April 11, 2024 • 16 mins
Andy and Doug share amusing anecdotes from memorable buyer-seller meetings. From unexpected attire choices to mismatched buyers and sellers, they entertain listeners while offering valuable insights into effective communication, preparation, and broker involvement in successful business deals. This episode is a must-listen if you're in the market to buy or sell a business or simply enjoy lighthearted business stories. Tune in to laugh, learn, and gain new perspectives on the world of business transactions.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:09):
Answer your question. He's like, what I want to know is liabilities.
And I'm like, tell me your definition of liability.
What's he trying to get to? He gets to the favorite Doug Hubler question.
Which? What is the rent?
Music.
(00:31):
Okay. Well, sir, as you can see on this P&L that I have provided to you.
Prior. The rent is right here.
That is... Is that good or bad?
So what was the seller doing during this too? The seller was trying to go through his speech.
(00:52):
Music.
Welcome back to the Apex Business Advisors Podcast. I'm your host,
Andy Kavanaugh, Joined as always by the president of Apex, Doug Hubler.
Doug, I have a fun episode for you today. I felt like you've had a rough couple
(01:14):
weeks and you need a fun episode. I think it's not just me.
I mean, I think it's kind of gone around the office, right? I mean,
I'm just taking in. I take it from everybody.
I carry it on my shoulders. I try to take it from you, Debbie,
Valerie, whoever's got the trouble.
They come to me and unload. load, they come to my office, unload, and then leave.
(01:38):
That's accurate, actually. And that's why I say, you know, I mean,
it does feel like we've been on a little bit of a string of some unique situations.
Yeah. And so I wanted to bring you in here today to do a topic that I know is
near and dear to your heart.
(01:59):
And that is awkward moments of buyer-seller meetings.
This should be a fun one. It is. Yeah. So may I start at what prompted this
to be our topic for this week? Okay, sure.
If folks listened to the outtakes last week, I got in at the crack of two o'clock.
Because I had a buyer-seller meeting on the other side of town.
(02:22):
And then I had a late one over here. Yeah.
And I show up to the late one on our
side of town here. And I had been communicating with this buyer's wife.
She had been the person that had come to me. And in the course of our research
on these folks, I found out that her husband has also inquired about businesses
(02:47):
through Apex through a different broker. Broker. Okay.
Okay. So first thing I have to do is I have to notify my fellow broker that,
hey, one of your buyers is apparently kind of connected to this deal that I'm working on.
It's supposed to be for her, but he's involved.
So just heads up. And my colleague was like, have at it. Take them. Have at it.
(03:12):
I can't tell Christy fast enough to assign them to you.
So I get to the buyer-seller meeting because I'm a professional.
I get there five to 10 minutes before the time.
Prep, prep time. My seller sends me the text that all the employees are gone and come on in.
And so I send the buyer the same text of, hey, employees have all left, come on in.
(03:33):
And, you know, standing by the door and only one person shows up. The wife. The husband.
So I'm like, hey, where's the missus?
Yeah, this is for me. She's not involved in this. She doesn't work.
So now you're finding out. Okay. Well, Mr. Seller, this is a person that I've spoken with twice.
(04:02):
Proceed. And the situation's different than I expected. Yeah.
So this is a, without giving too much away from it, they help artists and art
galleries and high-end people ship products.
High-end products. High-end products, high-end clientele. Yeah. They will create.
(04:24):
Creating. Custom packaging and for high value pieces of art.
Right. High dollar items. So kind of a specialty. And my buyer is.
That is now not the wife, but the husband, is in the trucking industry.
Okay. That's not bad. Shipping and logistics. Okay. Okay.
(04:45):
The issue is, is he's on the depot side of the trucking industry,
and my seller is not on the depot side of the shipping industry.
So, I mean, there is just this culture and personality mismatch from the beginning.
And we proceed through the buyer-seller meeting, and I can tell this thing is,
(05:09):
boy, this thing's just not going to go anywhere.
My seller's given the spiel. This is the products we have.
Here's this, here's that, you know, and I can tell that the buyer is completely
uninterested in anything this man has to say.
So I look at him and I go, what do you, uh, what do you want to get out of this meeting?
(05:29):
And his answer was, I want to know what his liabilities are.
Okay. Well, so this isn't going to be an asset sale.
So he's going to deliver this business to you free and clear.
He's going to maintain all cash.
He's going to maintain his receivables. He's going to maintain his payables
and he will maintain his liabilities.
(05:50):
So any debts that he has on this business, which he has none, by the way.
So does that answer your question? He's like, well, I want to know his liabilities.
And I'm like, tell me your definition of liability. What's he trying to get to?
He gets to the favorite Doug Hubler question.
Which? What is the rent?
(06:18):
Okay. Well, sir, as you can see on this P&L that I have provided to you. Prior.
The rent is right here.
Now, is that good or bad? So what was the seller doing during this too?
The seller was trying to go through his speech. So he had a presentation and a rehearsal.
(06:40):
The seller is very well put together, very well organized. He's organized,
yeah. Just very, very well put together.
(07:16):
Right, right. was, had recognized that this wasn't going to be a great fit,
but he had his presentation. Right. He wanted to get through that.
By golly, he was going to get through that presentation. He practiced it.
He had put effort into practicing this presentation and he was going to get
through it. Yeah. We finally painfully get through the presentation.
We're standing in the back of the store awkwardly and I'm like,
well, let me walk you out.
(07:37):
Get out. And this is one of those places where it's got the store and then it's
kind of got a separate like waiting area type place. Mm-hmm.
So seller had kind of stayed back and I'm talking to the buyer and I was like,
well, hey, you know, think about what you heard today.
And, you know, if you're interested in learning more or, you know,
you want to put an offer in, we can talk about it. Yeah. And he looks at the P&L.
(08:00):
And he looks at me and he goes, so this is what he's taken. This is profit.
There's nothing here after debt service. He's like, you get my point.
And I was like, well, you could have done the math two days ago and told us
you weren't interested.
Right. That if it's not going to cashflow after your debt service,
which by the way, was supposed to be for your wife. Yeah.
Not the primary breadwinner of your house. else. You're going to come in here
(08:24):
and take our time and for a business that you are going to take a hundred thousand
dollar haircut on from your salary that you're making.
Why don't you do that math ahead of time and go, Hey, this thing doesn't cashflow.
Well, because I mean, it cashflows after debt service is just his personal situation.
It wouldn't work. I know that you've had, I know you've had some stories that you've told me about.
(08:45):
Would you mind telling me about the guys with the, I'd love to hear about the,
With the mics on, the guys with the jean shorts and the muscle shirts.
Okay. These guys, and if you're listening, Bill, can I say his name, Bill?
Sure. I mean. It's a pretty common name. Friends.
Friends of mine. Old friends of mine. Friends of the program.
Absolutely. So I find this business interested in selling, and it is a modeling agency.
(09:13):
Very profitable, local business, been around for a long time.
They were very interested in taking a look at it.
So I set up an appointment to meet at the modeling agency. Let me jump in real quick.
Just a background on these buyers. I am familiar with them.
Yes. And they are cashflow buyers, industry agnostic. Right.
(09:34):
Their whole thing is what's the finances on the business.
I want to know what the finances are. Then I'll get into to the operations.
They're open to anything.
Now, imagine my surprise when I'm at the modeling agency and you mentioned your
client who's very professional, put together.
Imagine a modeling agency and their attire, their professionalism,
(10:00):
I mean, they are put together, right?
And my clients showed up in jean shorts, no, cut-off jean shorts and muscle tees.
They had the muscles to show. They do lift.
They do lift. They had the muscles, and I was pretty impressed with that.
They've spent some time in the gym. Sweet. Yeah.
(10:24):
We went into the executive's office, sat down, and I honestly don't even remember
the questions. I told you it was going to be a fun episode.
I don't remember how we even got out of there or how long the meeting was.
I'm sure I was sweating up a storm during this whole thing.
(10:45):
So at what point did you know? Did they tell you that, no, this isn't a fit?
Did the executives tell you? Was it mutual? so were you
just like you did the smart thing and saying you
know what after 20 minutes i think we're done here let's
go on out and and talk and i i kind
of sat through kind of like watching a
(11:05):
train wreck i wanted to see what was going to happen how this was going to work
itself out and you know i think we've spent a fair amount of time there because
we were these were cash flow buyers They didn't really care about what everybody
was wearing because when they ran the business,
they were going to wear their jean shorts and muscle shirts.
(11:26):
That's just who they are.
So that did not work out well for them. The sellers decided that probably wasn't a right fit.
You also have another story about a buyer that you have tried to talk out of
not having a buyer-seller meeting. Correct, correct.
And tell me about this one. This is actually one of my favorite stories that
(11:49):
you tell. Well, because it's frustrating.
We try to get to know our buyers, what they're looking for.
We know what they've passed up. And so I have a buyer I've worked with for a
while, and he's an old friend of mine, and he's looking for something very specific,
something that's got some size to it, but something that he can grow quickly.
(12:17):
So, he came across one of our engagements on our website and said,
hey, I'd like to find out more about this business.
And, you know, I sent him the information, our CBR.
And he said, yeah, this sounds like something I'd like. I said,
no, this doesn't match up to what you're looking for. You're looking for something with size.
(12:38):
This is a pretty, this is a small staff.
And, you know, you've said you need something with like at least 25 employees to start with.
So he talked me into setting up a meeting with the seller.
So going through the other broker in the office, arranging a meeting during
business hours with the seller.
Seller comes in here during the day, during his work time,
(13:01):
and my buyer comes in and it wasn't five minutes into it where he says,
you know, yeah, this doesn't seem to be a right fit for me. I'm looking for
something a little bigger.
Like, oh my gosh, I'm sure my face was as red as your your chief's shirt.
(13:21):
It's insulting to the seller too, right? Your business is not to the size that I need.
Right, right. And it is a put down, you're right. And it's also egg on my face
and the other broker in it.
And we try to, in our job, we're trying to qualify people so that we're not wasting people's time.
(13:43):
I've got a seller who's running a business and he needs to focus on that.
Our job is to qualify people, set up meetings for people who have serious interests
where it seems to be a match.
So I have actually taken to the buyer broker meeting, inserted the step of the
buyer broker meeting in between a few of my listings in between the buyer seller meeting. Yeah.
(14:07):
Especially if I have sat through, say, three or four of these things.
Yeah. First of all, I'm just going to be 100% honest. I'm bored now.
I've heard the same story. You know what? I'm not one of those people that can
watch the same movie like over and over and over again.
So it's like, yeah, you know what? I've already heard this story.
Tell you what? I'll tell the story, but I have found like where I get embarrassed
(14:29):
is when I bring a buyer to a buyer seller meeting and they are asking questions out of the CBR.
Right. So Doug, tell me why you started the business. Oh, it's right here on
page one. Yeah. So how many employees do you have? Well, it's right here on page three.
That's where I get really embarrassed. Right.
Like I said, I know it's been a rough couple of weeks for you.
(14:51):
So I want to get you, get you some laughs.
Well, we need that. Let's get you some, yeah, let's send them out to the website, kcapex.com.
Check out our blogs on absentee owned businesses and any other,
there's so many topics out there.
It really is a great place for people to start. If you're kind of considering
and think that there's an idea of, oh, I could be a great, this would be a great absentee business.
(15:15):
You know, go out there and check that out. Of course, we've got some podcasts
on that topic and, and many other topics you can get in contact with any of the brokers.
Brokers we're happy to uh talk to people
and kind of you know help you out in your journey it's really what we're
here for so until next week if you're looking at buying or selling a business
we got you fam yeah i just tell people wear what you want like i want people comfortable.
Music.
(15:49):
You send a picture of your friend and say, you can dress like this and this would be fine.
What I do is I send a picture of the guy from 50 First Dates with Sean Austin's
character with his mesh tee fanny pack and Oakley sunglasses.
And I'm like, this is minimum standard. This is what you have to adhere to. Minimum.
(16:14):
Music.
Music.
(00:09):
Answer your question. He's like, what I want to know is liabilities.
And I'm like, tell me your definition of liability.
What's he trying to get to? He gets to the favorite Doug Hubler question.
Which? What is the rent?
Music.
(00:31):
Okay. Well, sir, as you can see on this P&L that I have provided to you.
Prior. The rent is right here.
That is... Is that good or bad?
So what was the seller doing during this too? The seller was trying to go through his speech.
(00:52):
Music.
Welcome back to the Apex Business Advisors Podcast. I'm your host,
Andy Kavanaugh, Joined as always by the president of Apex, Doug Hubler.
Doug, I have a fun episode for you today. I felt like you've had a rough couple
(01:14):
weeks and you need a fun episode. I think it's not just me.
I mean, I think it's kind of gone around the office, right? I mean,
I'm just taking in. I take it from everybody.
I carry it on my shoulders. I try to take it from you, Debbie,
Valerie, whoever's got the trouble.
They come to me and unload. load, they come to my office, unload, and then leave.
(01:38):
That's accurate, actually. And that's why I say, you know, I mean,
it does feel like we've been on a little bit of a string of some unique situations.
Yeah. And so I wanted to bring you in here today to do a topic that I know is
near and dear to your heart.
(01:59):
And that is awkward moments of buyer-seller meetings.
This should be a fun one. It is. Yeah. So may I start at what prompted this
to be our topic for this week? Okay, sure.
If folks listened to the outtakes last week, I got in at the crack of two o'clock.
Because I had a buyer-seller meeting on the other side of town.
(02:22):
And then I had a late one over here. Yeah.
And I show up to the late one on our
side of town here. And I had been communicating with this buyer's wife.
She had been the person that had come to me. And in the course of our research
on these folks, I found out that her husband has also inquired about businesses
(02:47):
through Apex through a different broker. Broker. Okay.
Okay. So first thing I have to do is I have to notify my fellow broker that,
hey, one of your buyers is apparently kind of connected to this deal that I'm working on.
It's supposed to be for her, but he's involved.
So just heads up. And my colleague was like, have at it. Take them. Have at it.
(03:12):
I can't tell Christy fast enough to assign them to you.
So I get to the buyer-seller meeting because I'm a professional.
I get there five to 10 minutes before the time.
Prep, prep time. My seller sends me the text that all the employees are gone and come on in.
And so I send the buyer the same text of, hey, employees have all left, come on in.
(03:33):
And, you know, standing by the door and only one person shows up. The wife. The husband.
So I'm like, hey, where's the missus?
Yeah, this is for me. She's not involved in this. She doesn't work.
So now you're finding out. Okay. Well, Mr. Seller, this is a person that I've spoken with twice.
(04:02):
Proceed. And the situation's different than I expected. Yeah.
So this is a, without giving too much away from it, they help artists and art
galleries and high-end people ship products.
High-end products. High-end products, high-end clientele. Yeah. They will create.
(04:24):
Creating. Custom packaging and for high value pieces of art.
Right. High dollar items. So kind of a specialty. And my buyer is.
That is now not the wife, but the husband, is in the trucking industry.
Okay. That's not bad. Shipping and logistics. Okay. Okay.
(04:45):
The issue is, is he's on the depot side of the trucking industry,
and my seller is not on the depot side of the shipping industry.
So, I mean, there is just this culture and personality mismatch from the beginning.
And we proceed through the buyer-seller meeting, and I can tell this thing is,
(05:09):
boy, this thing's just not going to go anywhere.
My seller's given the spiel. This is the products we have.
Here's this, here's that, you know, and I can tell that the buyer is completely
uninterested in anything this man has to say.
So I look at him and I go, what do you, uh, what do you want to get out of this meeting?
(05:29):
And his answer was, I want to know what his liabilities are.
Okay. Well, so this isn't going to be an asset sale.
So he's going to deliver this business to you free and clear.
He's going to maintain all cash.
He's going to maintain his receivables. He's going to maintain his payables
and he will maintain his liabilities.
(05:50):
So any debts that he has on this business, which he has none, by the way.
So does that answer your question? He's like, well, I want to know his liabilities.
And I'm like, tell me your definition of liability. What's he trying to get to?
He gets to the favorite Doug Hubler question.
Which? What is the rent?
(06:18):
Okay. Well, sir, as you can see on this P&L that I have provided to you. Prior.
The rent is right here.
Now, is that good or bad? So what was the seller doing during this too?
The seller was trying to go through his speech. So he had a presentation and a rehearsal.
(06:40):
The seller is very well put together, very well organized. He's organized,
yeah. Just very, very well put together.
(07:16):
Right, right. was, had recognized that this wasn't going to be a great fit,
but he had his presentation. Right. He wanted to get through that.
By golly, he was going to get through that presentation. He practiced it.
He had put effort into practicing this presentation and he was going to get
through it. Yeah. We finally painfully get through the presentation.
We're standing in the back of the store awkwardly and I'm like,
well, let me walk you out.
(07:37):
Get out. And this is one of those places where it's got the store and then it's
kind of got a separate like waiting area type place. Mm-hmm.
So seller had kind of stayed back and I'm talking to the buyer and I was like,
well, hey, you know, think about what you heard today.
And, you know, if you're interested in learning more or, you know,
you want to put an offer in, we can talk about it. Yeah. And he looks at the P&L.
(08:00):
And he looks at me and he goes, so this is what he's taken. This is profit.
There's nothing here after debt service. He's like, you get my point.
And I was like, well, you could have done the math two days ago and told us
you weren't interested.
Right. That if it's not going to cashflow after your debt service,
which by the way, was supposed to be for your wife. Yeah.
Not the primary breadwinner of your house. else. You're going to come in here
(08:24):
and take our time and for a business that you are going to take a hundred thousand
dollar haircut on from your salary that you're making.
Why don't you do that math ahead of time and go, Hey, this thing doesn't cashflow.
Well, because I mean, it cashflows after debt service is just his personal situation.
It wouldn't work. I know that you've had, I know you've had some stories that you've told me about.
(08:45):
Would you mind telling me about the guys with the, I'd love to hear about the,
With the mics on, the guys with the jean shorts and the muscle shirts.
Okay. These guys, and if you're listening, Bill, can I say his name, Bill?
Sure. I mean. It's a pretty common name. Friends.
Friends of mine. Old friends of mine. Friends of the program.
Absolutely. So I find this business interested in selling, and it is a modeling agency.
(09:13):
Very profitable, local business, been around for a long time.
They were very interested in taking a look at it.
So I set up an appointment to meet at the modeling agency. Let me jump in real quick.
Just a background on these buyers. I am familiar with them.
Yes. And they are cashflow buyers, industry agnostic. Right.
(09:34):
Their whole thing is what's the finances on the business.
I want to know what the finances are. Then I'll get into to the operations.
They're open to anything.
Now, imagine my surprise when I'm at the modeling agency and you mentioned your
client who's very professional, put together.
Imagine a modeling agency and their attire, their professionalism,
(10:00):
I mean, they are put together, right?
And my clients showed up in jean shorts, no, cut-off jean shorts and muscle tees.
They had the muscles to show. They do lift.
They do lift. They had the muscles, and I was pretty impressed with that.
They've spent some time in the gym. Sweet. Yeah.
(10:24):
We went into the executive's office, sat down, and I honestly don't even remember
the questions. I told you it was going to be a fun episode.
I don't remember how we even got out of there or how long the meeting was.
I'm sure I was sweating up a storm during this whole thing.
(10:45):
So at what point did you know? Did they tell you that, no, this isn't a fit?
Did the executives tell you? Was it mutual? so were you
just like you did the smart thing and saying you
know what after 20 minutes i think we're done here let's
go on out and and talk and i i kind
of sat through kind of like watching a
(11:05):
train wreck i wanted to see what was going to happen how this was going to work
itself out and you know i think we've spent a fair amount of time there because
we were these were cash flow buyers They didn't really care about what everybody
was wearing because when they ran the business,
they were going to wear their jean shorts and muscle shirts.
(11:26):
That's just who they are.
So that did not work out well for them. The sellers decided that probably wasn't a right fit.
You also have another story about a buyer that you have tried to talk out of
not having a buyer-seller meeting. Correct, correct.
And tell me about this one. This is actually one of my favorite stories that
(11:49):
you tell. Well, because it's frustrating.
We try to get to know our buyers, what they're looking for.
We know what they've passed up. And so I have a buyer I've worked with for a
while, and he's an old friend of mine, and he's looking for something very specific,
something that's got some size to it, but something that he can grow quickly.
(12:17):
So, he came across one of our engagements on our website and said,
hey, I'd like to find out more about this business.
And, you know, I sent him the information, our CBR.
And he said, yeah, this sounds like something I'd like. I said,
no, this doesn't match up to what you're looking for. You're looking for something with size.
(12:38):
This is a pretty, this is a small staff.
And, you know, you've said you need something with like at least 25 employees to start with.
So he talked me into setting up a meeting with the seller.
So going through the other broker in the office, arranging a meeting during
business hours with the seller.
Seller comes in here during the day, during his work time,
(13:01):
and my buyer comes in and it wasn't five minutes into it where he says,
you know, yeah, this doesn't seem to be a right fit for me. I'm looking for
something a little bigger.
Like, oh my gosh, I'm sure my face was as red as your your chief's shirt.
(13:21):
It's insulting to the seller too, right? Your business is not to the size that I need.
Right, right. And it is a put down, you're right. And it's also egg on my face
and the other broker in it.
And we try to, in our job, we're trying to qualify people so that we're not wasting people's time.
(13:43):
I've got a seller who's running a business and he needs to focus on that.
Our job is to qualify people, set up meetings for people who have serious interests
where it seems to be a match.
So I have actually taken to the buyer broker meeting, inserted the step of the
buyer broker meeting in between a few of my listings in between the buyer seller meeting. Yeah.
(14:07):
Especially if I have sat through, say, three or four of these things.
Yeah. First of all, I'm just going to be 100% honest. I'm bored now.
I've heard the same story. You know what? I'm not one of those people that can
watch the same movie like over and over and over again.
So it's like, yeah, you know what? I've already heard this story.
Tell you what? I'll tell the story, but I have found like where I get embarrassed
(14:29):
is when I bring a buyer to a buyer seller meeting and they are asking questions out of the CBR.
Right. So Doug, tell me why you started the business. Oh, it's right here on
page one. Yeah. So how many employees do you have? Well, it's right here on page three.
That's where I get really embarrassed. Right.
Like I said, I know it's been a rough couple of weeks for you.
(14:51):
So I want to get you, get you some laughs.
Well, we need that. Let's get you some, yeah, let's send them out to the website, kcapex.com.
Check out our blogs on absentee owned businesses and any other,
there's so many topics out there.
It really is a great place for people to start. If you're kind of considering
and think that there's an idea of, oh, I could be a great, this would be a great absentee business.
(15:15):
You know, go out there and check that out. Of course, we've got some podcasts
on that topic and, and many other topics you can get in contact with any of the brokers.
Brokers we're happy to uh talk to people
and kind of you know help you out in your journey it's really what we're
here for so until next week if you're looking at buying or selling a business
we got you fam yeah i just tell people wear what you want like i want people comfortable.
Music.
(15:49):
You send a picture of your friend and say, you can dress like this and this would be fine.
What I do is I send a picture of the guy from 50 First Dates with Sean Austin's
character with his mesh tee fanny pack and Oakley sunglasses.
And I'm like, this is minimum standard. This is what you have to adhere to. Minimum.
(16:14):
Music.
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The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.