Working With Experienced Advisor Can Double Chance of Selling
Estimates from the M&A Source and IBBA Market Pulse Report suggest that of those businesses put up for sale on the M&A market, only half will successfully sell – and that’s assuming they have an accredited advisor at the helm.
The industry has long cited a statistic from the Business Brokerage Press’s Tom West that only 25%-30% of businesses will sell to new ownership US. But respondents to the Market Pulse survey report closing ratios of about 50%. This indicates that accredited advisors and those who invest in ongoing education and networking are likely to achieve results far above the industry average.
There are many reasons businesses don’t sell, and it isn’t always a lack of buyer interest. New this quarter, advisors were asked how many of their terminated deals had offers on the table. Overall, for engagements that terminated without a successful closing, advisors reported 33% of them had at least one offer on the table and 32% had multiple offers.
For engagements that terminated with only one buyer, both markets were similar (33% Main Street & 31% LMM). In Main Street market, 27% of terminated engagements had more than one offer while in the lower middle market, just over half (51%) of terminated engagements had offers from two or more buyers.