In this concise 7‑minute interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Michelle Saller Tucker, founder and CEO of Saller Tucker Inc., a firm that has facilitated the sale of over 1,000 businesses and currently owns multiple companies. Michelle shares why she finds it amusing when business owners set unrealistic exit price expectations that are driven by personal financial goals rather than company valuation. She promotes her book Exit Rich, which outlines the GPS Exit Model and the 6 Ps framework for building a sellable business, and highlights the accompanying resources—transaction templates, checklists, and a membership to a CEO mastermind club—available at ExitRichBook.com. Michelle advises leaders to give back, emphasizing the concept of “relationship capital” as a non‑monetary return on networking. She recommends fellow author and financial‑literacy expert Sharon Lechter as a future podcast guest. The conversation concludes with a vivid recount of Michelle’s first corporate role at Xerox, where her sales talent led to a rapid promotion to regional vice‑president, reinforcing her belief that promoting top closers can diminish their effectiveness. Throughout, she underscores the importance of strategic exit planning, community support for small businesses, and providing practical tools for entrepreneurs seeking to exit rich.
Chapters
This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1, in a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
I'm Michelle Saller Tucker. I am the founder and CEO of Saller Tucker Inc. I specialize in mergers and acquisitions, really specializing in buying, selling, fixing, and growing companies. I've been in this industry for a little over 20 years. My firm has sold over 1,000 businesses, plus I also own other businesses. So, at any given time, I own 5 to 10 companies that I'm building to sell. That's what I do.
Well, Michelle, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Question number 2, what is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
I think what really makes me laugh, I don't know about smile, but what really makes me laugh is when business owners come to me and when I ask them, what do you want to sell your business for? They haven't planned for their exit. They haven't given it any thought whatsoever. All of a sudden they're like, well, I want $15 million. How did you come up with $15 million when your EBITDA, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and interest, is all of $100,000? And they're like, well, you see, you're laughing too. And they're like, "Well, that's because that's what I need to retire on," or "That's what I need to pay for 5 girls to go to college and their weddings," or "That's what I need to buy my next business." It's never based upon the value of the company. It's based upon what they need to exit their business. And buyers don't care about what you need. They care about the value of the company.
Mm-hmm. That is very insightful. Thank you for that. Question number 3. I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
They should read, there should be a chapter in that book called Exit Rich, which is my book. And they need to read the whole book, Exit Rich, because it's all about the GPS exit model, how to plan your in, how to plan the in with the day, from day one to starting or buying your business, and then how to build the infrastructure on the seller tucker 6 Ps.
Mm-hmm, I think so. I mean, and if you, oh, you start with the first chapter of your book and go through the whole thing, and you'll be very well educated on selling your business, I assume, right?
Absolutely. That's what Steve Forbes said, and he's endorsed our book.
Perfect. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
To other business leaders, um, give back, you know, really give back. I mean, entrepreneurs, most successful entrepreneurs that I know, and I, I'm a successful entrepreneur, I love to give back to other entrepreneurs. I love there's nothing that makes me happier than help other entrepreneurs become successful.
I love that.
Back to our community, because we want to keep entrepreneurship going. You know, small business is the backbone of our economy, employing over half the U.S. workforce. We got to really support small business.
I love that too. And it's— and in addition, I'm sure you must feel like this as well, when you give back to other entrepreneurs and stuff like that, there's this, this feeling of really contributing. And, uh, you know, it— that's something that you can't really put, um, a put a dollar figure on, am I right?
You really can't because it is a great feeling of contributing, it is a great feeling of connecting, you know, and I always say things come back in spades, and it might not necessarily be monetary, but you know, I always call it relationship capital. So if there's a time that you need something that for whatever reason you're having a hard time getting, you know, it's all about relationship capital, right? So you really want to build that network. Because you always say your network equals your net worth, but you really want to have that relationship capital.
Very well said. Thank you. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Sharon Lechter, who is a co-author of my book Exit Rich. Sharon Lechter wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad with Robert Kiyosaki. She's a New York Times bestselling author 5 times. She is also a CPA, financial literacy expert, and the advisor to many different presidents. And she has written the Mentor's Corner after every chapter in my book. So, that's who I would recommend.
Wow, that's a great one. Thank you for that referral. And our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
My first job. So, my first job, gosh, that was so long ago. I'm gonna tell you about the job that stands out to me the most. How about that?
Sure.
Oh, that's because I've always owned small businesses, so I've always really been an entrepreneur, but I did kind of get stuck in corporate America. So, I got recruited by Xerox. I was actually working for OSE at the time. Xerox recruited me because I was beating them on every deal. They would come in with the men, you know, all the men in suits with their donuts and their coffee, and they could never beat me. They can never beat me, one person. So, like, oh my God, we gotta hire her. So, they ended up hiring me, getting their attorneys, their team of lawyers on board because I had a pretty strict non-compete. So they worked around my non-compete and put me in different areas. But anyway, within 6 months, they're like, oh, somebody can't close the deal, get Michelle. Michelle can close it. She's the closer. She can close anything. And then within 6 months, my supervisor came to me and said, look, a vice president position just opened up, regional vice president position. She goes, it's going to be a grueling process, 3-month process. She goes, you won't— you probably won't get it because you've only been here for 6 months, and Xerox policy is you have to be 2 years before you're promoted. Plus you're competing with everybody else in the industry. I'm like, well, why would I ever interview for something I'm never going to get? And she's like, because it's the experience. You'll learn so much through this experience. And she was right. I did learn a lot through that experience. It was a grueling process with 3 executives— I mean, executives from all over the country— on Q&As, presentations, demonstrations, all of that good stuff. And but guess what? I did end up getting it. So I guess I am the closer. That's what I didn't like it when I got it. I didn't like it. So I tell all business owners, if you got a closer, don't promote them. Keep your closer. So that's when I ended up leaving Xerox and, and, um, and transitioning into franchise sales, franchise consulting, franchise development, selling hundreds and hundreds of franchises. And then we transitioned into mergers and acquisitions.
Wow, what a great story. And I totally agree with you, you know. Um, I, I remember because I started off in sales as well, and I remember the old adage that basically the quickest way to ruin a good salesperson is to promote him or her to management.
So they did, but they did me a favor because, you know, I like sales. I didn't like— I like management, don't get me wrong, I like management leadership. I don't like it in corporate America because in corporate America You got too much red tape to get anything done.
Mm-hmm, absolutely. Well, Michelle, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
Well, I would love to tell people first where they can get Exit Rich. Is that okay?
Absolutely.
So, everyone, we're in the middle of presale, and our book comes out in June, but you don't have to wait till June. You can go to ExitRichBook.com, buy Exit Rich today, $24.79. We will email you the digital download so you can start reading immediately. We'll ship the hardcover to your doorstep to anyone in the United States. And we will give you a lifetime membership into the Exit Rich book club where there's lots of training video content of me going into some deep dives and strategies in my book, plus documents. So all the documents you need to own your, to run your business and sell your business. So sample non-competes, sample employee handbooks, organizational charts, policy and procedure manuals, sample letter of intent. Sample purchase agreements, sample due diligence checklist, and closing docs. These documents are worth over $30,000 if you want an attorney to recreate. They're there for you to review, they're there for you to download to anybody who buys Exit Rich at ExitRichBook.com. Plus, we give a 30-day free membership to Club CEOs, which is a mastermind, an entrepreneurial mastermind where we ask those, those tough transformational questions and really help business owners build a sustainable, scalable, and sellable business so they too can exit rich.
Well, perfect. Thank you for that resource. And this is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
