Looking to Buy a Business in 2026? Then Get Serious About How You Appear to Sellers

In Main Street business sales, it is not uncommon for a good listing to get hundreds of buyer inquiries. Why do only a fraction of these inquires make it to the negotiation table is simple. Many buyers are simply unqualified, aren’t serious and don’t earn the trust and respect of the broker that has the listing.  If you've sent inquiries and heard nothing back, you're not being ignored — you're being filtered.

Our job is to present the most qualified prospects to seller, not tire kickers who will waste everyone’s time. While some buyers may get upset to hear this, if the tables were turned and they were looking to sell their business, they would fully appreciate the screening processes.

So how do you put your best foot forward with the broker and seller? How do you use the unqualified buyers to your advantage?

Expect to Prove Your Ability and Timing

We run a multi-stage screening process that eliminates 30% of the inquiries before a serious conversation ever happens.

After signing an NDA, and before seeing the CIM, we want to have a conversation with a buyer to understand their timing, financing, background and motivations for business ownership.

Where do they live? What is their timing to complete a transaction? Is their spouse on board? What is their financial picture? What is their background and how does that relate to this business? Are they prepared to show evidence of their net worth? Have they ever been involved in any litigation? Are they working with a lender? Are they pre-approved for a loan? Why are they interested in this business? Are you a US citizen?

Fail any of these questions--You get immediately eliminated. This isn't a power play — it's a proxy test. If you won't invest the time to properly document your readiness to buy a business, you won't survive three months of due diligence and lender requirements on a multi-million dollar acquisition.

Get a Lender Pre-Qualification

For SBA-financed deals, we require a pre-qualification letter from a lender before moving forward. Not looking for SBA loans? Not a problem—-but you still will have to demonstrate liquidity or proof of financing. The lender pre-qual isn't a guarantee of financing — we know this. But it proves you've spent at least a few hours engaging with a lender and passed a basic financial screening. Our viewpoint? If a buyer who won't go through a basic pre-qual process is a suspect, not a serious buyer. This stage cuts the remaining pool roughly in half again.

Getting Ready to Present a LOI

Submitting letters of intent is a normal part of the business buying process. But presenting unrealistic, unproductive LOIs to simply tie up a listing and take it off market does nothing to earn the broker’s and seller’s confidence.

We will often ask how many LOIs you as a buyer may have presented and why they were not accepted. If the answer is a half dozen or more or if the answer is “none of these sellers are serious about selling their businesses” we know you are a problem buyer. It tells us that you are presenting offers that are well below market, you have unrealistic expectations of due diligence or you are simply trying to throw alot against the wall to expect something to stick. Either way, you're not the buyer we want to spend time on.

Submit serious offers. Narrow your choices down to a few interesting businesses and pursue them with conviction, one at a time.

A Tough Business

It’s important to understand that we as business brokers earn our compensation by successfully closing transactions. We’ve had thousands of conversations with buyers and hear a litany of answers when we ask the hard questions of both buyers and sellers. The best brokers are selective on both sides — even turning down seller opportunities that have questionable financials, or sellers that are simply testing the waters with prospective buyers. That selectivity is what produces high closing rates, and it's the same mindset we bring to each transaction. We don't need to work with everyone who reaches out. We want to work with the serious buyers and sellers where we believe a deal gets done.

We start the buyer qualification process from scratch with every inquiry. The only way to differentiate yourself is through respecting the process that the broker has to move the inquiry along the transaction pipeline. Don’t get your feelings hurt and understand that good qualification processes will ensure that your offer is taken seriously.

What You Can Do Right Now

No credential or shortcut replaces the fundamentals. The buyers who float to the top of a crowded market are the ones who show up already prepared:

• Complete all paperwork immediately — don't let it sit

• Have your SBA pre-qualification ready before you inquire

• Know your target industry, deal size, and thesis clearly

• Get your spouse on board

• Build a real deal team: lender, lawyer, and advisors who know your target deal size

• Submit LOIs with conviction, not volume

Walk into the qualification call ready to demonstrate resolve — because the broker is deciding in the first few minutes of a call whether you're one of the few who will meet the seller and be taken seriously or if you are left behind. The market is crowded. But prepared buyers have a real edge precisely because most buyers aren't prepared. That's the opportunity.