Are all business brokers terrible?

[Putt]

Back in February, I bought a going business with brokers representing both buyer and seller. Transaction went well, no problem.

I'd recently decided to continue looking for other businesses on the market. I was just trying to get a feel for the market but I had cash ready to jump on a deal if I chose. This time I decided to go it alone with a buyer's agent. All I learned was that I wouldn't trust a single one of these people with selling one of my own businesses.

These people can't have ever heard of a follow up. Not one out of a good 40 agents ever followed up. Not by phone, email, automated emails. These were businesses in the $600k to $1mm purchase price range that I had signed NDAs to access documentation.

The one agent that really made me laugh had published three books on dominating sales and considered himself an 'assassin'. He had this video on his website of a weird 'ninja' stage fight with him emerging from the smoke at the end. This guy, unironically, paid for a set, smoke machine, actors, and production crew to film this. He had great promises of how he could sell businesses better than anyone else.

I submitted a request for information. 2 weeks later, I get an email from docusign with an NDA. No email from the broker or his team. I sign it. Nothing... Nada...

2 weeks after signing the NDA, I give them a call. They say it must have been a mistake and would send it over. They sent over the same public information I had access to. From day 1, I had been receiving emails from his newsletter selling other businesses. It's not as if they believed I was unqualified as a buyer. I had cash and was prepared to move quickly. Needless to say, I didn't even bother asking for more questions.

I asked myself: "How would I feel if I was the seller of this business and discovered this?"

I've almost lost hope in this industry. In Florida where it seems everybody is a realtor or a business broker, it seems impossible to actually find somebody competent. None of the big franchises were much better either.

Aside from the fact there's probably good money in offer 'real estate coaching & training services' targeted to business brokers, I'm interested to hear what other people's experiences have been like. I wouldn't be impressed if I had spent money on pre-sale consulting and then my business broker couldn't be bothered to respond to emails.

 

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[farmer79]

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[Rabby]

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