Does Your Broker Need To “Believe In” Your Business To Sell It?

by ExitAdvisor · 21st October 2016

An interesting post from Michael O’Donnell, a business intermediary, on why your broker doesn’t need to buy into your concept and into how fantastic your business is … if he is selling it.

In fact, Michael argues, the broker “believing in” your business could be counter-productive. The broker needs to be dispassionate and able to see the buyer’s viewpoint, something vendors struggle to do, if he is to successfully sell the business.

You and your employees, of course, should fervently believe in your business. You should never hire anyone to work in your business that does not believe in it. Your business broker is not your employee. His job is to get to a transaction that is acceptable to both parties. That is the reason most pros call themselves an intermediary. They are expert go-betweens. The only thing a business broker needs to believe is the buyer’s ability to purchase.

The fact most sellers do a lousy job of selling their own businesses is because they are not, by default, go-betweens. They believe, perhaps too much, in their business proposition. They only see it from their perspective. Their problem is …Read it here