Anyone have guidance on meeting business sellers during COVID?

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November 22, 2020

by a searcher from University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia in Philadelphia, PA, USA

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Reply by a searcher
from Washington and Lee University in Miami Beach, FL, USA
Tough one. I have done a few in person meetings in the last few months.

First thing I did was figure out my comfort level. I was comfortable going to sellers and following local guidelines. Everyone wearing mask etc.

Second thing I always do is ask the seller their comfort level. If they are ok with a compliant meeting we move forward with the meeting.

This is anecdotal, but owners of manufacturing companies have been very open to meeting. In one case they requested I take off my mask and I politely declined, given rule 1 from above.

I have had a few owners that are not comfortable meeting in person and I have avoided zoom calls as the first few I did were not beneficial for either party. I keep in touch via semi-regular calls and will hopefully meet in person in the near future.
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Reply by a searcher
from Harvard University in Fort Wayne, IN, USA
My standard line is “I prefer meeting face to face, but also happy to do a zoom call if you’d prefer that.”

Most folks in my geo and their demo still respect face to face meetings, firm handshakes, and the ability to show off their facilities. But this also communicates the willingness to flex to zoom if they have any concerns. Split is about 80/20 face to face vs zoom. Roughly half of the face to face folks would probably not taken the meeting if I insisted on zoom. Probably all dependent on industry, geo, and demo.
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