Looking to Buy a Business? Market Yourself!

Far too many potential business buyers jump into the process with a casual approach.  Make a few calls and fill out some forms.  You will be much more likely to end up in the business you dream of if you take a professional and aggressive approach, which includes marketing yourself. 

It is simple as this: every single potential business buyer should take the time and create some marketing material on themselves, much like an M&A advisor and good business broker will create a nice business review on a business for sale.

I can tell you that very few business buyers do, probably because it isn’t intuitive that it would be needed.   But it helps in multiple ways:

1. It separates you from the business “lookers” that will look but never buy
2. It impresses the seller, which is more important than you may think.  New SBA guidelines means every deal requires the seller to carry some paper, and the seller is going to be looking at you very carefully before deciding whether to do that.
3. It impresses the bank, making their funding decision all the easier.

The following is an example that I received a few months ago.  I modified these to make them anonymous.  When I received them, I immediately thought: "Hey, I want to help this guy – he obviously knows exactly what he wants and will likely take a serious look at whatever I present to him".  Which may be true or not, but turns out it was.  Although I didn’t have a business for him, we talked a few times on the phone and it was evident that he was serious buyer. 

Buyer’s Marketing Package

1. Resume. Create a professional resume, and don’t just recycle one when you were looking for a job. I didn’t include a sample resume here, because I couldn’t just change the name  – it would still reveal too much personal information about someone.
2. Sample Financial Profile.  It’s like pulling teeth to get this information from some buyers – but the fact is that brokers and M& advisors (and savy sellers) will want to qualify buyers before providing confidential information.  Make it easy.
3. Sample Business Profile. Many buyers just don’t seem to care what kind of business they are looking for – but it helps greatly if you really put some thought into what your strengths are, what financial resources you have, and what your geographical limit is – and then write that down in a easy to read format.