Buyer Best Practices With Elaine Eason, Quiet Light Advisor

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [02:45] Elaine Eason shares her personal and professional background
• [03:34] The experience of selling an ecommerce business through Quiet Light
• [05:09] Elaine’s philosophy on helping people sell their businesses
• [07:05] Recommendations for buying a business
• [09:17] Financing options for someone wanting to buy a business and SBA loan pre-approval strategies
• [12:55] Elaine talks about the importance of communicating your needs as a business buyer to a broker or advisor
• [16:26] The value of understanding the business you want to acquire
• [21:47] How to have a good relationship with the seller as a business buyer

In this episode…

Entrepreneurship is a multifaceted field that encompasses starting a venture from scratch or acquiring an established business and scaling it up. However, purchasing an already-running business is a complex task that requires thorough research, planning, and strategy.

To streamline the business buying process, Elaine Eason, a seasoned business advisor, recommends seeking the assistance of brokers and advisors who possess in-depth knowledge about mergers and acquisitions. These experts have access to a vast pool of sellers, know the best financing options, and can guide you through the process. Communicating your needs and aspirations earlier to them can help you identify the right business that aligns with your vision and goals as an entrepreneur. With their expertise and support, you can make an informed decision and secure the best possible deal for your business acquisition.

In this episode of the Quiet Light Podcast, Pat Yates sits down with Elaine Eason, Business Advisor at Quiet Light, to discuss the best practices for buying a business. Elaine shares her experience of selling an ecommerce business through Quiet Light, recommendations for buying a business, financing options for someone wanting to buy a business, the importance of communicating your needs as a business buyer to a broker or advisor, and the value of understanding the business you want to acquire.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Elaine Eason on LinkedIn
• Elaine Eason
• Elaine Eason’s Email: [email protected]
• Quiet Light
• Quiet Light Podcast on YouTube
• Joe Valley on LinkedIn
• Pat Yates on LinkedIn
• Mark Daoust on LinkedIn
• Quiet Light Podcast email: [email protected]
• The EXITpreneur’s Playbook: How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar by Reverse Engineering Your Pathway to Success by Joe Valley
• Jason Yelowitz
• Deanna Berardi on LinkedIn

Sponsor for this episode

This episode is brought to you by Quiet Light, a brokerage firm that wants to help you successfully sell your online business.

There is no wrong reason for selling your business. However, there is a right time and a right way. The team of leading entrepreneurs at Quiet Light wants to help you discover the right time and strategy for selling your business. They provide trustworthy advice, effective strategies, and honest valuations. So, your Quiet Light advisors aren’t your everyday brokers — they’re your partner and friend through every phase of the exit planning process.

If you’re new to the prospect of buying and selling, Quiet Light is here to support you. Their plethora of top-notch resources will provide everything you need to know about when and how to buy or sell an online business. Quiet Light offers high-quality videos, articles, podcasts, and guides to help you make the best decision for your online business.

Not sure what your business is really worth? No worries. Quiet Light offers a free valuation and marketplace-ready assessment on its website. That’s right — this quick, easy, and free valuation has no strings attached. Knowing the true value of your business has never been easier!

What are you waiting for? Quiet Light offers the best experience, strategies, and advice to make your exit successful. To learn more, go to quietlight.com, email [email protected], or call 800.746.5034 today.

Episode Transcript

Intro  0:07

Hey folks, it’s the Quiet Light Podcast where we share relentlessly honest insights, actionable tips and entrepreneurial stories that will help founders identify and reach their goals.

Pat Yates  0:32

Hello, and welcome to the Quiet Light Podcast. I’m Pat Yates. Very excited about my conversation today. We’ve got another advisor here Quiet Light on Elaine Eason, she is an awesome lady I’ve had a chance to do co-brokering with spent a lot of time with Elaine, she actually stayed here with me and my wife and I when she came in for the Kentucky Derby. When we did the junket here with the Quiet Light Group. She’s just an awesome person started out selling her business at Quiet Light and then joined the group, which is really incredible. She’s done such an amazing job. And I think what’s interesting about Elaine is she’s trying to add value in another direction. She’s not out pitching to be able to sell even though we’ll talk a little bit about how you can work with Elaine to be able to sell your business, I think she’s incredible, you’d be remiss not to talk to her and see if she would be able to do it. But she wants to talk about buyer things. She’s gone through a couple of deals recently where buyers, weren’t in the best position and weren’t prepared or lost out on the deal and then asked, hey, what do I need to do to make sure I’m ready. So this is a really actionable podcast here. And I think she’s gonna give some tips as well. I’ll chime in a little bit, and be able to talk about things that if you’re an actual buyer, things that you want to make sure you’re doing. So when you’re ready, you’re actually ready. So I think that we’ll come up with a lot of great tips here. And we’ll get to that. And I’m excited to talk to her. And also just wanted to mention anyone, if you want to reach out to me, if you have questions on selling or buying, you can always email me at [email protected]. We’re always here to help entrepreneurs in any way. We’re never abrasive or never lock you in anything. There’s no fees for our service until we sell your company. So be sure to reach out to us. If you have questions on buying or selling, we could at least push you in the right direction. I think today will be a great conversation with Elaine and then she’s gonna give us some great knowledge. So let’s get right to it. Elaine, welcome to Quiet Light Podcast. Awesome to have you here today.

Elaine Eason  2:16

Yeah, thanks for having me, Pat.

Pat Yates  2:18

I’m really excited about this. I keep talking to all the advisors about how I think our audience would love to hear from different people their philosophies, and I know you’ve had some stuff you want to talk about with buyers today, which I was really, really intrigued by I love the idea, especially as people are trying to buy businesses in this kind of environment to talk about but I wanted first maybe for you kind of introduce yourself to people, tell them a little bit about yourself and where you’re from. You just got married. So you got all these different things going on. And I’d love to hear about all that.

Elaine Eason  2:45

Sure. Yeah, I’ll give a quick intro. Thanks, Pat. So I’m living in Denver now. And I’ve been with Quiet Light now for three years. Prior to being an advisor here with Quiet Light, I ran several different types of online businesses, but ultimately sold the ecommerce business through Quiet Light as my broker before joining this side of things. And yeah, that’s a little bit of my background. It’s been a really great journey. And I love being able to help other entrepreneurs go through this exit process as well.

Pat Yates  3:15

It’s so exciting because I think I was interested significantly in your business and you sold it. So let’s tell him that you got a yoga business. And I don’t want to jump out and say what all it has to do with it because if you try to give me the downward dog posts, I’d never get up. So I’m terrible at that. I’m not even going to try doing it. So tell us about the business you had. I’m curious about that. And you sold through Jason, I think, correct?

Elaine Eason  3:34

Yes, I did. So yeah, I’ll give a little bit of background. And then I have some tips specifically for buyers. But in terms of my sale, that was about three years ago now. I had an ecommerce business primarily direct to consumer, mostly on our own website or Shopify, a little bit of Amazon ran that for about five years and just got really burnout, just tired of being the owner operator being involved in everything that responsibility, wanted to do something else and ultimately found my way through Quiet Light I sold with Jason as my advisor and just had the smoothest process, I could have asked for a really, really amazing offer. It was a really smooth transition and ultimately got a deal done and was able to kind of change career paths. So super grateful for Jason’s help and a huge believer in firsthand experience using the Quiet Light process. So I really have learned a lot from that perspective. And it’s great to be on this side of things.

Pat Yates  4:36

That’s right. I think it’s kind of incredible especially to hear that story, I’ve sold several businesses, I still hold on to my biggest my longest one and one that I need to make the step that you’re making to make sure that my life’s a little more simplified, but that’s always kind of tough to do. I think one thing I’d love for them to understand I mean, obviously, you have a philosophy when you’re going to work with clients. There’s a lot of people out there listening that have businesses and I would encourage you to reach out to Quiet Light and especially as we have such dynamic advisors, but I think you’re obviously one of the best. Tell us about your philosophy if someone came in and tried to sell their company through you.

Elaine Eason  5:09

Yeah, I mean, I really try and abide by Quiet Light principles of providing value first. So I spend a lot of time with my clients digging through their financial statements and the details to get them the most accurate valuation possible. And I really pride myself on just the level of depth we go to, and preparing listings to go to market. I think we all do a really great job with that Quiet Light. But that’s really where I put a lot of that focus is that upfront prep and making sure that we are really positioning businesses in the best way that we can, and maximizing the value that we get for our sellers. So I’d say that’s really my initial philosophy. But I think that really kind of shines on the back end, when you actually do get a lot of interests, which I’ve had on several of my recent listings. That’s a process that’s really delicate to manage too. So I think that if I can provide a little bit of insight on that, from the broker’s perspective, it’s gonna be really helpful for listeners that are thinking about buying specifically. Because I’ve had two listings, that I’m really pulling a lot of these recent insights from the last just really last couple of months, that have had just overwhelming demand. And after both of them, I had multiple buyers come to me, call me afterwards and say, Elaine, like, we are sad, we missed out on this deal, like tell us the details, like how do we do better next time. So that’s why I was like, okay, there’s a lack of information here. And I think we can give buyers some insights so that if you find something that you really want, Pat and I are gonna give you some tips to help you get the deal done.

Pat Yates  6:39

That’s incredible. Yeah, I think that we always are sort of more customer-centric or client-centric at Quiet Light, it’s great you do that. So let’s jump into what you’re talking about. So I think that this is a different perspective, because a lot of times we talk about selling but today we want to talk about buying so you know some things that are some pitfalls you’ve seen in deals for buyers, you want to help them navigate. How do you want to open that conversation up? Do you want to give some talk to it? And then we can talk to your points do you want to go through?

Elaine Eason  7:05

Yeah, for sure. So I have like I put together some bullets? I’m like, these are the things that keep coming up that a lot of times you might know it, you think you know it. But in practice, like how do you actually implement these things? So I want to make this really actionable for people listening. And the first piece is really okay, if you’re thinking about buying a business, maybe you’ve been looking for a while, you really need to assess where you’re at in terms of your organization. Do you know exactly what you’re looking for? What types of opportunities you’re looking for, I think it’s really important to spell those out. And then also communicate, when you start inquiring on businesses for sale and talking to brokers like talking to Pat and telling him, hey, this business fits what I’m looking for because XYZ I’m looking for a business with these things that fits. And having that organization of knowing what you’re looking for is going to make it easier to feel confident in your decision when you find something that matches that criteria.

Pat Yates  7:58

That’s great. So when you’re getting organized, a lot of times people say, hey, I just want to buy a business. I want to have an online business. Is it better to narrow that down? Are you wanting people to look at a vertical? And maybe a price point? What are the things they need to think about when they’re getting organized when it comes down to that decision?

Elaine Eason  8:13

Yeah, great question. I think it comes down to where your skillset lies and where you think you can add value to a business, more so than vertical or even business model that definitely comes into play as well. But I think you need to be honest with yourself, like what are your skill sets as a buyer? What resources do you have? Who you know, do you have a business partner that has additional skills? Where can you add value and then look for opportunities that align with that, let’s say you have a background in marketing and you’re really good at running paid ads, you may be looking for businesses that are not running very effective ads right now or not running ads at all, that you’re going to be able to just plug in your skill set and grow the brand from there. So you need to analyze your own skills, what value you have to be able to identify opportunities that align with it.

Pat Yates  8:59

No you were pointing to also getting organized on financing which is especially at this time is huge, because there’s credit markets are shrinking things are tough, interest rates are high. What do you suggest people do if an SBA pre-approval is a conventional? Do you want to go to your bank and talk about both? What would you suggest?

Elaine Eason  9:17

Yeah, I mean, it could be both but most buyers that are looking for financing typically are looking for the SBA route, but conventional can be a good route, if you have the resources assets to do that. You can definitely stand out from other buyers because there’s not as many people getting a little more creative in terms of their financing to buy these types of businesses. But I think it’s being realistic about okay, you know what skill sets you’re looking for in a business you also need to know a little what size is going to be realistic for you to acquire and what kind of cash flow you need. That’s gonna make it worth it for you. And then lining up that pre-qual like you mentioned, Pat like going to reaching out to multi funding or ecommerce lending, getting a pre-qual for an SBA loan and getting a sense of what you actually can afford. And that will also help you narrow your criteria.

Pat Yates  10:09

People kind of want to look at that like getting pre-approved for a house, even though it’s different, correct. Like, I want to be prepared the moment you find the right thing, because time can be of the essence. So you encourage people to go to an SBA bank and do what, what process do you say that you go through?

Elaine Eason  10:23

Yeah, I do that before you really even start looking or if it’s been a while since you’ve done it, go ahead and update it. Because when we have really hot competitive listing, you having that upfront saves you time and can make the difference, that could be what makes or breaks it, if you don’t have your ducks in a row, by the time you look at it, analyze the listing, there’s other buyers that have been organized before you and are going to win out over you if you don’t have those things done in advance. So yes, it’s go to, reach out to Joe with multi funding or the ecommerce lending group guys, and they will look at, they’ll ask you for financial docs, previous year’s tax returns that kind of stuff, to get an understanding of what a bank is really realistically going to lend to you. So from that side of things, you can get a pre-qual letter as a buyer that will say, hey, we have a pre-qual to lend up to X amount. And whenever you start interacting with brokers talking to Pat, Pat’s gonna either ask you for that offer, or asking for that pre-qual whenever you make an offer, or you can preemptively send him that pre-qual, and one of your first communications and that really is gonna help you stand out because Pat knows, okay, this guy knows what he’s talking about. He’s got financing lined up, he’s committed, and he knows, he’s done at least some preliminary diligence on his end before starting the conversation with the seller.

Pat Yates  11:40

That’s a great suggestion. And also, when people are looking, one thing I thought about is people need to go to quietlight.com. And they need to register to get our emails all the time, because you see that come out with that SBA pre-qual at the top of any kind of business? And that might be the trigger that has people look at it if they’re already pre-approved, correct?

Elaine Eason  11:56

Yeah. So whenever we’re putting together a listing, if it qualifies for financing, we will certainly put that in the title. So if you’re on our email list, and you get our emails, you can have a filter in your inbox for SBA or whatever if you want, right. So really get those and make sure you jump on them quickly. Because businesses that qualify for financing are almost always competitive. I think our average offers right now is somewhere around three offers per business that sells but I haven’t looked at the data for SBA specifically, but I bet that’s higher, because there’s a lot of buyers that want to use that SBA financing, and they tend to go under offer very quickly. So it’s something that if that’s the route you want to take, you need to be really on top of it and monitoring those listings as they come to market.

Pat Yates  12:38

That’s a great suggestion. So I know that as we’re going forward on this, being prepared and having all that financing in place is really important. Knowing what you want support. I know, your second point you want to talk about was communicate. So maybe you tell us how you want buyers to be able to communicate in that situation to help them and you possibly.

Elaine Eason  12:55

Yeah, for sure. I think it’s important. The speed, like I said in the last one is very important in terms of communication, there’s something that comes to market, review things, make sure it’s a fit for you. But don’t wait two weeks to reach out to Pat and tell them, hey, I want to buy your listing, because most likely, if it’s a popular listing is going to, we’re already in deep conversations with buyers by that point. So you need to move quickly. And express interest, it’s not really the time to play it cool. Sometimes I have buyers reach out to me and you want to play cool, you don’t want to like you know, pretend like you’re too interested, or sometimes people have that mindset. But when it’s a really competitive situation that really can do you a disservice. Because I mean, I have five other buyers, and they’re all very, very committed, and you kind of come off as wishy-washy, if you’re trying to kind of play it cool. And like, take your time getting back to people or say, you know, it’s important to be honest. But also, if you really want it, you need to be honest with the broker as well and make that known it’s going to be in your best interest.

Pat Yates  13:53

That’s really good. That’s really good. So when people are looking at business, and they’re coming in to talk to you to say you have an SBA one pre-approved, how do they go about communicating to you. I know that I know, but it’s like buyers may not know what the cadence of things they need to look at. And do they want to come in and acquire one?

Elaine Eason  14:12

Yeah, I mean, you feel free to chime in with your insights here to Pat, I love to draw from your experiences as well. You want to answer that I’d love to…

Pat Yates  14:22

I know, but I’m making you the star of this thing. Elaine, you’re cuter and you’re nicer than me. So I’ll chime in on that a little bit. I think it is important to communicate with the advisors because eventually something will come through plus we have a department where Deana comes in and if you’re a larger buyer and you buy a lot of business, we want to profile you and get your information before maybe you can elaborate on some of those parts if you think.

Elaine Eason  14:46

Yeah, that’s a great addition. Yeah, talking to Deanna is, if you’re on the Quiet Light list, you’re looking at our listings. Talking to Deanna is also a really great step, especially if you’re a bigger buyer and really she’ll make a profile on the back end that says hey, this is what this buying group is looking for, these are the criteria, the niche, the business models, etc, and send that out to all of us advisors. So we have that on our end, too. So we do outreach to those buyers, whenever we have a listing coming to market, that’s going to be a fit. So that’s definitely a preliminary step you can take is to get connected with Deanna from our team. But then, if you’re actively looking at a particular listing, it’s definitely like, hey, it’s sending me, what I would my buyer would ideally do is, hey, reach out quickly send a pre-qual copy, say you’re interested, either asked to schedule a call, then, or say, hey, I need just a few days to review things. But I do want to get on a call with the seller here within the next week or less, it’s really like, let’s lean on the broker in terms of timing and what needs to be done. Because some listings, like I said before, are go really quickly. And you’ll need to be ready to hop on a call within the next couple of days, in certain situations, depending on the timing of when you reach out, et cetera, et cetera.

Pat Yates  16:00

Yeah, that’s a great idea, I think. So let’s move on. Let’s say that they’ve done everything. And once they come to Quiet Light, they register on our site to get all the emails someone comes across, and a guy used to lift weights. And here’s a weightlifting business’s SBA pre-approved, he already got his pre-approval, and he inquires and gets the docs, what do you suggest that buyers do? Some people have never reviewed docs for business, they don’t really know how to do it some May. So what do you think the most important things are, once they start digging in and looking at the business itself?

Elaine Eason  16:26

Yeah, I’d say make sure that you really take the time to review everything yourself. And if you don’t understand something, lean on your network, find somebody to help you. If there’s elements of the business that are new to you, definitely, find somebody to help you make sure that you really understand what you’re reading. And that’s very, very important. Because the types of questions you ask from that make a big difference on how you will come across to the seller and to the broker. So read the material, take notes, as you’re reading it, and take notes of any questions that you might have. And be really mindful about the questions you ask, it’s very important that you ask good questions. If you don’t ask me any questions, I am questioning whether or not you actually read the material or not. Or if you ask me questions that are answered in the material, again, I’m questioning or not whether you really read through everything. And so you want to put your best foot forward to take the time and really, really analyze that. And really think about what the risk factors are the business as well as the opportunities and acknowledge in the conversation, whether that be an initial call with me as a broker or on the buyer-seller call that we’d set up with you. Acknowledge that, hey, like you recognize looks like trends are softening, I see that, but I’m okay with that. I really think these opportunities, make up for it, make sure that you acknowledge that you do recognize the risk factors and the hair that every business we list is gonna have some element of, oh, there’s this risk, there’s no business that does comes without risk, make sure that you, as a buyer acknowledge that you’ve seen that because I want to make sure that you’re not looking at a business with rose-colored glasses, and this is going to come up as an issue later in the process.

Pat Yates  18:02

That’s really good advice. I think that when I have buyers go through them, you know, sometimes it’s financial, sometimes it’s structure can be a lot of different things I love when buyers come with a lot of questions, if they come in right away wanting to make an offer, it’s a little odd. So even when they get those questions formulated, obviously, as an advisor, I’m always willing to either answer the questions I can or forward them on to the buyer. So digging deep is a great idea, because then you turn over the things that you are questioning in the business, and maybe negatives become positives, right?

Elaine Eason  18:32

Definitely, definitely. Yeah, I also think it’s important to, like, be prepared to talk about the seller with like, how you envision the business going forward, that’s a very important thing you should cover, it’s like, hey, like, this is how I envisioned the transition and going, being open to their feedback is always helpful, because like, they know more than you do, regardless of kind of your background about their specific business. So be open to their feedback, value their insights with that. But saying, hey, this is kind of like based on the material you put together, this is kind of how I’d see the transition going, this is kind of the opportunities that I think I can add the most value with these resources that I’m bringing to the table and explain that explain the value because sellers want their business to go to good hands and people that are going to succeed with the business and you’re almost like selling them a little bit on kind of your capabilities to grow and run their business going forward. So just keep that in mind as you have these conversations.

Pat Yates  19:28

That’s a great one. And you actually listed as we went through some notes on this one that I haven’t really said to someone before, which is buy the products go through the flow. That actually was great. That’s something I learned that I should do with every buyer when we get into this now and I haven’t suggested that I’ve done it before for my sellers. Like I’ll go through it and see what I think but I’ve never encouraged buyers to do that. Tell them why you think that might be important and what they should do.

Elaine Eason  19:50

Yeah, if you’re seriously thinking about buying something to ecommerce business, even if it’s like SaaS or whatever, you should buy the product. You’re gonna be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on this business, you need to go through the experience as a customer, I feel really strongly about that. Sometimes I have buyers ask me for samples, which is like, yeah, okay, sure, but at the same time, especially if it’s a really like competitive business, kind of look cheap, you’re putting up hundreds of 1000s of dollars to buy this business like, you can spend, you know, a little bit of money on samples to test the product, and also have a really true experience of what those customers actually are going through. Like you’re having like the authentic experience, if you are actually customer of the business, you see what the emails they get, you assess kind of like retargeting ads, you can kind of monitor those things from a customer’s perspective, you might find some opportunities that maybe we didn’t fully outline or some room for improvement as well.

Pat Yates  20:45

Yeah, it’s interesting, because I think about certain things, it’s like presentation, when it arrives, sometimes it could be jammed into something and not look as good. And maybe there’s a way that you can communicate what you do better within the packaging, you actually bring a great point up, because some people will see things in the supply chain line that either would be friction or something is an opportunity. And I think buyers, if you’re looking at how you might grow the business a little bit, you may find some things hidden in the way either order processing goes or distribution. And if it takes three days longer than you think, or it comes in, you know, not in very good packaging, those are questions to ask to the sellers as to what they would do and try to improve the business. So it’s really a great suggestion, I think once they pieced that together. So, I think that Chuck talked passionately about how the best offer and I think a lot of people said this at Quiet Light, the best offer doesn’t always win when they’re looking to sell a business. A lot of times, it’s who you see running your business or other interpersonal things or where you want to land. What are some suggestions that you would have that buyers how to approach working with a seller during that process?

Elaine Eason  21:47

Yeah, definitely, it’s not always the best offer. Because kind of like I mentioned before, sellers are wanting the business to go to their hands, if they think that you don’t have the capabilities to run a business and run the businesses effectively and grow it and you’re not aligned with kind of their vision it like they might choose a different buyer over you even though you offer more money that happens all the time. So it’s important that you really think about like, really try and read between the lines in terms of hey, Pat and I are putting together the package, we’re communicating opportunities that the seller sees, but ask them again in the call and really kind of internalize that and figure out how you can make a plan and incorporate their feedback on how you’d want to run it going forward. And communicating that the best you can kind of goes back to my communication point. On this last business, we ended up getting 15 offers. And one of the buyers like actually made a little business plan like a one pager just high-level business plan of like what she would do post-closing like for the first year like this is zero to three months, we’re gonna do these bullets, three to six months, or these bullets etc. And that really stood out were like, okay, this lady has reviewed this, she understands things she’s really putting thought into what this transition is going to look like. And her offer, well wasn’t ended up being the winning offer, she made it to our kind of top three, because she put forth that effort, even though she didn’t have the same level of industry experience that a lot of our other buyers did that was really relevant to the business.

Pat Yates  23:18

I’m really curious about that. So in that deal, did they have any financing after the close? Which made them feel more confident this person could implement? Or was it just all cash and it was still hey, I want it to be with that person? Or do they get more confidence in that financing going forward? If they have to do a seller note and which one was it or?

Elaine Eason  23:38

Yeah, yeah, I don’t think it was really, the seller note wasn’t so relevant in that particular deal. But I do see that sometimes like a if especially if you’re asking the seller to hold the note, which I’ll just say, if a listing is competitive, it may not, that may be a deal breaker altogether. But if you can make a really good impression and come with a strong offer, then it’s something that sellers might consider if they really, really connect with you and really feel like you’re the best buyer for the business. It very much is a case-by-case basis and depends on how competitive things are. So if you’re reaching out to me, and I’m saying hey, like, the way I run my process, I can’t speak to all the other advisors that Quiet Light, if I have a listing that’s very competitive, I’m going to tell you that as a buyer, and say hey, like we’ve had an overwhelming amount of interest. I love to schedule calls with everybody but I really just can’t because we just don’t have the calendar space. Sometimes the interest level is that extreme. And if you’re getting that like you should believe the broker and understand that it’s probably going to be very competitive and you’re really gonna need to put your best foot forward so just things to keep in mind if somebody tells you that it’s not in our best interest to tell you that if it’s not true because that type of thing will scare some buyers away.

Pat Yates  24:48

Also let’s talk about buyers in general if they’re looking at a lot of business at Quiet Light, sometimes if people come in are dismissive, throw out weird emails and things like that a lot of time their approach and how they work with the adviser whether it gives them confidence going forward, buyer should always interact, I think with us really well and talk about the positives they could work on versus the negatives. I mean, do you encourage people to do that as well?

Elaine Eason  25:11

Oh, yeah, definitely, definitely, definitely. And it’s like, you want to be positive. And it’s like, but you also do want to acknowledge the risks, I feel strongly about that in a delicate way. Like, you want to make sure that this is something you’ve considered, but if you come across to me, like you’re really stuck on this, these risk factors, and this is a big deal for you, then I may have some concerns about you making it to closing but potentially, it just depends on kind of how everything is communicated. So it’s a delicate balance of communicating. And putting your best foot forward and really being strategic about how you go about that.

Pat Yates  25:43

Right, so let’s kind of sew up all that we’ve talked about, buyers, obviously need to be qualified, they need to go in and make sure that if they’re looking at SBA, or they need financing of some sort of, they’re not just a pure cash buyer, get ahead of that curve, and make sure that you’re able to go in and implement when it happens, be differential to the buyer, or to the seller, be differential to the broker, and always be very positive, because I think that’s as big as anything, because people have to envision their baby going into someone else’s hands, and how are they going to handle it? And that even gets more concerning when you have financing going forward. And I know we talked about that, to be able to dig deep and get the products and think ahead, are there other things that you think buyers should? I think we covered a lot of it, but are there other things you think that they should do?

Elaine Eason  26:25

I think we covered pretty much everything. The last piece I’d say is along with putting your best foot forward, and then putting your best foot forward when you put in an offer when it’s competitive. Along with that is also being prepared for next steps. So we talked a little bit about diligence, but not in a lot of detail. But having an idea of what that’s going to look like is something that I’m likely going to ask you before closing. So put some thought into that early on, like, hey, are you going to be hiring a diligence firm? Are you going to be hiring a CPA to do financial diligence for you? Are you gonna be doing it yourself? What items are you going to want to see having a checklist and to be able to present alongside your offer after your offer, also is really, really helpful. And my sellers always really appreciate that transparency, knowing what those next steps are and knowing what they’re gonna need to get put together.

Pat Yates  27:17

That’s really interesting. I think that you know, as we saw this all up, I think one thing that should resonate with all the people that are listening, whether you’re a seller or a buyer, these transactions don’t work out well unless someone understands both sides, so we have to understand how the seller works and make sure their differential the process as well as the buyers. At Quiet Light, we try to really kind of intermingle those and find the best marriage for the two. It’s not always about the highest price. But I think a lot of people really should also concentrate when we’re talking about buying and selling with you, Elaine, I think you and I have worked on deals together I think you’re fantastic obviously, tell people how they can get in touch with you if they want to reach out because understand if you’re out there thinking about selling your business, and you just don’t even know if you’re ready, Elaine will be able to analyze that work with you a long time and help set a path to that. So tell people how they can get in touch with either or reach out and try to sell.

Elaine Eason  28:03

Yeah, I really appreciate that Pat. I mean, feel free to reach out to me anytime [email protected] be happy to set up a call and talk about your specific situation and make a plan for your best exit.

Pat Yates  28:14

Well, I can’t keep bragging on you because I think you’re awesome scurried having you around. It is great sitting in here talking today. I think that people should reach out to you like even if Elaine gets a lead and she knows that hey, it’s better for John or it’s better for Chuck or it’s better for Pat something done in the past. They move you along to the best person that makes it as you’re taken care of. We’re extremely entrepreneurs centric and Elaine put you at the top of the great people that are there as even though we know we all have great people. I appreciate you taking the time today.

Elaine Eason  28:37

Thank you, Pat. You’re so kind.

Pat Yates  28:39

All right. Appreciate it. Thanks.

Outro  28:43

Today’s podcast was produced by Rise25 and the Quiet Light content team. If you have a suggestion for a future podcast subject or guest, email us a [email protected]. Be sure to follow us on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next week.