Your sale is probably going to be decided five years, four years, three years, two years before you actually sign the documents and turn the company over. Most business owners do not know this. They call a broker six months before they want out, hand over three years of financials in whatever condition they are in, and then wonder why they did not get the number they expected. The Exit Ratio 360 was created because there was a gap — consulting existed, books existed, information existed — but no comprehensive scoring system that let a business owner say with confidence exactly where they stood and exactly what needed to change. Get the book on Amazon. 🎧 Listen on Spotify
How the Exit Ratio 360 Works
The Exit Ratio 360 is an assessment you can take on your own or with a consultant. It evaluates your business across nine frameworks and gives you a grade based on dynamic scoring. Dynamic scoring means your score today is not your score in six months. The distance between your scores quarter over quarter represents the change in your valuation and what you can credibly ask for when you go to market.
What is the Exit Ratio 360 and who is it for?
The Exit Ratio 360 is a 360-point dynamic scoring system built specifically for mid-market business owners in the $10M to $250M revenue range who are preparing to sell or want to build a more valuable, transferable company. It evaluates nine frameworks across every dimension a buyer evaluates during diligence and produces a composite score, a ratio, and a specific improvement roadmap.
The Nine Frameworks
READY — Are you ready to sell? Not just the business, but you. Zero points — a decision system, not a scoring system.
LAUNCH — 30 points. Pre-planning and action readiness.
SCORE — 100 points. The biggest weight. Systems maturity, customer concentration, owner independence, and exit timing.
SELL — 40 points. The sales process and revenue quality.
SCALE — 50 points. Operational readiness. Can the business run if you leave Monday after closing Friday?
DRIVER — 60 points. Execution capability. Direction, rhythm, integration, velocity, evidence, and resilience.
EXIT — 40 points. The three timing signals. Economic climate, exit multiples, and buyer demand.
BENCH — 40 points. Leadership depth. Can your team make real decisions without looking at you?
THREATS — Standalone. Crisis protection. The shield for everything the other frameworks build.
What is the Exit Ratio 360 score and what does it measure?
The Exit Ratio 360 measures exit readiness across nine frameworks: READY, LAUNCH, SCORE, SELL, SCALE, DRIVER, EXIT, BENCH, and THREATS. Your total score divided by 360 gives you your exit ratio — a number that tells you with specificity where you stand and how much room for improvement exists before you go to market.
What does the Exit Ratio 360 score actually measure?
The Exit Ratio 360 measures exit readiness across nine frameworks: READY, LAUNCH, SCORE, SELL, SCALE, DRIVER, EXIT, BENCH, and THREATS. Your total score divided by 360 gives you your exit ratio — a number that tells you with specificity where you stand and how much room for improvement exists before you go to market.
How does owner dependency affect the Exit Ratio 360 score?
Owner dependency is one of the most damaging issues across multiple frameworks — it appears in SCORE, BENCH, SCALE, and DRIVER. Every place in the evaluation where only the owner can make a decision is a weak point that buyers will find. Those weak points become dings, the dings become dents, and the dents reduce the valuation you deserve after decades of building the business.
How does owner dependency affect the Exit Ratio 360 score?
Owner dependency is one of the most damaging issues across multiple frameworks — it appears in SCORE, BENCH, SCALE, and DRIVER. Every place in the evaluation where only the owner can make a decision is a weak point buyers will find. Those weak points become dings, dings become dents, and dents reduce the valuation you deserve after decades of building the business.
Full Episode Transcript
Aloha and welcome to episode number 41 — the Exit Ratio 360. Today we are going to go through what it is, how it helps you, and what you need to know.
What is the Exit Ratio 360 and who created it? The Exit Ratio 360 system is a process for you to go through when you prepare to sell your business. Your sale is probably going to be decided five years, four years, three years, two years before you actually sign the documents and turn the company over. I created this because I saw a gap — there is some consulting out there, there are books, there is information — but there was no comprehensive way to dynamically score where a business is.
The nine frameworks: READY — the front door, zero points, a decision system. LAUNCH — 30 points, pre-planning and action readiness. SCORE — 100 points, the biggest weight, systems maturity through exit timing. SELL — 40 points, the sales process. SCALE — 50 points, operational readiness. DRIVER — 60 points, execution capability. EXIT — 40 points, the three timing signals. BENCH — 40 points, leadership depth. THREATS — standalone, crisis protection, the shield for everything else.
Owner dependency is a huge problem. Every place in the book where you say “I have to make that decision” — you are identifying a weak point. Those weak points become dings, dings become dents, and dents reduce the valuation you deserve after decades of building the business.
The book is available on Amazon. Start the conversation at scottsylvanbell.com. You spent all this time building your company. You deserve to get every cent out of it that you can. Aloha and Mahalo.
Related: 5-4-3-2 Framework | Titan Thesis | BENCH Framework | DRIVER Test | Exit Ratio 360™ on Amazon
About Scott Sylvan Bell
Scott Sylvan Bell is a mid-market exit strategy consultant and the creator of the Exit Ratio 360™. His book is available on Amazon.