If you are selling your business, you may think it doesn’t matter if a buyer likes you or not – but in small business sales a buyer’s impression of the seller can mean the difference between a successful sale and a deal falling apart.

Why? You are a major part of your business, and like it or not, your actions towards your business and towards buyers not only say a lot about you, they say a lot about the way you’ve handled your business in your time as owner.

How do you ingratiate yourself to buyers? Here’s a few ways:

Be Personable

You will likely meet more than one potential buyer while your business is on the market, and whether you are freshly excited about the prospect of selling or you are completely burned out on the whole process, you need to be nice to any buyer you meet. A seller who is condescending or rude to a buyer has probably treated their employees and customers the same way. The buyer’s opinion of your reputation in the community can come across (whether accurate or not) in one bad interaction with a buyer.

Become An Organization Guru

Not all small business owners are masters of organization, but when you are trying to sell your business you need to at least appear as if you are. An unorganized owner may have let an important aspect of the business fall through the cracks, leading to issues down the road for any potential buyer. Ask your broker to help you get your books and business records in a buyer-friendly organized form before an actual buyer ever has a look.

Don’t Drag Your Feet

This one happens more often than you might think it would. One would think that all sellers are motivated to get their business to the closing table, but the selling process isn’t an instantaneous one. It typically takes between 9 and 12 months to get a business from listing to closing, and in that time many sellers get tired of having to answer questions and provide documentation to buyers. Don’t get burned out and start dragging your feet, as you will drive away perfectly good buyers out of their frustration with your perceived lack of cooperation.

Follow Through – On Everything

Nothing is more frustrating that when someone tells you they will do something and they don’t follow through. Deals fall apart everyday because a seller didn’t show up for a meeting, canceled at the last minute, didn’t provide a requested piece of information – you get the idea. Buyers are about to spend a very large amount of money on your business and they want to be reassured they are making the right decision. Knowing they can depend on you to follow through will help immensely with the confidence of a buyer.

Honesty Prevails

Every business seller has a few things they would love to keep from buyers, but the fact of the matter is buyers will almost always find the skeletons in the closet during the due diligence process. Anything you were not forthcoming about, anything you lied about – it will come out and it will likely kill your deal. Always be honest, about everything, because in a lot of cases seemingly large “skeletons” are something that buyers are willing to deal with if they are aware of them from the beginning.

If you are ready to sell your business, remember that you and your actions say a great deal to buyers about the way you run your business and the reputation your business has within the community. Do what you say you will do, be honest, be nice, and stay organized and you will set yourself up for a much more successful business sale.

Are you a business seller who has questions about why it is so important that buyers like you? Do you have an experience where clashing personalities between yourself and a buyer killed a deal? Please feel free to leave us a comment or question here, and we will be happy to answer any question you may have.

Michael Monnot

941.518.7138
Mike@infinitybusinessbrokers.com
1910 Park Meadows Drive, Suite 202
Fort Myers, FL 33907

https://infinitybusinessbrokers.com