Sell the Savings: Turn cost synergies into a Higher Exit Price

You’re not selling a company. You’re selling the savings it unlocks for the buyer. That’s the cold truth that separates decent exits from great ones. The faster you make the cost synergies obvious and bankable, the faster your price moves north.

A founder I know ran a lean shop, strong brand, steady margins. Two buyers showed up. One offered a fair multiple. The other arrived with a list of what would disappear after closing—duplicate tools, overlapping roles, bloated freight, small vendor rates that would collapse under their buying power. Their bid came in higher. Same company. Different story. The difference was cost synergies brought into the light.

Why this matters now: deals are slower, multiples are tighter, and buyers justify price with math, not vibes. If you don’t package the cost synergies yourself, the buyer will still count them—then keep that value on their side of the table. Miss this, and you don’t just leave money behind. You invite a retrade later when they claim the savings were smaller than expected.

Say the quiet part out loud

Cost synergies are the savings a buyer expects once they combine your company with theirs—or simply run yours at their scale. Think line items that vanish. Two finance teams become one. Ten SaaS tools become three. Freight costs fall with better lanes and bigger carriers. Vendor prices drop when your volume rides a larger contract. Facilities consolidate. Insurance and compliance costs shrink.

Those savings fuel a premium—and they’re also the knife buyers use to cut your price if they think the savings are risky. If a buyer can save a million a year the day after closing, who should capture that value—you or them? The answer depends on how clearly you surface it, prove it, and price it into the deal.

Map your cost synergies before the first meeting

Build a simple synergy ledger. It doesn’t need to be fancy. It needs to be real. For each category, pin three numbers: annual savings, time to capture, and one-time cost to achieve.

Start with the obvious and keep the math clean.

• Procurement and vendors: combine volumes to unlock better rates; show current price, target price, and the email or quote that backs it
• Software and tools: list contracts with renewal dates; show what can be cancelled or consolidated, and any penalties
• Facilities and logistics: warehouses, carriers, routes, leases; outline what can be closed or renegotiated and when
• Overhead and org: duplicate roles in finance, HR, IT, creative, agencies, contractors; define what work moves and what stops
• Marketing and sales: shared media buying, creative reuse, channel overlap, partner programs with bigger rebates

Give the buyer a clean line of sight: “Vendor consolidation takes 60 days, saves $400k a year, costs $20k to switch.” The math doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to be credible and sourced.

Rule of thumb: identify savings equal to 5–10% of revenue in businesses with real overhead and vendor spend. If you’re already lean, the pool may be smaller. That’s fine. What matters is certainty and speed.

Turn savings into a price, not a promise

Most founders mention cost synergies in a sentence and hope the buyer fills in the blanks. Better: bring receipts. Put proof in your deck and your data room.

• Vendor emails with new pricing if combined volume is reached
• Contract pages showing termination windows and transfer rights
• A light org map marking duplicate roles and when they can roll off
• A lease schedule with options, sublease comps, and exit costs
• A simple 90-day work plan showing who does what, when

Then tie it to price. Show a conservative case and a base case. If your ledger shows $1.2M annual savings with $200k of one-time costs, that’s $1M a year for the buyer. Discounted, those savings are worth several million in present value. Make the ask explicit. You’re not saying “trust me.” You’re saying “pay me for the cash you’ll bank this year, and I’ll help you capture it safely.”

Need to bridge a gap? Share upside with a modest earnout tied to a few defined line items. Keep it simple and short. You’re pricing certainty, not selling hope.

Protect your downside while you sell the upside

Buyers love cost synergies. They also love using them against you if the groundwork is sloppy. Protect yourself three ways.

1. Lock definitions. If your price assumes a tool can be cancelled in 30 days, put that contract and clause on the schedule. If savings depend on a vendor moving to new tier pricing, include the email confirming the tier.
2. Control the transition. Spell out who does what in the first 90 days—and who pays for what. If you’re providing transition services, set scope, rates, and timing so the buyer can’t claim delays and claw back value.
3. Stop leakage at closing. Don’t let working capital or vague adjustments soak up your price. The more ambiguity in closing mechanics, the easier it is to chip away at the number you thought you won.

When you shouldn’t sell on synergies

Some deals won’t have rich cost synergies. Maybe you already run at startup-level overhead. Maybe your value is talent and relationships, not scale. In those cases, frame the story around growth, margin quality, and durability. Or do a short synergy sprint before going to market: cancel dead tools, renegotiate a couple vendors, clean up the org, and let those savings flow through your trailing months. The multiple you get on real EBITDA beats a hand wave about future savings.

If your buyer pool is mostly financial sponsors, they’ll still care about cost synergies—but they price certainty even more. Show what can be captured without a big platform. Make the easy wins obvious and the rest a clean option.

The founder move that changes the game

You built this business. You carried payroll through bad quarters, fought for every point of margin, and earned the right to be paid for what comes next. Here’s the move: do the buyer’s work for them—then charge them for it. Put a clean, credible ledger of cost synergies on the table, with proof and timing. Tie it to a number. Invite them to beat it, not debate it. You’re not just selling your past. You’re selling their future cash flow—delivered fast.

Key takeaway: you’re not selling a company; you’re selling the cost synergies that come with it. Price rises to meet savings that are certain and near.

Before your next buyer call, ask yourself: if the buyer could cut $1M in costs within 90 days of closing, how much of that ends up in your pocket—and what will you do this week to make sure the answer is “more than it is today”?