The most common question I receive is, "How is business." And I'm never sure the best way to answer that. Should I plug my services and skillsets, or just answer the question?
In the small business arena, there always seems to be people interested in buying business, and people selling businesses. Are the buyers real, and are the sellers serious? Those are two questions I ask myself multiple times a day.
Industry statistics show that roughly 9 of 10 buyer calls to business brokers ultimately never buy a business. So, my biggest job is trying to find out if someone is serious or not. You can tell the serious sellers mostly by how they price their businesses.
The biggest trend I see now is the reason behind the sale of business. There are more businesses now that are selling because they are losing money, and they should shut down. A buyer needs to be thorough in their due diligence, especially when it comes to the reason behind the sale, and the likelihood of the business continuing. I'd ask the seller or their representative in the first communication why the seller is selling (almost everyone does). I'd make a note of that and make sure the story doesn't change over time, and that it makes sense as you get more information.
The next big trend is the way business purchases are getting financed. It's harder to get SBA financing, though it was pretty difficult before the financial markets imploded. The two most popular ways businesses are financed today are either cash, or cash with seller financing.
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