A 2025 U.S. Bank survey found that 56% of small business owners worry they won’t get a reasonable price when they sell. That worry makes sense, but it fixes on the wrong number. The price a buyer names and the money you actually keep are rarely the same figure.

What separates the two is deal structure, the terms that decide how, when, and in what form you get paid. The sections below cover the structures that shape your take-home pay, from earnouts and seller financing to asset and stock sales. Knowing them early puts you in control of the result.

Why Isn’t the Sale Price the Money You Keep?

The headline price is the number a buyer offers for your company. Your proceeds are what lands in your account after everyone else takes their share. The gap between the two can be wide, and it is not a surprise you find at closing. It’s the sum of choices you make during the negotiation. Several items stand between the offer and your bank account:

• Debt payoff: The buyer’s payment first clears any loans or liens tied to the business.
• Transaction fees: Advisory, legal, and accounting fees come out of the gross proceeds.
• Taxes: Texas has no personal income tax, which works in your favor, but federal taxes still claim a share that depends on how the deal is structured.
• Escrow holdback: A portion sits in escrow for months to cover any claims raised after closing.
• Earnouts: Part of the price may arrive later, and only if the business hits agreed targets.

Say you accept a $5 million offer. If $800,000 goes to pay off debt, $300,000 covers fees, and $500,000 sits in escrow, $3.4 million reaches you at closing, and taxes still come out of that. If the buyer also sets a high bar for the cash and inventory the business must hold on closing day, known as the working capital target, any shortfall comes out of your check too.

Most of these items are negotiable, and the rest can be planned around. The sooner you map them, the more room you have to protect your number, and the more of the agreed price you keep.

How Does Deal Structure Decide Your Take-Home Pay?

Deal structure is where the real negotiation happens. The right mix depends on your business, not on a formula. Owners weighing the rules for selling a SaaS business often find that the easier the company runs without them, the stronger the terms they can ask for. Three structures do most of the work, and each one shifts a different part of your payout.

Earnouts: Payment Tied to Future Performance

An earnout ties part of your price to results the business delivers after closing. A 2025 American Bar Association study found that 18% of private company acquisitions it reviewed included an earnout, down from 26% in its 2023 study. Earnouts are common but far from automatic, so you have room to push back when a buyer proposes one.

Say a buyer values your company below your asking figure. An earnout can close that distance by paying the difference as the business hits revenue targets over the next year or two. The tradeoff is risk: you wait for that money, and whether it arrives depends on results you no longer fully control.

Seller Financing and Escrow: A Payout Over Time

Seller financing means you accept part of the price as a note the buyer repays over time with interest. Escrow sets aside a slice of the proceeds in a third-party account, releasing it once the post-closing claim window closes. Both spread your payout across months or years rather than one lump sum.

Seller financing widens your buyer pool, since more buyers can afford the deal, and it signals confidence in the business. It can also help you hold out for a higher price. The tradeoff is that you carry the risk if the buyer misses payments, so the note’s interest rate, security, and repayment schedule deserve as much attention as the price itself.

Asset and Stock Sales: The Tax Difference

Whether you sell assets or stock shapes your tax bill, and your tax bill shapes your net.

In an asset sale, the buyer purchases specific assets. Buyers often prefer this because they can write off the purchase price faster, but part of your gain may be taxed at higher ordinary income rates. In a stock sale, the buyer acquires the company itself, which usually means more of your gain is taxed at the lower capital gains rate.

Modeling both early shows which one leaves more in your pocket. On a multimillion-dollar deal, the difference can run into six figures.

How Do You Prepare Before Going to Market?

Timing favors sellers who prepare. A 2025 Florida International University article, citing Guidant Financial data, notes that roughly 10,000 baby boomers retire each day and that about 41% of small businesses are run by owners over 55. As more of those companies reach the market, buyers get more choices, and a well-prepared business is easier to pick.

Preparation is your edge. Owners who model their proceeds early negotiate from strength, because they know which terms protect their net.

The best time to shape your terms is before a buyer is at the table. Family businesses add another layer, and the considerations before selling a family business include fiduciary duties to relatives who hold a stake, timing the sale against market trends, and clearing up liabilities before a buyer finds them. A few moves protect your proceeds before a buyer appears:

• Clean the financials: Present clear, current statements a buyer can trust without heavy adjustment.
• Reduce owner dependence: Show the business runs on systems and a team, not on you alone.
• Model your net: Run the after-tax numbers for each deal structure before you negotiate.
• Set your floor: Decide the lowest proceeds figure you’d accept, so you know when to walk away.

Local conditions matter too. When selling a business in Austin, local buyer demand and what similar companies have recently sold for shape both your price and the terms you can ask for. An advisor who knows the local market reads those signals and structures the deal around your goals.

Turn the Price Into Proceeds You Keep

The sticker price makes headlines, but the deal structure decides what reaches your account. The 56% of owners who worry about price have the right instinct, just the wrong target: the way to protect your outcome is to shape the terms, not only the number. Earnouts, seller financing, escrow, and the asset or stock decision each move your net, and planning ahead gives you room to negotiate them.

If you’re weighing a sale, a clear read on your company’s value and how a deal could be structured is the place to start. IBEX offers a no-cost, confidential assessment that puts a number on your value and maps the terms behind it, so you know what you’d walk away with before you commit.