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Business Brokers - Friend or Foe?
Episode 419th March 2024 • Business Buying Banter • Deb Curtis & Richard Parker
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Business Brokers - Friend or Foe?

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Follow and Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BizBuyersAlly

Deb’s Website: https://www.debcurtis.com/

Richard’s Website: https://richardparker.com/

#SBA #BuyAndBuild #BusinessBuyers

Transcripts

0:05

welcome to headbands and handkerchiefs where business buying banter meets no BS

0:10

reality get ready to dive into the world of buying and selling businesses without the fluff and fancy jargon we cut

0:18

through the BS to bring you raw unfiltered insights from industry experts seasoned entrepreneurs and no

0:26

hold bar discussions they get straight to the point whether you're a seasoned

0:31

business buying Pro or a curious aspiring entrepreneur this is where the

0:36

real talk happens buckle up for headbands and handkerchiefs because in

0:41

business there's no room for sugarcoating let's get down to the brat

0:51

TX hello there there we are Richard or

0:57

Richie you like that right I like Richie you are Richie to me okay no that's

1:03

perfect say anybody who knows me for a long time when as a kid I was always Richie then I got a little you have a person sophisticated but I but I'm not

1:11

but I'm not any more sophisticated than I once was just the name got a little sophisticated but yes I am a Richie yes

1:16

you are all day long good I I actually I'm a Debbie Joe if you want to know that Joe J J my middle name is Joe but I

1:25

go by Deb you can tell you can tell somebody like Debbie Boon back back in the day when I was born Debbie was

1:31

popular up my life you light up my life for sure life right popular wedding song Back in the

1:38

Day right I could probably sing it I could sing it for you Richie Richard

1:44

well you know I wouldn't you don't want me to sing it because I could ruin this whole show in man happy New Year my

1:49

friend thank you and happy New Year to you Merry Christmas Happy Kaneka happy Quanza whatever you celebrate great I

1:56

hope you had a good holiday so far and having a good holiday so far that's right it is a it is a rather busy week

2:03

with friends and family a little bit quieter on the business side but uh we we decided to keep the show rolling um

2:10

every week on Thursdays 2 pm live that that's our mojo right that's what we're gonna do that's our mojo that's our Deb

2:17

Joo yes and it's um you know it's a quiet time but on the other hand you know quiet times generally in business

2:23

you know from a business buyer perspective I always tell people it's it's a pretty good time because a lot of people jump out for a while and so it's

2:30

and you want to sustain your momentum while at the same time you know you need to rejuvenate so if you've been going

2:37

pretty hard you take the time off and if you've been just jumping into it you know it's a week to keep going it's just

2:44

hard because a lot of people are away and yeah but it's a nice time I'm not you know this week I'm I'm sort of busy

2:49

but just not working too hard I also think a lot of dreamers are dreaming this week and well it's the New Year's

2:57

doing something different in:

3:03

always think how about buying a business right you know why you know we

3:09

all wanted we all dream to want to either Exit Corporate America or in in

3:14

my opinion sometimes keep corporate and buy an absentee business and diversify

3:20

and Safeguard from a potential loss right of income yeah absolutely yeah and

3:28

people you know the hopefully you know it's a time of year for for most people I know for myself it is it's a good time

3:33

to reflect and think about what happened during the course of the Year revisit some of your uh your goals and uh where

3:40

the outcome is and what you could do better and uh what some of the plans are and put in you know put into place

3:46

meaningful plans that you're going to execute so you don't the uh you know you don't want to get into Dieter syndrome

3:52

right where everything sounds great for the first two days of the year and I think I think the stat is like was it like 80% of people break their uh New

3:58

Year's resolution by I think the third or fifth day of January so you having having realistic but um but aggressive

4:07

goals and targets you know are good and uh it's a good time of year to to

4:13

assemble those but now now the key is to now the key is to stick with them stick with them that's right well today's

4:21

episode we titled it business brokers Friend or Foe and um I hope we have some

4:29

business brokers that are going to join us today because they're probably curious to hear what we have to say about that um but you know what Richard

4:37

we could probably change that title to SBA lenders friend or fo yeah I mean

4:43

probably you know in a lot of Industries certainly and and I I I'm with you I I certainly hope I I'm just glancing to

4:48

the right so anybody who's watching it's just I'm not getting deterred or sending texts or answering emails but we get the list of people who um attend on the

4:55

right side of the screen so I'm like with you I want to see what um you know you know our audience as far as business

5:02

brokers because I think what happens is you know the really the better

5:07

Brokers are not um they understand the reality of the market because a business broker can be exactly Friend or Foe the

5:15

better Brokers understand that there are a disp disproportionate number of

5:22

brokers in the industry that probably shouldn't be in the industry or heart isn't in the right place I you know I I

5:28

don't uh I think the uh real good Brokers they're not they're not offended at all they understand the reality of it

5:33

and it's common place in you know in a lot of commission Industries and industries where there's a lot of turn over because for business brokers it's I

5:40

do business brokers I've been doing it for 20 years then you know and do uh higher level intermediary work now but

5:46

understand it from all sides of the equation and it's it especially in the lower markets it's a tough tough job and

5:52

it takes you get on board you know you probably go A Year Without earning any income and learn and so that's why you

5:59

have a lot of to turn over the real good ones who stick with it and make it a career they'll understand that what we talk about from the negative side of

6:05

things is they recognize it so you know hopefully we'll get some

6:10

good comments and feedback from uh from any of those in the industry would you say that small business

6:18

brokers start small and then with the good small business brokers start to

6:24

travel up to like Middle Market intermediary work you do get some of that without question I personally

6:32

believe that the larger deals I moved up very quick I mean when I started on business broker I was doing some deals

6:38

like they were 60 Grand but I realized a couple things first of all there's a lot of shitty little businesses at that

6:43

level and people were investing their life savings to buy them and I even if I was representing a seller I couldn't bring myself to watching someone you

6:50

know spend their life savings to buy a business that wasn't good um there's a lot of lack of sophistication I find you

6:56

know the process the the deals they're they're no hard in my opinion to do a five or a $50 million deal than it is to

7:02

do a 50 or50 500,000 deal it's just more more zeros and in many cases the larger

7:08

deals are easier because you're dealing with more sophisticated people across the board and I'm not saying anything

7:13

disparaging against the sellers or buyers at that level it's just what they've been exposed to and so the

7:19

resources the people that are involved in the deal team on both side and the individuals themselves the buyer and the

7:24

seller are generally more experienced more sophisticated so I find those deals um

7:29

you know much easier to do some of the Brokers do move up where Brokers I think get into a trap is it's a listing

7:36

business right they're all broker Brokers are talking go get listings go get listings so if you want to move out you have a stable of listings you know 5

7:43

10 or 30 listings whatever the number is and it's like well I don't want to really give those up well you got to give them up if you want to move up

7:49

Market because they take a lot of time so I think the better ones the smarter ones um to a large extent move up yet

7:57

there's others who really make a terrific iic living at the lower market so um it's really to me if you if if you

8:05

could do deals at 100 Grand you could do them at a million you could do them at million you could do them at 10 million um and I think and and just again it's

8:11

it's just my personal perspective and experience I think the the larger deals are easier and I I find them more

8:18

enjoyable and I you know being on the lender side many of my peers that were

8:24

in SBA lending and still are today they'll choose the larger deals over the smaller deals all day long just because

8:30

they seem to be easier for them to work on but there are very good buyers and sellers at a $500,000 clip yes

8:38

absolutely um but I get that though a lot of them don't want to deal because it it takes the same amount of time and

8:45

effort on a small deal versus a $5 million do deal but I I was always one

8:51

that didn't want to Discount the small guys because there there were some easy ones that flew flew through the system

8:57

quickly um tell me this as far as business brokers

9:03

when small business brokers I'm talking about small businesses because there's the Middle Market that's that's a

9:08

different different Arena but majority of the business brokers that are out

9:14

there they're out there fishing just trying to get that listing like you said because they got to put food on the

9:19

table and make an earning are are they just taking anything or or are they

9:24

saying no to some because it why today do we still have so many listings that

9:31

are represented by Brokers that are not financeable what why well it's also

9:37

besides just non-f financeable they're not closable meaning they're never going to get sold so it's a it's a you if you

9:44

go back in time to the uh beginning of business brokerage when um um Tom West

9:50

started out it would you know the the agenda was go get listings go get listings and that's really never changed the better Brokers the most more

9:56

successful Brokers are are certainly more elective and it's a process at the beginning you you take on a bunch of

10:02

listings because you're learning the industry but as a broker the only thing you have to sell is your time it's the

10:07

only asset you have and so when the time comes that you want to end your career retire whatever you have nothing to sell

10:13

unless you've built a a brokerage business and so they they get caught in this trap of taking on way too many

10:19

listings of this old wife's tale or folklore that you know there's a buyer for every business because no there's

10:24

not there's not a buyer for about 75% of the businesses because they're not good business businesses and so they get

10:30

caught in this trap and they they they certainly from you know in my experience Brokers generally take on way too many

10:37

listings the better ones don't the better ones are more selective you know I you know I probably do more due

10:42

diligence on before I take a listing than the buyers do due diligence on the business because you want to make sure it it sells because all you have is to

10:49

invest is your time and so I think your point is very well taken they generally speaking the answer is yes Brokers take

10:56

on too many listings meaning too many businesses that are not going to sell and it's a Time suck yeah what do you

11:03

think here of the comment that CIA put up for us here behind the scenes uh from Ed uh brokers who are competent are

11:11

worth their price tag conversely incompetent or lacking Integrity Brokers can do a lot of damage in a hurry wow

11:19

yes yeah well he's he's spot on because you know there's also confusion you know a lot of buyers believe or inexperienced

11:26

business buyers think that a business broker is a business World version of a real estate broker is going to sell you

11:31

a house and take you to you know take you to 30 different houses to show you um every possible scenario and every

11:38

property till you eventually buy one business brokers don't do that business brokers were completely different the

11:44

only thing they have in common real estate brokers typically is the word Brokers now um because you know so what

11:51

happens is first of all you have that piece so because business brokers don't do that they're not handh holders for

11:56

the buyer and and so so there's some misunderstanding there's also it's only I think about 17 States where there's

12:03

co-brokerage mean the listing broker will cooperate with another broker and so there's confusion in the marketplace

12:09

because buyers think well just go get a broker and they'll help lead me to the right business no the answer is the following I look at it and say business

12:15

brokers play a role you know three significant components relative to a

12:20

buyer they can provide you with access to good to businesses listed for sale they can act as a buffer and be a

12:27

deliverer of bad news to the seller because chances are to buyer and seller are going to have to work together post transition so they deliver the bad news

12:33

and they've done it before so they understand the documentation and what it takes to get a deal to the Finish Line

12:39

the you know they're not going to be especially if they're paid by the seller they're not going to dispense unbiased

12:45

um advice to the buyer in order to you know that could jeopardize a deal they're not your trusted adviser they

12:51

work for the seller and also they have the role of getting it to the finish line and you know buyers shouldn't get

12:57

caught they C they can be very beneficial to the process but an educated buyer should never be deterred

13:03

if you happen to have a horrible broker in the middle of the equation the buyer should know enough and be educated

13:08

enough to know how to deal with all the various steps in the process so even as Ed points out they're right um

13:14

incompetent or lacking Integrity Brokers can be um can do a lot of damage um in a hurry it's absolutely correct so the the

13:21

buyer has to understand how they navigate the scenar the the process if that type of broker is involved with the

13:27

equation that's right right and I'd like to add uh and thank you Ed for this great comment but the same is applicable

13:34

for uh SBA lenders um you know incompetent SBA lenders definitely give

13:42

a bad wrap to this industry that oh my God you want to buy a business and a business broker will say and you want to

13:48

do SBA that's going to take six months well right with an incompetent SBA

13:54

lender it will take six months but with the right experienced credible SBA

14:01

lender and the right credible business broker who knows how to get a seller

14:06

side prepared we're we're gonna make music and we're gonna get that deal done in 45

14:12

to 60 days max right that is beautiful and that is beautiful right yeah and it

14:17

can happen uh the um the bad rap out there on all sides of the

14:25

transaction comes down to preparation of both sides and that's where we lack um I

14:34

I would say most business brokers are not prepared with the sellers with what

14:39

we need to prove to the underwriter for financials and ADB backs and most buyers

14:45

that start their search don't even know what the heck they qualify for and

14:51

they're just listening to the advice of a listing broker who just wants to sell a business and this buyer probably

14:58

doesn't even qualify so right right and so it causes you know there's it causes

15:04

in those cases to Ed's questioner point you know can cause a lot of damage and

15:09

so you know when you look at this and the broker's role and similarly in an incompetent an incompetent SBA lender

15:16

they can cause an equal amount of damage you know one of the things that um

15:22

should be understood with all of this that the good Brokers are going to act with and and same with a good SBA lender

15:28

you know the at the top of the list is they've got to act with integrity and transparency and be able to navigate navigate or you know

15:37

be a sherpa to the seller because um you know typically the broker is representing the seller and when you

15:43

know when I speak to this point you know i' I've I've bought and sold 13 companies made for myself and made one

15:50

co-investment and I've you know and I've always had a broker in the deal I think

15:55

except for one particular deal I've always had a broker represent me um and done brokerage and and and been on both

16:02

sides of the equation as a broker um or and as a buyer and seller on both sides and so one of the things that happens is

16:08

you've got these Brokers first of all above all if they provide complete transparency and one of the things that

16:14

gets everybody into trouble is these setting these bad expectations and so setting expectations to a seller of what

16:20

a deal is going to look like and setting wrong expectations when a buyer speaks to them if they come to them and say we

16:25

want to get SBA financing or whatever that me to to explain to them that you know it can be done and not just go down

16:30

the road oh no it takes too long it takes six months because it doesn't if you have the the right lender and also being able to convey reasonableness

16:37

amongst the parties right if a buyer has an offer um terms and conditions that are reasonable they have to have the

16:44

kahunas the to be able to tell the seller that it is reasonable even though they may have have an expectation of

16:50

what a deal should look like and it's gone a little sideways as far as terms and conditions but to be able to convey

16:56

what's reasonable similarly to convey what's reason able to a buyer of what deal terms should look like and what they should expect to go into SBA

17:02

because they're not going to you know they want to go down the road to SBA financing they have to understand that there's going to be some

17:08

collateralization and you know and what's going to be required and providing personal financial statements

17:13

so when a when a broker is completely transparent to both parties and sets proper expectations and can provide them

17:20

with the materials and and and and let them know what has to be done they could move both parties down the road much

17:26

more effectively that's right yes oh and I see a comment here from kevn thank you

17:32

Kev for joining the uh live today friender fo is always a consideration but should be more heavily vetted before

17:39

investing time energy or resources or money people are putting down

17:47

deposits um uh with a listing broker right you know in order just to engage

17:53

them correct would I be right on that Richard that you know if somebody wants toell sell a business they're putting a

17:59

deposit down with the broker um not always depends on the higher end you know more

18:06

investment banker type deals um most of the um most the investment bankers require upfront fee as a guarantee I

18:13

know you know I don't take them because I work on a higher commission rate when I do you know the the deals but there's

18:19

a lot that's invest investment bankers put in hours and hours to get decks ready and and and and so I understand

18:25

those upfront fees in the lower Market typically there are no fees but a commission rate and you know I think the

18:32

biggest thing that a seller has to do to the point that was brought up is vet the

18:38

broker to understand are they the right person because it's very easy to take a listing throw it on on a website like

18:43

bis Buell or businessesforsale.com or or the other ones and just sort of just pray that you know a um a qualified

18:50

buyer comes in but it takes more to understand the business to learn the business to Market it properly to put a

18:55

proper deck together to be able to vet every buyer when I say F buy it's not just Financial considerations but be

19:01

able to go through to learn the business a broker should learn the business as well as anybody with in the

19:09

business except the seller so that the broker is able to answer 90% of the questions that come in and and determine

19:15

whether or not someone is not right or the business is not right for them before they even have to engage you know

19:21

uh between the buyer and seller and so doing a more detailed job of learning the business as opposed to just take a

19:27

listing you know throw it up online for for sale it does everybody a disservice everybody the seller the buyer and the

19:34

broker learn the business you could explain it better and and and and help everybody um you know the questions that

19:40

are going to be asked and be able to guide the seller accordingly as to what information they should provide Etc

19:45

because you you want to be completely transparent but I agree to that point you know sellers need to vet the broker

19:50

to make sure they're the right one that's right yes and I recall back when

19:56

I worked for banks as a direct SBA lender some Brokers would contact me to

20:02

look at the tax returns of a listing that was coming in before it even hit the market and and question me you know

20:10

Deb what do you think you know based on what you see in the tax returns and the

20:15

cash flow what can this business afford for a price and you know price is one

20:21

thing but we have to remember when we're selling businesses and when we're buying them you have the price but then there's

20:27

also working capital that has to be included in the loan the fees the SBA

20:33

guarantee fee all the third party fees are are added back into the loan and

20:38

credited back to the buyer at closing so the loan cost and the loan amount does

20:44

go up which means there is a higher payment uh that needs to be supported by

20:49

the historical cash flow right so um business brokers need to be cognizant of

20:55

the fact that we're not just selling based on what the business owner that wants to retire needs to live on we're

21:03

we we're selling the business based on what the business buyer's bank will approve and what the business can afford

21:10

right absolutely yeah and and and that's really backing into it because sometimes what can be financed is does not

21:17

necessarily reflect the purchase price and so the buyer has to understand there needs to be a bridge in place

21:22

potentially with seller financing or a lower price because you know if a seller truly wants to sell the business

21:29

and this deal is going to get financed they have to understand that the price

21:35

is going to reflect the money that's available for this buyer to execute the transaction right it's just you know you

21:42

may think your business is worth $3 million but if all the you know if the valuations come in lower or the buyer

21:49

has less capital or there's a smaller componer seller finance and it comes to $2.5 million and you want to sell your

21:56

business that's the number you know I've said it here before you know what a seller thinks their business is worth has nothing to do with the value and so

22:02

being sometimes backing into it and understanding what can be financed you know is is the way to go that can

22:09

certainly um determine the purchase price now there's you know different uh there's different terms that can be

22:15

involved and get a little creative but understanding how much how it's going to get financed is critical that's right I

22:22

see there's a question by the way from a um David vogle um was a question comment

22:27

and question from David Munoz which I um which which was I think dealing with the

22:33

what type of diligence can Brokers do um you go see it Richard go ahead go ahead

22:40

and read that and I'll let you take the answer on that what due diligence should be being done by Brokers that aren't

22:45

being done across the country well it's a great question I think the first thing obviously is related to the financials make sure they understand them but it's

22:52

doing a real deep dive to make sure that the business that you know there's a couple of key things three things that we talked about on um other uh other

23:00

shows that are important to sell a business which is the condition of the financials which a broker should be investigating and making sure all their

23:06

questions are asked I mean certainly they should have enough training to know what questions a buyer is going to ask the second thing is related to what

23:12

problems there are in the business whether it be customer concentration or you know a lease due to expire or a license any key issues that keep a

23:19

seller up at night are going to keep buyers up at night and so the broker should be asking all of those questions

23:24

because a broker should table every concern to the buyer everything that is that could potentially be of concern to

23:30

a buyer a broker should disclose and disclose up front because if the buyer can't deal with it you might as well get rid at a buyer and because they're never

23:37

going to get to the finish line and the third thing is how well can the business transition and that is determined by you

23:43

know the size of the buyer pool but understanding what does it take to to operate the business what things can be

23:49

done very often and especially in the smaller end businesses aren't ready to be sold and so part of the due diligence

23:54

by a broker is digging in say hey there's people there's either people that are needed there's process that are needed there's systems that are needed

24:00

there's changes that are needed and the broker is far better off to to tell the seller look let's work on this for the

24:05

next six to 12 months and then we'll take the business to Market so it is more sellable so those are all pieces of

24:11

a a due diligence and a broker should adapt to you know put on a buyer hat say hey if I was looking to buy this

24:17

business what would you know what would I be looking at what would be of concern to me and work with the seller because if you have a nice trusting relationship

24:23

they're not going to let you help them put the the the plans in place to get the business more sellable and then hire

24:29

someone else because you have a good relationship with them so you're better off to take a step back and spend the time necessary to get those things into

24:36

place to make the business more sellable so that's the due diligence and sometimes six to 12 months is nowhere

24:41

near enough yeah right I mean true enough that's right Banks want to see I

24:47

mean I know of one non-bank lender that will consider financing a business

24:53

acquisition transaction as long as the most recent year fits The Debt Service

24:58

cash flow and year-to dat that's that's pretty good so yeah that is good that is good now that's not common but I know

25:06

who that lender is and if I need to go to that lender that's where I'm going but then there's others that want the

25:11

the previous two tax filed business years to support the the loan project

25:17

and current year then there's other banks that won three years plus year-to dat then there's banks that take the

25:23

average of the three so what I'm trying to share with our audience here is every

25:28

single bank has a different method to their Madness of how they calculate if

25:35

the business can afford the loan project or not right yeah and and you know my experience was was typically around

25:41

three years and because each lender varies as you as you know as you as you pointed out um a buyer should be aw well

25:49

aware that early on and it's incumbent upon a broker if this deal is going to

25:55

go the route or potentially can go the route of seller of of sba's financing

26:00

they need to do that homework early when I say they the broker needs to do that homework early they should be shopping

26:05

it you know the the idea you know I I I don't know if there's you know some I think some lenders pay fees or referral

26:12

fees to some Brokers I think that's that's still allowed to be done which is ludicrous to me um however you know it's

26:20

it's incumbent upon a broker and it just makes good business sense is to find out every potential Avenue that's available

26:27

to finance this deal and if you have to speak either you speak with 10 lenders or someone like yourself who can speak

26:32

to 10 lenders and find out the options that are available because that eliminates an enormous impediment to the

26:38

deal and so the ones that offer three years well get them the three years tax returns the ones that'll do a year plus

26:44

a current year whatever their criteria is have the information available and get it to them because you're more readily prepared when the right buyer

26:51

shows up and say hey here's the options that are available for financing I've already got your lender lined up for you

26:56

or here's your choice so you know I think back to David's point is part of

27:01

that due diligence is getting lenders in place and early on yeah um I'd like to

27:08

share an experience of a deal that just closed and funded last week a buyer that

27:13

came to me um there were some new sbop policy changes that are more

27:20

lenient I won't get into all of of what it was we'll sa that for another episode

27:26

but the SBA made some processes more lenient for the business buyers to get a

27:32

loan but guess what banks don't have to approve what the SBA is saying is more

27:39

lenient they can say no even though the government says that's okay we're not okay with that so this particular buyer

27:46

and broker kind of box themselves into that

27:52

referred lender to do the financing and that lender said no we we don't like the

27:58

new SBA sop policy so the broker's like well now what do we do well the

28:04

broker made the mistake getting hungry for additional incentive to be paid by

28:10

that lender that lender said no the buyer's like well now what do I do I I trusted you business listing broker that

28:17

didn't work out they contacted me because I can just pick up the phone and

28:23

and talk to decision makers quicker than any business buyer ever can or business broker because the people I work with

28:30

trust me that I know what I'm doing and not I'm not trying to have a big head here but I've we have the relationships

28:36

I've gone through the fire I've gone through the I've made mistakes and I've learned from them so the message here is

28:42

when the deal got to me I contacted Richard three lenders two said no to the

28:49

new SBA sop policies and one said yes and I made my partner lender God bless

28:57

him because I will send him more business I said take it to your decision maker and confirm it for me right I just

29:04

I couldn't even trust him because why all the other Banks said no I'm like please take it to your decision maker

29:11

because it it was a substantial business acquisition he got the green light and

29:16

we funded the deal last week that's great well done that's crazy though that and that's why business brokers really

29:24

need to understand boxing themselves into just one preferred lender because

29:30

they want to get paid a referral fee for sending a buyer to that one lender could

29:36

risk the sale period and you know what and chances are I I I don't know what the referral fees are I'm assuming that

29:42

I remember years ago they were like 1% um I'm not I'm not sure are anywhere from one to two% of the buyer's loan

29:48

amount okay so even on a buyer let's say on a buyer's loan amount it's a million doll deals you know at one and a half%

29:55

they can make an extra $115,000 typically on a million dollar deal the commission is 10% you know let's say

30:00

let's say it's it's not that it's five so they're making $50,000 and they're getting busy stuck they're getting all hung up for 10 or $1 15,000 you know I

30:07

think a broker is much better off that to approach it like a shotgun and say here here are all the lenders yeah great

30:14

if you can get paid for it great but you shouldn't be doing a disservice to any of the parties in the deal because you have a preferred lender I don't care

30:20

what you know I understand people want to make a living but the don't look a broker shouldn't be looking at the financing piece of their of the deal as

30:27

as income they should be looking at that as facilitation and so you know if you have a deal that can go the route of of

30:33

um thirdparty financing non- seller financing here we're talking about SBA then you know speak to as many lenders

30:40

as possible someone or someone like yourself who can speak to as many lenders as possible and you know to the earlier point that we talked about give

30:46

the buyer some options it's it's in so in that question if go to the title of our show Friend or Foe in that case if

30:54

the broker is not putting this out to a bunch of lenders then that becomes a foe

30:59

and even from a broker's perspective it's just dumb business I don't care you know and I and it's it's I'm not even

31:05

going to cach that by saying with all due respect to business brokers because there's not much respect that point

31:10

which is it's dumb business don't focus on having to make money from the financing part of deal get the deal done the goal is to get it to the finish line

31:17

and so and the number the money is inconsequential relative to the commission that's earned and so you know

31:22

giving people more options you have a much better um chance of getting the deal closed that's right just good

31:28

business just good business and I would love to add here too as far as Brokers

31:35

being a foe where they can go wrong and and and I say this in a way to try to

31:41

help them get better at what they're doing um is talking to the business buyer as

31:48

if they are the SBA lender and telling them what they they believe to know is

31:55

what SBA and or the the bank can do as I was mentioning earlier every

32:02

bank and non-bank lender has their own policies so for a business broker who is

32:07

representing a business listing to be talking SBA policy to a business buyer

32:14

that that's that's being a foe that's not being a friend right so right because to your earlier point where the

32:21

SOP that they have on their website could be different as you said with an

32:27

individual lender so you can outline here's what it may look like but you got to get them in front of the right

32:32

people that's right and and I did a post earlier this week about a pinball machine um how the good old remember the

32:41

pinball machines Richard of course I remember the pinball my my oldest friend who how Pur who sometimes listens to

32:46

these shows he was the pinball he was the pinball wizard where we grew up oh I love pinball machines boom boom but

32:53

business buyers are that silver shiny ball in that pinball machine machine and they're just ding ding ding ding ding

32:59

they're just they're getting hit by all these people with Cooks in the kitchen with their advice and stuff you know

33:05

slow down make sure who you're working with the advice where what is the

33:12

mission behind the advice that's being delivered what is the mission behind the advice right everybody everybody has a

33:19

mission behind it all and uh if you're not a licensed SBA lender you shouldn't

33:26

be talking about SBA policy and if you don't work directly for the banks or

33:31

know the bank's credit policies you shouldn't be talking business acquisition credit policy I shouldn't be

33:37

talking about brokerage uh what business brokers do for sellers that's their Lane

33:43

that's their licensing that's their business I stay in my Lane if we all stay in our lanes oops I just lost an

33:49

earring if we all stay in our lanes we get to our destination faster usually usually and and and the other

33:57

you know the this the double click from that is well let's see that earring yeah you got it on you're good

34:04

okay and the double click to that is you know buyers need to be better educated on their own you you know you have these

34:12

let's say this deal team so you have a buyer you have a seller each party has an attorney and accountant there's often a broker in the deal I've been teaching

34:19

and preaching this for 30 years a buyer needs to get educated you can't be relying on everyone yes you need

34:24

professional advice from the attorneys and accountants and the broker plays the role but if you don't know what you're dealing you can't be relying on

34:31

everybody else to get through this process to understand what comes next next to understand what you're supposed

34:37

to be doing to know how to identify the right business for you to know how to negotiate to know how to value a business to know how to prepare for and

34:44

conduct your due diligence you have the assistance of lawyers and accountant and a broker plays a role but if a buyer is

34:49

not educated if they don't understand the steps in the process what they need to know what they need to do and how to

34:55

do it it doesn't matter how good or how bad the other parts of the deal team are they're not buying a business it doesn't

35:02

happen it's not going to happen and that's why the it figures are so dismal and so getting educated you want to have

35:08

you know believable parties that you consult with that can help you along the way but you are required you've got to

35:15

you've got to educate yourself if not you you don't know who to believe or what to believe yeah great segue for

35:23

your top 10 things that sellers won't tell you maybe CA can put that up for

35:28

our listeners yes of course for hanging in there with us come on drum roll CA yeah if ca's still around there should

35:35

be a drum roll um we have a report the uh 10 things a seller won't tell you so

35:40

I'm not sure if C is uh tied up with something here he is you can get it for uh with that QR code or go to Richard

35:47

parker.com and on the the first thing you see when you land on it is uh you know as a uh a field to to plop in your

35:54

email address and you'll get sent a uh uh a link to download the report and it'll really take you through various

36:00

steps in the proc uh various uh parts of the process where sellers won't disclose what is necessarily the real truth um

36:08

and that also includes from a from a financing perspective and there's some significant comments and very helpful

36:14

comments from Deb related to the financing so urge you to uh to read that it's a pretty comprehensive report I

36:19

think it's about 40 pages but it's you know you got 30 years worth of knowhow and a lot of a lot of experience from

36:27

from uh from from the deal business from the in the world of doing uh doing deals

36:32

that'll be very helpful to buyers you took the the line right out of my mind I was thinking 40 pages of 30 years of

36:39

experience of business buying and business selling Parker that's Richard Parker I'm

36:45

right behind you though yes you're you're there you're there AB 100% you're there how about a quick thank you to our

36:52

sponsors we we'll go through this fast um brilliant beam media um they are the

36:58

uh Tech Team behind the show here making sure things um run properly and no

37:03

Gremlin steel our show thank you brilliant Bean media uh seea you are

37:09

fantastic we love you uh hounds of business Community um that's another

37:14

sponsor of our show if anybody is listening to the uh stream right now

37:19

whether live or future recordings please visit Mike and take a copy of that QR

37:25

code and join a group of small business owners uh and just Professionals in

37:31

general that are all in it to lift each other up toward success you you will you

37:36

will find that LinkedIn is a great platform but there's nine billion users

37:41

and nine billion members you have to join Sub sub communities to grow those

37:47

relationships and the hounds business Community is a beautiful place to do that and then my uh other sponsor that

37:54

we have for the show here would be Walking Tall um they are a great group

38:00

that um are helping create mental health awareness uh it's the Walking Tall

38:06

movement please take a picture of that QR code and follow this group because they are making some amazing changes in

38:13

mental health awareness uh when it comes to just things in life that are unexpected such as massive shootings

38:20

that come out of nowhere job losses I mean you name it there's a lot of things that can happen to good people

38:27

and walking tall is a movement where we all pull together to support each other and lift one another up um I have to say

38:34

big shout out to a lot of the folks that added some comments here yes Raquel she's got a great show every Saturday

38:40

morning uh the Raquel flores's connection corner on Saturday mornings I believe 10: am Central Standard really

38:48

great Community to follow her live show uh David Munos thank you for joining us

38:54

again I remember you were here last week asking some really great questions Randy house you are awesome your buttnuggets

39:01

on LinkedIn are incredible um thank you and um anyone else that maybe didn't

39:07

leave a comment we really appreciate your support uh if you visit Richard's YouTube channel or mine liking our

39:14

episode or subscribing to our YouTube channel is really helpful to help us get

39:20

these messages out to the mass yes yeah and what do we got here Richard and Mike

39:27

oh look at this a Canadian Biz can access your services oh well I

39:34

personally only work with us businesses because the SBA is an affiliate of the

39:41

government uh the US government so I I only work on financing us-based

39:46

businesses and US citizens to buy those businesses Richard you might be able to help worldwide for those that want to

39:53

buy a business right yeah buy or sell I yeah I'm actually working with a client right now in um in Toronto and uh have

40:01

uh one of my largest client bases is actually in Alberta Canada I have a client there his name is Iggy domagalski

40:06

he's bought 10 businesses and generated over $200 million in Revenue he's probably sent me I don't know 150

40:12

clients over the years um so that certainly and i' and I do some work in uh in Europe as well um so if if anyone

40:19

if he whoever posted that question if you if you go to the website Richard parker.com go to the contact page and if

40:25

you need have a question specifically for me just put in there to please forward it to me and I'll happy to uh if it if I can help you I'll help direct

40:31

you to someone who can I'm looking at the the comment from Raquel Flores and I just had to have a laugh because she

40:37

said hello my OG which I know she's referring to you but Devin Craig I'm not sure if he's on this call he with

40:42

Peterson Acquisitions he happens to be a terrific business broker definitely one of the good guys anything that we said

40:48

um negative or where Brokers fall short he's on the opposite side of that very

40:53

impressive guy so any buyers or sellers well um um should get in touch with him but he had sent a comment in related to

41:00

a a video that I was on a while back and he said something about Richard Parker the OG I thought it meant the old guy

41:06

okay I didn't okay so when I got in touch with him and I spoke to him for the first time I said what's this with

41:11

the old guy he said no no it means the Original Gangster I said Okay okay so you being called the or the OG which is

41:18

a nice compliment Deb from Raquel and thank you posting that speaking of acronyms for the longest time I never

41:24

knew what capital l capital F capital G stood for you ever see lfg with an

41:30

exclamation point lfg laugh not it's not Laugh Out J

41:36

no I should let CIA say it because I don't want to get in trouble isn't it let's effing go oh yeah okay yeah yeah

41:44

and as a as a hockey player and a big fan I should know that because when guys go go or in football you see it very

41:49

often where you know someone scores a touchdown or a goal scored and that's exactly what comes out of their mouth so

41:54

lfg and um and but just lfg till next week have a happy New Year Deb oh my

42:01

goodness happy New Year year Richie lfg I love that Raquel thank you and and

42:08

um all of you you're such wonderful supporters next week we'll be be back 2

42:13

pm Eastern live I forget what our topic is anybody remember that's not the Sim

42:18

I'm not sure but well we got lots of them so we have like you know topics for about the next 12 years so I'm not sure

42:25

I'm not sure what next we is but I'm sure as usual Deb you will be phenomenal and helpful to everybody and likewise

42:32

all right well everybody thank you for your support see you next week Thursday

42:38

2 pm Eastern we are happy New Year out of here bye lfg see you

42:45

[Music] later

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