The average search fund takes 19.3 months to find a business to buy.
5 ways I am saving thousands of hours in the searching process.
Problem: Unrealistic seller price expectations
Solution: Move on. This is unfixable in the short term. Time and the market will soften unrealistic owners or they aren't interested in selling. I try to stay in touch and if they come back then great. Keep the funnel full.
Problem: Skipped or late Zoom meetings
Solution: I've switched mostly to phone calls where they leave their number and I call them. The success rate of this has been much higher. Fewer missed meetings. Almost always on time. I also hate staring at screens all day.
Problem: Sellers are not actually interested in selling
Solution: I ask early on "If everything looks good on both our ends and we can come to an agreement on price, how soon would you want to sell?" This weeds out owners that are just testing the market.
Problem: Wasted time in meetings
Solution: I have shortened meetings to 20 minutes and box them into only a few days a week. Early on I ask why the interest in selling. A lot of people are looking for something completely unrelated to a sale so I end those meetings early.
Problem: Too much wasted time doing outbound
Solution: I document everything I do more than a few times in loom so a VA can take over more of the outbound process. This frees me up for more owner meetings.
What are the biggest problems you're dealing with?
Any better solutions for mine?
If you are interested in buying, growing, and selling small companies, check out my course & community on it at IndiePE.com.
If you know of anything I should add to this please reach out @ColinKeeley or Colin@ColinKeeley.com. I’ll continue updating as I learn more.