Many times I get asked the question, "Should I give out my financial information to a business broker or business owner upfront before they give me information about a business for sale?" Since supply and demand dictates at this time many more buyers than sellers - you better do all you can to get the leg up on other serious buyers or you are going to lose out on alot of deals.
Always have ready to fax to a business owner, business broker, or agent: a copy of your resume, a completed Business Buyer Profile Form, and a "condensed" Personal Financial Statement. There is no harm in returning these documents to a seller or broker when you return back a completed Non-Disclosure (NDA) in fact it will show them you are a serious buyer looking to move forward.
Most buyers make the mistake of being coy and not giving out information about themselves - that is one of the reasons why 80%+ of all potential business buyers never buy a business!
Remember business owners and business brokers want to know who they are dealing with and do not want to waste any time with any buyers who are not qualified (and there are alot of buyers who are unqualified and don't know what they are doing in today's market) and not ready to get going.
Another benefit of getting these documents ready before your search and distributing them out to business brokers and agents is that when other new listings come on the market they will contact you first since they know you are a "truely serious buyer" and have your act together!
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Peter Siegel, MBA is the founder of both BizBen.com and USABizMart.com and has written 3 books on the topic of selling and buying small and mid-sized businesses. The books are: "
Businesses For Sale - How to Buy or Sell a Small Business", "
Buying a California Business - The Ultimate Guide for Savvy Business Buyers", and "
Selling A California Business - The Ultimate Guide for California Business Owners". He also conducts weekly Webinars (online seminars) at the Business For Sale Academy - an online educational resource of seminars, round-table discussions, and educational training for business buyers, business owners, business brokers, and agents.
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