Selling your company is a fun, challenging and stressful time. It is when we realize monetarily all the sweat equity we have put into "our baby" but there is one major mistake and one major misunderstanding most companies make.
The mistake is made when most CEO's decide to sell their company, they look for a consultant or investment banker to help them navigate these unknown waters. Unfortunately this is usually too late to have any positive impact on valuation (selling price). The CEO will find themselves relegated to a financial price with the only up-side being if the consultant or I-Banker can get a bidding war going with 2 or three parties, this is not the norm and usually never comes close to a strategic valuation.
The major misunderstanding many executives have is when they decide to sell their company, most tell their consultant or banker they want a "strategic price". This means that they want a strategic buyer to pay a higher price, based on some intangible perception of increased value, vs a financial price, meaning simply a valuation determined but a multiple of EBITDA or revenues (which is always a lower price).
So how do you get a strategic valuation for your business? My tracking of deals would indicate that a great majority (probably > 70%) of strategic valuations are paid for companies that already have some form of relationship. If you decide to sell your company this year and expect a strategic valuation, it probably won't happen. The way to orchestrate a strategic price is to begin the liquidity (selling) plan 24 months in advance (18 months at minimum).
