Are you a serious buyer?

Sunbelt Business Brokers Morcap

For more information on buying or selling businesses, please contact

Jay Brennan:

1621 McEwen Drive, Unit 28, Whitby, ON, L1N 9A5,  
Tel: 905-576-7867, Toll Free: 1.877.553.0304

Email: jaybrennan@sunbeltnetwork.com

• Sending that first email about a business opportunity. 
  Hundreds of people call or email enquiries about business opportunities each day from ads they find on the internet.  This is great.  Many people feel that some day, they might like to have their own business.  You are entitled to receive a brief polite response to your interest in an advertised business and should receive general information about the business for sale.  Companies for sale are required to have varying levels of secrecy in order not to disturb the customers, employees, and others associated with the company.  You may be required to visit a business brokerage office or sign a non disclosure agreement before receiving confidential information about a business.  
  
  
• How to present yourself. 
  If you have more than a general interest in purchasing a business, you need to take on a new identity in order to succeed.  You may be sitting at home in your pajamas.  You may be semi-retired, a student, unemployed, or a wealthy experienced entrepreneur.  The person at the other end of the email or call doesn’t know who you are.  You need to see yourself as a serious business buyer and have others see you in this way too.  When sending that first email or placing that first telephone call to a business broker, present yourself as a fellow professional looking at working with a business broker and seller on a potential business transaction.  This will make you stand out from the crowd of curious onlookers. 
  
  
• Are you a fussy customer?
  Through your emails, calls, and meetings, the business broker will be looking for clues that you are a serious buyer who has sufficient financial resources, personal courage, and business skill to buy and operate a good company.  The serious business buyer is opportunistic.  You are not a fussy customer waiting for the perfect business to come along.  You understand that if you are narrow in their requirements or difficult to deal with, you might not succeed in your goal of buying a company.  You are willing to look at businesses that may not be popular, well known, or prestigious.  You won’t demand to see a company’s confidential business information without so much as giving your name and telephone number. You are happy to meet to discuss present and future business opportunities. You won’t refuse to look at anything but flawless businesses at bargain prices.  You sign the nondisclosure forms and talk openly about yourself.  You are not expecting to have a breathtaking emotional experience when seeing business premises for the first time.
  
  
• Getting on the other side of the service counter.
  The reason it is so hard to find a company that perfectly satisfies your needs is because businesses are not designed with you in mind.  Companies are built to serve customers, employees, and owners.  Even if you are the child of the founders, the company is not made for you.  For example, a hotel for sale might have beautiful grounds, comfortable rooms, and gorgeous meeting facilities but you might be disappointed to learn that the hotel owners have a cramped office with beat up desks and old computers.  On the other hand, it may have a huge plush wood paneled office for the owner which you feel is a terrible waste.  The owners spend much of their days supervising things like replacement of windows and the purchase of bed sheets. Or maybe they hardly visit the place.  The business information that is available was created for the purpose of operating the business and paying lower taxes.  It may show little profit on paper, but the owners might live in a grand country house, drive a Lexus, and have a wonderful life.  Is this a good business for you?  Well, the answer is simple.  Would you fit in with what is already there and be able to make it even better?  
  
  
• Being taken serious as a business buyer.
  Work with the other people involved in potential transactions as allies in helping you achieve your goals.  In preparing for a potential purchase, spend as much as time thinking and talking about what you can do with the business as you have spent on analyzing what the present owners are doing with the business.  Transform yourself into a professional business buyer by focusing on how well a particular business opportunity will help you achieve your income, career, and personal goals. Do not get lost in the details.