You may save $15K on a cheap QoE, but it can cost you much more. Recently, I wrote a 5-part post on how Buyers get screwed using mediocre QoEs. It got 9,165 impressions and 39 comments. Find the topics and posts below. Which one resonates with you? Which one feels like overkill? • Part 1: Your bargain QoE provider is cutting corners. They just can't tell you. Link to post: Start asking, “What AREN’T you doing at this price?” redacted • Part 2: $10,000 buys you a QoE. $25,000 buys you the truth. Link to post: You’re paying for the truth. redacted • Part 3: Your QoE provider skipped 60 hours worth of work. Link to post: Still think the $25K option is expensive? redacted • Part 4: The Seller is thanking you for that $15k you saved. Link to post: Don’t be cheap. redacted • Part 5: A 60-year-old seller just outplayed your 27-year-old QoE provider. You paid $400K for the lesson. redacted My Favorite is #5 Below: A 60-year-old seller just outplayed your 27-year-old QoE provider. You paid $400K for the lesson. Your QoE provider...Sharp kid. Good with spreadsheets. Knows the formulas. The seller is 60. Built this business from nothing. Ran it for 30 years. Knows every trick because he invented half of them. NOT A FAIR FIGHT. The seller knows which questions to dodge. He's been dodging them for decades. He knows which documents to "lose." The ones that show the real numbers. He knows how to spin the story. He's told it a thousand times. EXAMPLES: Your provider asks for revenue backup. The seller gives him a spreadsheet he built last week. Your provider asks about the big customer. The seller says "great relationship, no issues." He doesn't mention they're leaving in 6 months. Your provider asks about add-backs. The seller hands over a schedule full of "one-time expenses" .....trick is....they happen every single year. YOUR QoE provider doesn't push back. He doesn't know he should. He's never been lied to by someone this good. Here's what gets missed: • $40K in "one-time" expenses that recur annually • $30K in revenue that doesn't exist • $25K in personal expenses buried as business costs • $20K customer concentration risk nobody mentioned That's $115K in bogus EBITDA. At a 4x multiple, you just overpaid by $460,000. The seller knew. The broker knew. Your analyst never stood a chance. You didn't hire a QoE provider. You hired the Professor for the MOST EXPENSIVE lesson of your life. And you paid $460K tuition. The seller's been doing this longer than your QoE provider has been alive. Experience wins. Every time. You need someone who's seen the tricks. Who knows the lies before they're told. Who pushes back when the story doesn't add up. You need a QoE provider who's been IN THE RING with these sellers. Not someone learning on your deal. The lesson costs $460K. Or you can hire someone who already learned it. QUESTION: What's your best story of how a 60 year old Seller has played a 27 year old Buyer? redacted