He cares about three things. None of them are on your spreadsheet.
Is my team going to be okay.
Is the thing I built going to survive.
Is this person going to respect what I spent my life creating.
I have been on both sides of this table.
The first business I ever bought, I showed up with a valuation model. I talked about multiples and debt service.
The seller sat there with his arms crossed and said almost nothing for 45 minutes.
I lost that deal.
The second time, I walked in with one question. "How did you get started?"
He talked for 20 minutes. And somewhere in that story, he told me everything I needed to structure the entire deal.
The seller note closed in a single phone call. The price dropped 15% without me asking. The transition went from 12 months to 6.
Same buyer. Different approach. Completely different outcome.
The buyers who close are not running the best models.
They are the ones who understand that the person across the table is not selling a business.
He is closing a chapter.
Comment SELLER below and I will send you the first call framework I use before I ever open a spreadsheet.