More... about Finding the Right Buyer

The right buyer is probably out there, but a seller may have to kiss some frogs on the way to the prince, and will want to do that in private. A seller won’t want a parade of buyers in or through the business on the way to the right buyer. Many buyers won’t be as concerned about confidentiality as the owner. Buyers may be eager to look, just to learn, even when the fit may seem quite unlikely.

Buyers will often have some experience in the process. At minimum, most will investigate several opportunities on their way to the right business and your business may not be first. Many will have a defined criterion with respect to location, size, sector, cash flow, and may be quite knowledgeable about the level of diligence required to reach an informed judgment.

Beginning with the first ad, make it easy for a serious buyer to recognize the intangible business-to-buyer fit, or not, as well as the tangible financial opportunity, or not, and continue to make it easy through the investigation period, but do so in a safe, secure and confidential non-identified manner until there are reasonable assumptions that the fit has real potential. So, along the way, ask buyers for reasonable assurances of confidentiality and intent and for demonstrations of capability, commensurate with the level of disclosure, but don’t ask for ‘an offer’ before providing enough information on which to form a serious offer.

It is not uncommon to very quickly identify a good buyer from amongst current contacts. Some business owner/sellers will choose to search our database of buyers and business-wanted ads, and may search amongst our participating brokers, who may be in touch with buyers not in our database. Some will choose to place a business-for-sale ad and let buyers find the business, and others will do both. We recommend doing both.

As was stated earlier, we have not seen a time during our involvement with businesses-for-sale and businesses-wanted, when there have not been more ready, willing and able buyers looking for viable businesses, than there have been good businesses-for-sale; or at least good businesses that have been beneficially presented for sale. 

Finding the right buyer begins with a fair market valuation that can be justified by fact, and then with a good business-for-sale ad describing the business in the manner that enables a buyer to in a material way recognize the opportunity, and it continues with the provision of material information thereafter, that will serve to confirm that justification.

By and large, when a sustainably viable business does not sell in reasonable time, either:

• Business buyers cannot not find or recognize the opportunity represented by the ads, or;
• The relevant facts are not available to them or are just too difficult to obtain, or;
• The relative facts do not support the price and terms.