I was speaking with a business owner who told me he recently talked to a business buyer. The buyer had a list of questions and if the answers weren’t what he wanted the conversation was over. This before meeting the owner, impressing the owner with his skills, or seeing the business.
The owner “missed” on one question, the conversation was immediately over, and my comment was, “If that’s one of his criteria he’ll be searching for a long time.” I went on to ask if the buyer was Mr. X, it was, and I told the owner this buyer’s been out there for a couple years.
No wonder it’s taking so long. He has rigid criteria and he’s not concerned with building a relationship. I’ve been in the buy-sell world for 25 years and I can say with extreme confidence, the tighter the (individual not corporate) buyer’s criteria the less chance of a deal and the less emphasis on the relationship the less chance of a deal.
There are no perfect businesses and no perfect deals. What the above buyer wants is perfection when he should be looking for opportunity.
