Well it finally happened to me, it's happened to almost every business
broker I know. One of my cheap clients is unhappy about paying me my full commission. I had a crazy situation with this client. Even though I was representing the buyer as well, at some point early on I lost control of him. He started not returning my calls and showing up at the sellers store without my knowledge, trying to make changes to the agreement we had already established. Some of the changes were so off the wall that my recommendation to the seller was to put it back on the market and try to find another buyer.
He refused and continued dealing with the same buyer, after 3 months it finally closed escrow. Remarkably, the seller ended up with the original deal I had structured for him. So what's the problem, you ask?
Now he doesn't feel that he should pay me for the work I did do. First of all, this was a minimum commission deal. I closed a deal that was exactly 10 times bigger than this one and did not require half the effort I put into this small deal. There must have been a minimum of 60 phone calls between me and everyone else.
I always returned my sellers calls promptly and gave him the best advise I could under the circumstances. If I ever earned my commission it was on this one and now the guy is upset because he had to pay me.
At one point the buyer reduced the price so much that I had even lowered my commission for the sellers sake but in the end he got his price so I kept my commission at the original price. Oh, I should also mention that this business was no prize. The worst books and records ever, lots of cash, terrible location.
This guy should be grateful and instead he's pissed off.
Some people really have a lot of nerve!
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"Agent X" On The Road . . . This column is written by a newly minted but highly energetic, persistent, and professional business broker. "Agent X" shares her world with us with her experiences of what it is like to be a new business broker dealing with business buyers, small business owners, and other business brokers & agents. Keep up with all her eventful and insightful weekly experiences by bookmarking :
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