Cast your mind back to when a website felt like something only big companies needed. Then suddenly every business needed one.

AI is that moment, right now, for business owners thinking about selling.

In deal processes today, buyers are asking about AI earlier than most sellers expect. Not in a vague, futuristic way. In a very specific, pointed way: how does AI affect your business model? What happens to your margins if your customers can do in-house what they currently pay you to do?

If you haven't thought about this, buyers will notice.

The question buyers are really asking

AI is changing what's defensible. And if you're thinking 'this doesn't apply to us – we make things, we build things, we're nothing like a tech business' – buyers are increasingly asking the AI question regardless of sector, and the trend is only going one way. The question isn't whether AI affects your industry. It's whether you've thought about how.

The good news is that buyers aren't expecting you to have all the answers. What they are expecting is that you've asked yourself the hard questions, and that you've done something about it, however small.

Three things buyers are actually looking at

First, your data. AI is only as useful as the information behind it, and in many owner-managed businesses the data picture is messier than it looks from the outside – inconsistent systems, siloed reporting, gaps in customer records. Buyers read this as execution risk. So before you get anywhere near a sale process, ask yourself honestly: if a buyer asked to see how your data is structured and stored, would you be comfortable with the answer?

Second, what you've actually done, not what you're planning to do. There's a world of difference between a business that has run a couple of AI pilots with something to show for it, and one with a slide in the board pack that says 'AI opportunity TBC.' One demonstrates that management can execute. The other leaves buyers wondering if they can. You don't need a long list – one or two focused examples with measurable outcomes is enough to change the conversation.

Third, the growth story. A meaningful part of any valuation is based on what the business could become under new ownership. Buyers – particularly the more sophisticated ones – are increasingly building AI into their value creation plans from the outset. If you can show them where AI could drive efficiency or open new revenue lines, you're giving them something to get excited about. If you can't, you're leaving that upside on the table. Even a rough map of where the opportunities might lie is a better starting point than silence.

So where do you start?

You don't need to become a technology business. You need a clear, honest position on where AI affects your model, a tidy data foundation, and a handful of practical examples of AI in action – even small ones.

Businesses that have done this work attract stronger buyer interest and, in our experience, command better valuations. Those that haven't tend to find themselves on the back foot in due diligence, answering questions they weren't expecting.

The best time to start is well before you're thinking about a sale. The second best time is now.