Many business owners are tempted to sell their own business especially after receiving an unsolicited inquiry from a potential buyer. Why not save what could be a very expensive Success Fee from your broker or M&A advisor?
Think about the last time you bought a new car. Did you walk into the dealership, look at the sticker price, and then instruct the salesman, "This is great, I'll take it." Of course not. You negotiated for a better deal. A good advisor sets up a bidding competition among several buyers. A business owner managing his business sale can normally process one buyer at a time, thus no competition, no reason for the single buyer to offer a competitive price and terms, and no reason to behave during due diligence (think of price adjustments during the later stages of the process).
A good M&A process involves bringing several buyers to the table simultaneously. This is especially important when you are attempting to sell for strategic value like our last software company client. We had a 40% price improvement between the initial offers and the final competitive bid winner. That's earning your fee!
