LOI Advice

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by a searcher from Elon University - Martha and Spencer Love School of Business
in Denver, CO, USA

4mos ago

LOI Advice

Hi, I'm a self-funded searcher and I currently have line of sight into a proprietary deal I sourced. I'm working with the sellers on a LOI but they're having some trouble understanding the more in-depth mechanics such as seller financing, forgivable notes, etc. I've explained in simple terms to try to get them there but curious if anyone has any good recommendations around this when you're at the 5 yard line with sellers. Also, given how emotional this is for them with 30+ years owning the business, has anyone found a way to mitigate against that dynamic either during negotiations or post close?

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reply by a searcher 4mos ago
from University of California, Berkeley in Sunnyvale, CA, USA

Trust build and seller education are not easy. Try to understand their concerns and explain the terms in a easier way. Also you can bring some third party the seller trust to give some benchmark. At the end, some sellers are not ready to sell even they say so. Try to figure that earlier to save both time.

reply by an intermediary 4mos ago
from Bentley University in Boston, MA, USA

This is a perfect example of why I strongly believe all sellers should have an advisor - while much of what we do is technical, the emotional side of selling a business someone spent 30 years building is real - I often say I have a therapy degree by default from my 25+ years dealing with buying & selling businesses