Trailhead Partners
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Quick Hits 3 min read

Buyers are surprisingly interested in small deals

Here's a breakdown of one we closed last year. Small town Texas, small service business, very dependent on the owner. Not an easy sell.

Zach Whitt
Zach Whitt

How much buyer interest do small deals get?

Deal Funnel

Here's a breakdown of one we closed last year. Small town Texas, small service business, very dependent on the owner. Not an easy sell!

  • 99 strategics/home services platforms contacted directly
  • 74 inbound leads from BizBuySell/Axial/etc
  • 27 NDAs signed from outreach
  • 31 NDAs from inbound leads
  • 7 buyer phone calls with seller: 2 ghosted afterwards, 2 declined to move forward with reasons
  • 3 LOIs received: 1 we rejected (didn't love the buyer), 1 buyer ghosted after submitting LOI (but why?), 1 accepted and ultimately closed

Deal Stats

  • 13 months start to finish
  • 58% of buyers submitting inbound leads never signed the NDA and the vast majority of those we never heard from again
  • 40% of buyers gave us a decline reason after viewing the CIM and the rest ghosted
  • 3 out of 7 buyers we never heard from again after meeting with the seller and one after LOI (terrible form!); after this, we moved to requiring an Indication of Interest (IOI), before seller meetings, even for small deals
  • No strategic buyers submitted a proposal - we knew it was a longshot based on size and location but were a little surprised by this considering the industry

While there was plenty of initial interest, there was less bidding competition than we would like, but ultimately we only need one to get to closing!

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