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.

I tend to agree with Robert. It's important that you feel comfortable and try to make sure the seller does too. I think that the current situation is unique enough that you can just be straightforward and ask the seller.

Hi. Most of the sellers I meet using Zoom, Skype etc. Then if their is mutual interest I visit the facility (Factory). Most of the offices are empty and the workshops are ventilated. This is in the case of Switzerland. This is still within the constraints of Covid requirements.

All super helpful. I am still very early in the process so I would likely lean towards having more zoom/phone calls to start the process.

As someone else has noted, zoom gets the job done. Google meet is solid as well.

Zoom or socially distanced, mask-wearing tours of facilities if necessary.

To give some perspective, I work for a private equity firm - we're doing everything through zoom / Microsoft teams. Seems to be the way these days. Best of luck : )

We have been doing as much through Zoom and teams as possible. Seems to be the standard.

Same here, my experience has been that zoom/ teams/ hangouts is being treated as the new acceptable norm. Kids bombing the calls also totally cool these days. :)

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[redacted]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.

If you wanna know the truth. I've negotiate $30M dollar assisted living facilities and medical labs over the phone. Stop wasting time and get to work.

The investors I have heard from have said that they have been able to get even more prospective meetings going through the zoom environment.

Fine to do initial meeting, and ongoing check ins on zoom, but recommend meeting in person before committing a significant amount of resource to a deal, you get a much better read on the person