I've noticed a few things after being a searcher for months and looking at many companies:

-Seller Brokers are not doing their job. They are not explaining the sales process to the sellers and/or managing expectations. Most sellers have an understandable over-valuation of their business. It is perfectly reasonable for a Seller to believe their business is worth a lot more than it is because they built it. I can't tell you how many sellers found a 3-5x EBITDA valuation to be insultingly low, even though that is the standard. 3x EBITDA means that if the seller kept the business they could make the sale price of the business in 3 years. So it's weird how many sellers, during negotiations, have said to me "hell, if I just kept the business I could make that in 3 years!" Yes that's correct but that's the reality of the situation and valuation of a business...

-Seller Brokers are not explaining the entire process of selling to someone like me who is using an SBA loan. Many sellers think selling their business can be done in a weekend. I've had two sellers argue that due diligence shouldn't take more than a week! I don't blame the seller I blame the broker for not managing that expectation. Meanwhile during due diligence it has taken me over a week just to get the financials/bank statements/tax filings/leases/etc. So yes it takes several weeks to do due diligence and even longer if you need to hire people for QoEs.

-I've also had difficulty getting sellers not to do major changes to the company after LOI has been signed. Including hiring new employees, leases expiring and needing to move the company location during due diligence, etc.

-Bottom line is I've had a lot of experiences with sellers who don't seem to understand the selling process and I think the seller brokers are to blame. Let me know if this is what you've experienced or if I've just had bad luck.