29 Jul Coordinating Productive Buyer Seller Meetings
When buyers and sellers meet, you never quite know what to expect. There can be magic, disaster or everything in between. As a business broker or M&A Advisor, you want to match the right buyer with the right seller in a highly efficient manner. After all, doing so puts money in your pocket and helps your clients too.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the key points that industry veteran Jim Parker has on the topic of these meetings. Parker is founder and owner of Boss Group International in Florida. He teaches classes for the International Business Brokers Association and is the State Chairman of Business Brokers of Florida.
First, it is vitally important to realize that rarely is there an offer before buyers and sellers actually meet. The all-important offer usually comes directly after this all-important meeting. As a result, you want to ensure that buyer-seller meetings are as productive as possible.
Properly Vetting Buyers
Considering the value of everyone’s time, it is essential that you pre-qualify every buyer. In short, you need to be sure that prospective buyers are financially able to buy the business. Yet, that is only the beginning. Prospective buyers should also have the proper experience and be a good fit for the business.
Going Beyond the Financials
Simply because a prospective buyer has the money does not mean that he or she is the right fit. During the process of investigating and learning about the business, the buyer may very well discover that he or she is not a good fit. If this happens, then a great deal of time and effort that could have been spent on the right buyer would be lost, not to mention that you could potentially damage your relationship with your client. Prospective buyers should have a good understanding of the business and what they are getting themselves into before taking the process to the next level.
Safeguarding Everyone’s Time
Your time is precious. If you want to keep your clients happy, you have to treat their time the same way. As Parker points out, business brokers need to remember that their time is their single most important asset and it should be guarded wisely.
At the end of the day, one of your main jobs as a business broker is to make sure that the right parties are meeting. Do your work correctly and you’ll make a match that ends in success.
