The importance of the first contact

In our last post, we talked about how difficult is for a searchfund to close a deal in Spain.

Now let's give some clues as how we can reduce these obstacles and gain the trust of the owners.

We will never insist enough on the importance of the first contact with a company by a searchfund. Forgetting these simple rules can make the process not having a good start:

• Humility: To recognize very quickly that a searchfund has no experience, neither general nor the concrete of the business, but it has two important qualities: energy and the money of its Investors.

• Listen: Although the first temptation is to talk about yourself, we recommend that you quickly give the word to the owner and encourage him to explain the history of his/her company. You will learn a lot about the values that ground the person and the company.

• Calm: Although, probably the owner's explanations will ignite the anxiety of the searchfund, you have to remain calm and insist that everything is very interesting, but you need to submit it to the criteria of your investors.

• Without psychological games: it is often misunderstood that the searchfund tries to speed up the personal connection with the owner, looking for any angle that it is supposedly approaches each other: schools, training, countries. You must give time to time and let the relationship flow naturally.

• Accompanied: Whenever we are asked, we advise the searchfund to be accompanied by a senior who will have the mission to observe the meeting, analyze how it flows and to take part in those aspects that facilitate the understanding.

In our next posts we will go deeper in the way to conduct a good negotiation.