If your business sells something the market sees as a commodity, you’re swimming upstream. Buyers know it. Margins get tight. And when everyone’s selling the same thing, price becomes the only lever. That’s not a game you want to play.
We’ve studied this at scale—more than 80,000 business owners have completed the Value Builder Score. That data paints a clear picture: the average small business sells for about 3.9x pre-tax profit. But if your business has something unique—something buyers can’t easily find elsewhere—that number jumps 25%. Even better? You’re 40% more likely to get an offer in the first place.
Let me tell you about Rich Galgano. He didn’t invent a new product. He sold wire. Same copper as everyone else. But he did build something nobody else had: a better experience.
Turning Wire into a Brand
Rich owned Windy City Wire, and he was in one of the most commoditized spaces you can imagine—low-voltage wire. But instead of joining the race to the bottom, he got curious about his customer’s headaches.
His first move? Color-coded insulation. High-voltage wire already had it, but nobody had bothered with low-voltage. Rich did. It made installs faster, reduced errors, and saved his customers real time and money.
Then came the packaging. He designed a tangle-free box that made wire easier to pull and store. And he patented it. Suddenly, contractors weren’t buying wire—they were buying Windy City Wire.
He didn’t change the copper. He changed the delivery. And that was his moat.
The Result? $500 Million.
That better mousetrap turned Windy City Wire into the go-to brand for major contractors. Rich grew EBITDA for 32 straight years and sold to a strategic buyer for just shy of half a billion.
The Takeaway
You don’t have to reinvent your product. But you do need to make it different.
If what you sell feels like everyone else’s, start asking better questions. What’s slowing your customers down? What do they put up with that you could eliminate?
Solve those little friction points, and you might just find yourself sitting on a premium exit.
Curious what your business might be worth in today’s market?
I offer a confidential, no-obligation business analysis and market estimate. It’s a simple first step that could unlock your next big move.
Send me a message or click here to schedule a confidential call—I’d be glad to help.
