protecting your time and your confidentiality from tire-kickers and competitors.

  • Three main categories: individual buyers (often career-transitioning professionals), strategic buyers (competitors or adjacent businesses seeking synergies), and financial buyers (private equity or search fund operators). Each has different motivations, timelines, and deal structure preferences.

Section 5: Deal Structure & Fees

  • Most business brokers charge a success fee of 8-12% of the sale price for smaller businesses, with fees scaling for larger transactions. Fees are typically paid at closing meaning your broker's interests are aligned with yours: get you the best price, at the best terms, with the deal actually closing.

  • Seller financing means you carry a portion of the sale price as a note, paid by the buyer over time. It's common in smaller transactions, can increase your pool of qualified buyers, and in some cases increases your total realized value. It is one of many deal structure levers and knowing how to use them matters.

  • In an asset sale, the buyer acquires specific assets and liabilities. In a stock sale, they acquire the entire legal entity. Most small business transactions are asset sales. The distinction has significant tax implications for both parties and should be evaluated with your CPA and attorney.

Section 6: Building Toward the Exit

  • That's actually the ideal time to start the conversation. The owners who get the best outcomes are the ones who built their businesses with the end in mind even if they weren't sure when or whether they'd sell. Clay spent nearly ten years building Sisco Safety before the exit. The systems, the team, the documented playbooks those weren't built for a buyer. They were built to run well. The exit was the reward.

  • Exit planning is the process of building a business that is transferable to a buyer, a partner, or the next generation on your terms and timeline. Most owners wait until they have to exit rather than choosing to. A Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) like Clay helps you get ahead of that so the decision is always yours.

  • Yes and that integrated approach is the heart of what RBA does. Clay coaches business owners using the Pinnacle Business Operating System, a proven framework that builds accountability, develops leadership teams, and creates the documented, scalable operations that buyers pay a premium for. But the reason this matters isn't just financial. Clay spent years building his own business without a guide carrying the weight alone, figuring it out the hard way. When he finally found one, everything changed. He sold for over 20 times his original investment. That experience is why he works with owners the way he does. When the time comes to go to market, he already knows your business better than any outside broker ever could because he helped you build it.

  • Most owners either wait too long or decide too fast. The honest answer is that readiness isn't just a financial number it's a combination of business readiness and personal readiness. On the business side: Can it run without you? Are your financials clean and defensible? Is your customer base diversified? On the personal side: Do you know what you're walking toward, not just what you're walking away from? Clay works with owners on both dimensions — and when the answers start pointing in the same direction, that's usually when the conversation shifts from building to selling.

Section 7: Getting Started

  • Schedule a confidential conversation. There's no obligation just an honest assessment of where you stand, what your business is worth today, and what your options are. Whether you're thinking about selling in six months or six years, the right time to start is now.

Ready to Explore What's Next?

Whether you're looking to grow, prepare for succession, or explore a future sale, we're here to help.

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