When the first steps of the businesses sales process are done correctly, buyer inquiries will start rolling in.  Depending on your industry and your company’s positioning in the market, the number of inquiries can be overwhelming.  A good business intermediary (broker) will pre-screen interested parties to ensure only relevant prospects are presented to you.  Prospective buyers are pre-screened through interview to weed out:

  • Curious parties who are not serious buyers
  • Parties fishing for seller information
  • Interested parties that don’t have the financial strength for acquisition
  • Interested parties that are otherwise not a good fit

An experienced intermediary will be able to quickly identify serious buyers and which companies are best suited to purchase a business – without compromising confidentiality.  Without this experience, it is easy to waste time or overextend trying to court every inquirer.  After interviewing and signing a nondisclosure agreement, prospects are given a business review summarizing the business financials, opportunities, markets, competition, operations and personnel.  This document should be crafted to include enough information for prospective buyers to make an offer.  If confidentiality is a real concern, we consider crafting a “blind” business review where company name and location are not disclosed but everything else is.  Company name and location are disclosed only after establishing a firm understanding of buyer intent and what the buyer is willing to pay.

 

This is Step 5 in the 9 Step Sales Process, click here to learn more.