The fever can hit anybody over just about anything. It’s called “Buyer Fever” when we want something so much we throw logic out the window. It could be a car, a house, a job, an employee to hire, a spouse, and in my day-to-day world, a business (or to get out of a business).
Recently we were referred to a business owner who had the fever and desperately wanted out. Why? Because a couple years prior he got buyer fever and desperately wanted in. He loved the company’s services so much he had to have the company.
Unfortunately, the fever got in the way of logic and due diligence. The business seller had the experience, and more importantly, the required licenses to operate the business. The buyer had to hire someone with those licenses (there goes $100,000 out the door the seller didn’t have to pay).
Let’s be realistic, you have to have the desire for what you’re buying and in the case of businesses there’s a huge difference between, “I can see myself going to work there every day, adding value, and enjoying it” and, “I must have this, at (just about) any price.”
More realism – business buyer fever doesn’t happen that often. Most buyers are overly fussy and skeptical. With my clients I can only think of a few over the last 20 plus years. But I know it’s out there because every year I meet multiple owners who got buyer fever and are digging themselves out of it. It’s usually a good business bought the wrong way (meaning they paid too much).
It will be a hard lesson for the above owner, hard as in money-losing. Given it’s a specialty, licensed service I referred him to an industry expert because it needs work. Maybe the owner should have asked “The Magic Question,” described in the video below.
“Beauty is always transient, which is why it is so interesting. Ugliness lasts longer.” Stephen Bayley
