How many days until you call after a date?
April 27, 2021
by a searcher from Brigham Young University in Kahului, HI, USA
This question has long been debated after a good first date, and is the fodder of night time sitcoms. Same day, next day, you seem too eager. A week or too and you must not care.
In our world what is the right cadence for follow up with a seller?
I'm sitting on my hands right now on a deal I am trying to not get excited about.
1. Don't search on the classifieds. Check.
2. Pinpoint the company and geographical metrics you want in your target. Check.
3. Reach out directly to companies that fit your metrics. Check.
4. Had an intro call to gauge interest and expectations. Signed NDA. Check.
5. Had an in-person meeting (Thurs) to discuss company and owner objectives, fit, and general financials. Provided an overview of ourselves, and deal flow including milestones. No red flags yet, and even discussed agreeable EBITDA multiples. Check.
6. Left clear objectives for financial disclosures. Check.
7. Seller planned a meeting with CPA (Fri) and emailed to let us know.
What is the YOUR follow up cadence. Obviously, this depends on the buyer, seller, circumstances, etc. I don't think there is a concrete right/wrong answer. How long would YOU wait to follow up?
from Texas A&M University in Elizabethton, TN, USA
I am in a similar situation to you with 2x proprietary deals right now. Waiting for more detailed financial information to form a proper IOI (verbal discussions already OK).
In both cases, we have talked openly about timeline (their accountant needs 2-3 weeks to compile, etc) in getting the data that I need. I put together a simple spreadsheet with the minimum info that I would need to create my own version of a "CIM" for the proprietary deal.
I have tried to make sure that the owners hear something from me at least once a week going through this.
Early on with one prospect, I called by phone (vs email), which was a good thing, since my data request / first meeting follow-up went to spam and he was wondering why he hadn't heard from me! So, I encourage you to use both phone and email when following up, to make sure you are getting through to a busy (and sometimes 80+ year old) owner.
I believe that if I called/emailed everyday, that the owners would not accept such aggressive behavior- but they have also been proactive to communicate with me timeline expectations when they need the time.
in Dallas, TX, USA
I would ask what their expected time frame is to exit? Why they're selling? What they would need to make a decision right away?
If they're making a decision in the next month and very motivated to sell I'm going to be very aggressive & stay on them daily.
If they're not making a decision for a year but willing to discuss numbers & testing the market; my follow up will be less aggressive & more just touching base occasionally.
Overall if I had to pick between either being to passive or being too aggressive; I would much rather error on the side of being too aggressive.