What Does a Buyer Really Look For in an SME in French-speaking Switzerland?

You have spent years building your company. You know every customer, every employee, every cog in your business. Naturally, when the time comes to consider a sale, you tend to highlight what you are proudest of: your expertise, your reputation, your recent growth, your latest investments. Yet a serious buyer looks at your SME through a very different lens from yours. Understanding that difference is essential if you want to approach a business transfer in the best possible conditions.

What you value is not always what the buyer examines first

The owner's pride is legitimate. But it can create a significant gap between your perception and an acquirer's frame of reference. A buyer — whether an industrial investor, a fund or a direct buyer such as Vendre-Entreprise.ch — does not ask “is this a fine company?” They ask: “can this company keep running and generating results without its current founder?”

That central question is the basis for their entire analysis. Here, point by point, is what they actually assess.

1. The recurring quality of earnings

The first filter is financial. A buyer wants to understand what the company really generates, once accounting distortions and non-recurring items have been stripped out.

They focus on normalised EBITDA: earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, adjusted for exceptional expenses or income. They also look at:

• Gross margin and how it has evolved over three years
• The stability of results from one financial year to the next
• Adjustments (add-backs): above-market owner remuneration, company vehicles, related-party rents — provided they are documented and justifiable

An SME generating a normalised EBITDA of CHF 500,000 or more over three consecutive years will be seen as structurally sound. A one-off performance in a single year, however exceptional, is not enough.

2. Dependence on the owner-manager

This is often the most sensitive point — and the most decisive. A buyer systematically asks: what happens on the day the seller leaves the company?

They want to understand who, in the current organisation:

• Takes the operational decisions day to day
• Maintains the customer relationships and generates the revenue
• Supervises production or service delivery

The more central the owner-manager is to everything, the higher the perceived risk. A company in which almost everything rests on a single person is structurally fragile in an acquirer's eyes.

3. Customer concentration

A buyer systematically examines how revenue is spread across customers. High concentration is a direct risk to the company's value after the transaction.

In particular, they look at:

• The weight of the top five customers as a percentage of total revenue
• The length of the commercial relationships and the nature of the commitments
• The risk of losing them in the event of a change of management

A customer accounting for more than 30% of revenue is a warning sign. It is not a deal-breaker, but it will influence the structure of the offer.

4. The key team and management depth

Beyond the owner-manager, a buyer assesses the team in place. They seek to identify:

• The presence of a second-in-command capable of ensuring operational continuity
• The average length of service of employees and their loyalty to the company
• Critical profiles: specialist technicians, senior salespeople, production managers
• The risk of key employees leaving at the time of the sale or afterwards

A stable, experienced and loyal team is one of the most valuable assets of an SME in French-speaking Switzerland. It reassures the buyer about the company's ability to get through the transition period.

5. Documented processes

A serious buyer asks: “is everything in the owner's head, or does it exist somewhere?”

They place great value on the presence of:

• Standard operating procedures (SOPs) for critical tasks
• A management system (ERP, CRM) used daily by the teams
• Clear and reliable monthly financial reporting
• Documented and traceable quality control

These elements signal that the company operates according to established rules, independently of individuals. It is a strong indicator of organisational maturity. To explore this subject further, read our article on due diligence and how a buyer will examine your SME.

6. Visibility on future revenue

A buyer is not only buying the past. They are also buying the company's ability to keep generating results after the transaction. They therefore examine:

• The order book for the next 3 to 6 months
• The renewal rate of existing contracts
• The share of recurring revenue (subscriptions, framework agreements, multi-year relationships)
• The strength of the sales pipeline

The greater the visibility, the more secure the valuation. A company with 60% to 70% recurring revenue is a markedly more attractive profile than a business built entirely on one-off projects.

7. Legal and tax cleanliness

A buyer — and their legal advisers — will review your company's regulatory and legal position. What they want to avoid are hidden liabilities that could weigh on the transaction or on future profitability.

In particular, they check:

• Employment compliance: employer social contributions, employment contracts, internal regulations
• The position on commercial leases: term, termination conditions, whether they can be transferred
• Intellectual property: trademarks, software, patents — are they actually owned by the company?
• The existence of ongoing disputes or identified tax risks

A clean, documented position speeds up the process and strengthens trust. To find out which documents to prepare in advance, see our dedicated article: which documents to prepare to sell your SME in French-speaking Switzerland.

What a buyer generally does not ask for

Some elements are often overestimated by sellers, even though they carry little weight in a serious buyer's decision:

• A brand-new website or a modernised visual identity just before the sale
• The adoption of the latest technologies if they are not central to the business
• Double-digit growth in the last year: consistency is worth more than a spike
• An ambitious expansion plan not backed by concrete data

These elements may be useful in the long term, but they have only a marginal influence on a valuation at the time of a sale. A buyer prefers a company that is solid and predictable to one that is ambitious but unstable.

Our approach at Vendre-Entreprise.ch: direct buyer, offer within 72 hours

Vendre-Entreprise.ch is not an intermediary or a sale adviser. We are a direct buyer of SMEs in French-speaking Switzerland, targeting companies with revenue of between CHF 1 and 8 million and a normalised EBITDA of CHF 500,000 or more.

During our assessment process, we analyse precisely the criteria described in this article: quality of earnings, dependence on the owner-manager, customer concentration, strength of the team, process documentation, commercial visibility and legal cleanliness.

After an initial confidential conversation, we issue a Letter of Intent (LOI) within 72 hours. No never-ending process, no multiple intermediaries. A direct, structured approach that respects the seller's time.

If you would like to understand how the period after signing will unfold, we invite you to read our article on the seller's role during the post-sale transition period.

Estimate the value of your SME and talk to us in confidence

Would you like a first idea of your company's value based on the criteria a buyer actually applies? Use our SME valuation simulator — a free, confidential tool calibrated to the realities of the French-speaking Swiss market.

Would you rather talk it through directly? Schedule a confidential conversation with our team. No commitment, no pressure.

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Disclaimer: This article is written for information purposes and is a simplified overview of the criteria generally used when assessing an SME in the context of a sale. It does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice. As every situation is unique, we recommend that you consult a qualified lawyer, accountant or tax adviser before taking any decision relating to the transfer of your company.