Don't Ignore Potential Acquirers

A few weeks ago I wrote about how sellable your firm is, pretending that we were on a call with you and asking all the questions that a buyer might ask. I pointed out that there are many edge cases, though, and everything doesn’t have to be perfect for you to have a good exit.

This week I want to layer another component on top of that exercise: what impact does it have when a buyer approaches you versus you approaching a buyer?

Tilting the Field

Great deals happen all the time when you’re actively looking for them. That’s what a sell-side search is all about.

But great deals happen all the time when an offer comes out of the blue, too, and part of the reason why is because a buyer reached out to you first. And if you, the possible seller, are not in an active search, chances are pretty good that things are going well…which is why you may not be actively looking to sell your firm.

Back to Those Queries

Every seminar or webinar we do features someone asking some version of this question: “should I treat those random queries seriously from people interested in buying my business?”

The answer depends. Use your instincts, for sure. If there’s what I call “faux personalization [from AI]” it’s probably not real. If it comes from a Gmail address, it’s definitely not real. If the query comes from someone trying to sell you something, run like heck.

But most of the queries you get, which will usually be via email, are real. And since you’re on the receiving end, why not at least check? And especially if you’re not in an active selling process, you might score the advantage.

This will put things into perspective: in an average week, we’ll contact 80-100 potential acquisition targets when we are working on the buy-side. There are sellers in that group, and the sellers should be careful about ignoring the possible interest.

When You Do

So you get some indication of interest and you decide to poke around. The only real danger is getting distracted and not nudging your business forward like you normally would, putting things off because of buyer interest. If you can account for that, use it as a learning opportunity. You’ll find out what buyers care about and what to fix in the short-term so that your exit down the road is better.

Here’s more on how to proceed if someone reaches out to you: a free podcast episode and article on which that episode was built. Happy listening…and don’t ignore queries!