Onward
Did anyone use an ROBS plan instead of an SBA loan?
I have a 401(k) from fifteen years at one company. Has anyone here used it to fund the purchase, and would you do it again?
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Questions and answers from people buying and selling businesses, and the brokers who help them.
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How did you keep the key person who knew everything?
The business I'm buying runs on one dispatcher who has been there twenty years. Beyond a stay bonus, what helped people keep someone like that through the change?
Searching while still employed: did owners take you seriously?
I can't quit my job until I've found the business, but I worry owners see a part-time search as a sign I'm not committed. How did you handle that?
What should I do in my first month after closing?
We close in a few weeks. I've read the advice about not changing anything for 90 days. What did you actually do in the first month that you were glad you did?
Meet every employee one on one in the first two weeks and ask the same three questions: what works, what's broken, and what they're worried about. Write the answers down. Change nothing yet.
See all 2 answersHow do I handle the customers who only want to deal with me?
About a third of our commercial accounts call my cell for everything. They're loyal to me, not the company. How did other owners hand those relationships over without losing them?
Would you carry a seller note, and for how long?
A buyer has asked me to carry 10% for five years. I'd rather be paid at closing, but I understand it helps the financing. Owners who did this: would you do it again?
As a buyer, a seller note tells me you believe the business will keep paying after you leave. I'd take a slightly higher price with a note over a lower one without.
See all 2 answersWhat do owners actually want to hear in a first message?
I keep rewriting my first message to owners. Too long and it reads like a cover letter, too short and it reads like a broker blast. Owners: what made you answer?
That you'd actually looked at my business, not businesses like it. One specific thing you noticed, why it matters to you, and what you'd want to keep. That's it.
See all 2 answersWhen did you tell your team you were selling?
I have nine technicians and an office manager, most of them with me over ten years. I don't want anyone to hear it secondhand or start looking for another job before there's even a buyer. When did you tell your people, and how did you say it?
What I usually see work: nobody hears anything until there's a signed LOI. Then the owner tells the one or two people the buyer will depend on, in person, with a stay bonus already agreed. Everyone else hears it from the owner and the buyer…
See all 3 answers
How much did your SBA lender want for the equity injection?
I keep hearing 10% but my lender is talking about more because I haven't run a business in this industry. What did yours ask for, and did a seller note count toward it?
Mine accepted a seller note for half of the 10%, on full standby for the first two years. The owner had to agree to the standby in writing, so raise it with the seller early.
See all 2 answersHow many owners did you talk to before one said yes?
Six months in, I've had real conversations with five owners and none have gone past a second call. Is that normal, or am I doing something wrong in how I approach them?
What changed it for me was asking about the business before anything about price: what they're proud of, who'd they worry about. The owner I'm buying from said I was the first person who asked about her head baker.
See all 3 answersIs it worth getting a valuation before I'm ready to sell?
I'm probably three or four years out. A friend paid for a full valuation and said it changed how he ran the business for the last few years. Was it worth it for anyone else, or is it something to do once you're actually selling?
Worth it, if you treat it as a to-do list rather than a number. The value of a valuation three years out is seeing what drags the multiple down: customer concentration, the owner doing all the selling, books that need cleaning up. Those…
See all 2 answersHow the community works
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Members share what worked for them and why. For your own situation, the answer still comes from your attorney, accountant or lender.
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