14 Dec Who Are The Business Buyers and What Are They Looking For? (Part 2 of 2)
Comment from Tom West
Two comments on the information in yesterday’s posting. First, some additional information on what businesses are in demand in today’s market. In addition to the top 20 posted yesterday, here is the October 2011 list of businesses that buyers searched for on businessesforsale.com, a leading site for businesses listed for sale.
1. Nightclubs
2. Miscellaneous Restaurants
3. Bars
4. E-Commerce Businesses
5. Websites
6. Convenience Stores
7. Restaurants
8. Café Bars
9. Pizza Delivery Businesses
10. Sandwich Shops and Delivery Businesses
Note some similarities, or rather, I should say, note a LOT of similarities. If I could procure a list from 20 years ago, it wouldn’t look much different, other than the E-Commerce Businesses and Websites. Too many business brokers are ignoring what buyers are really looking for. I get the feeling that today’s brokers are “above” selling bars or pizza shops and want to sell “middle market,” manufacturing, or what could be perceived as an upscale business. Let’s face it, you can’t be successful or make any money chasing businesses that the market place doesn’t want to buy!
The second comment is a scary one. According to the bizbuysell.com data, it would seem that the vast majority of the potential buyers, or, at least those searching the businesses for sale web sites, either own a business or have purchased one in the past. My concern is “Where are the first time buyers?” If they’re not going to Biz Buy Sell, they’re certainly not going to any of the other similar sites. I still believe that it’s the first time buyer that business brokers have to find. The “first-timers” have to still be in the marketplace. The only thing I can think of is that they didn’t choose to respond to the survey. Since I know that the folks at BizBuySell.com read our material, they will respond. In fact, I will see that they do. Hopefully, they can find out where the first-timers are.
