When you're preparing for an exit, there’s one truth that underpins everything. Buyers aren’t just investing in what your business is today. They’re investing in what it can become without you.
That’s where many businesses come unstuck.
They’ve built something strong. The numbers are solid. The brand looks respectable. But when it comes to proving future growth — not just potential, but process — they don’t have the evidence. Marketing is fragmented. Sales is manual. And the only real growth plan lives in the founder’s head.
That’s not scalable. It’s not repeatable. And it won’t justify the multiple you’re aiming for.
So what does?
To prove your growth potential, you need more than projections. You need infrastructure. A joined-up sales and marketing process that works in the background, without dependency on individual effort. One that turns marketing from a cost line into a measurable commercial asset.
It starts with alignment. Sales and marketing working together, not in silos. One team generating demand, educating prospects, and warming up leads. The other stepping in to close deals that are already half-sold.
The businesses that exit well don’t just show revenue. They show how revenue happens. And they can prove it works without needing to be in the room.
We’ve seen this model work time and again to help businesses exit higher, faster, and with more confidence.
To fix this, you need automation. A CRM that doesn’t just store names, but captures financial value, tracks behaviours, and pushes the right message at the right time. A nurture flow that builds trust, educates, and surfaces high-value opportunities without manual effort.
And critically, every lead should have a potential commercial value attached. What’s the likely annual recurring revenue? What’s the lifetime value? When you can assign financial value at the earliest stage of the funnel, it does three things. It gives your sales team focus. It gives your reporting meaning. And it gives buyers something they can price into your valuation.
When this system is implemented properly, marketing stops being a support function and becomes a growth lever.
That pipeline is powerful. It doesn’t just show what you’ve sold. It shows what’s coming. That’s what makes your business more valuable. Because you’re not just handing over a client list. You’re handing over a machine.
Proving growth potential isn’t about forecasts or hockey stick charts. It’s about showing that your business can attract, convert and close consistently without you being the one pushing every deal through.
A sales and marketing process that works together, tracks commercial outcomes, and drives profit doesn’t just help you grow. It increases your multiple, de-risks your exit, and gives buyers the confidence they need to move quickly and pay more.
If you're preparing for sale, this is what you build.
Want t see what growth potential looks like to a buyer? Download The Forge® Guide to Exit Readiness