7. Sales Process and Buyer Information
After professional preparation as described above, a list of potential interested parties is created. Depending on the outreach method, interested parties will respond within days (for targeted offers) to months (for internet advertisements). This time range is entirely normal, because new buyers enter the market every day searching databases, or because existing ones are currently engaged with other projects.
Depending on the quality of the submitted offer, interested parties may include entrepreneurs or partners interested in only a share, or strategic partners such as competitors. Some responses are very unprofessional, with the interested party simply stating: I'm interested, please send the financial statements.
It is evident that we are in the internet era with a prevailing culture of inadequate communication.
However, the advertising seller, or their appointed business advisor, certainly expects to receive an appropriately expressed interest. This includes a complete address, a description of their own company or person (in the case of entrepreneurs not currently active in business, a resume), and most importantly, information about their motivation for the purchase. Why is the offered company interesting to them and what do they plan to do with it? If this information is missing, it must be firmly requested before any further steps, including the question of financing expectations. If no feedback is received, there is usually no serious buyer. However, it is important to always respond promptly and, above all, communicate. Communication requires courtesy, and an interested party who does not receive a timely response will shelve the offer. Unfortunately, on some internet offer servers, a trend of swarming requests and reminders without response can be observed.
The next step is to send additional materials in the form of an anonymized brief offer, and upon further serious interest -- and of course after receiving the signed Non-Disclosure Agreement -- a detailed professional offer follows.
Pre-selection of suitable candidates is one of the most difficult areas of the actual sale. It is decisive for the success or failure of the entire endeavor, as well as for the level of costs and unnecessary time investment in case of poor pre-selection. Professional intermediaries can very effectively identify genuine interested parties using proven methods and can also properly respond to the most frequent buyer inquiries. Not every interested party is a suitable buyer or type of buyer for a specific company. In the absence of relevant experience, the seller is left with common sense to rely on. However, it would be more advisable to seek a professional advisor.
After the offer is sent, there are usually supplementary questions leading to understanding the transaction, or a specific date for the first personal meeting, or no response at all. Even potential buyers very often fail to do their homework and frequently simply end all communication. The rule here is that genuine interested parties are active in the market and actively seek investment opportunities in their own interest. They know that they operate in a market environment with other competitors, just as the seller does.
The seller is always advised to carry out a preliminary selection of interested parties, to agree on specific meeting dates with them, and to begin personal negotiations. Sellers often tend to delay the delivery of documents or information, or deadlines, under the guise of constant time pressure. This is counterproductive, because the buyer's interest ultimately fades due to the failure to meet essential prerequisites, which are building trust through transparency and speed. Potential buyers typically have multiple investment alternatives. From a competitive perspective, both buyer and seller are in the same boat and should be aware of this.