Open for the third liar you'll encounter in your deal. The one whose lies matter the most - The Seller. #3 out of the 4 Liars You'll Meet In Your Deal The hardest liar to spot? He looks you in the eye, shakes your hand, and still bends the truth about their numbers. Here's Liar #3 - The Seller: The Seller tells you: “I’ve been running this business for decades. I know every detail. These numbers? Rock solid.” And yet… the numbers are off. Sometimes by 30% from what’s shown in the CIM. Let's be clear: people who have owned and operated businesses for 10, 20, even 30 years don’t get “confused” about how much cash their business produces. I don’t have any confusion about mine—do you? Want to see how "business viral" this topic is? See my business viral LinkedIn post with 140,000 views & 176 comments! When the financial story shifts, who’s lying to you? The Seller directly? Or the Broker passing along their narrative? Either way, you’re being misled. That begs the real question: How do you protect yourself? Should you approach the LOI process differently? Imagine stating upfront: “This offer is based on $1M of SDE. For every 10% less EBITDA our QoE finds, we reduce the purchase price by 20%.” Do that, and watch how much more “honest” those CIMs suddenly become.