Good Businesses Don’t Come to Market Everyday

If you wait for the perfect situation before attempting to buy a business, you could miss out on great opportunities. For example, let’s say a service business is cash flowing $250,000 per year and is priced at three times cash flow ($750,000). It comes on the market and we let our network of buyers know that it is available. There is competition for all businesses, especially the ones that are cash flowing well.

The typical process is that a prospective buyer (you) sees that we have the new listing and asks for more information. We email a packet of information about the business for you to consider. It may be a week or two while you think about the opportunity. Then you respond with questions asking for even more information. After four weeks of going through this information collection, there are probably already two or three offers on this business!

What the other guys did quickly was to allow us to set up a meeting with the seller in our office. They asked the seller these questions directly, which saved them time and gave them a better sense of the opportunity. This also showed the seller how serious they were about pursuing their business.

The moral of this story is to act quickly by letting us help you engage sellers directly. This doesn’t mean you are responding recklessly, just that you are moving with a purpose.