Do you get emails to sell your roofing business?

Ok, so, I'm a roofing business broker and I see a lot of roofing owners get emails, calls, and messages from people saying they want to buy their business. Curious what do other people do or react when they get those emails? Wanted to share my perspective and see what everyone here sees and does.

So, a lot of buyers are sending mass emails to cast a wide net. They want to see who responds, get some financials, and figure out whether there may be a deal there. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are ready to buy your company. 

So what I tell clients who say they've gotten big number offers, is to ask first: How did they get to the number they’re talking about?

If they won’t give you a specific offer, or at least explain how they’re thinking about value, I wouldn’t put much weight on the conversation yet.

If they are serious, they should eventually be willing to look at your financials, tell you what they think the business is worth, make a specific offer, and give you some idea of a timeline.

My five tips if someone approaches you about buying your roofing company:

Find out who they actually are.
Are they an individual buyer, another roofing company, a private equity group, or somebody just trying to source deals for someone else?

Ask how they are valuing your business.
Don’t just focus on the number they throw out. Ask how they got there. What earnings are they using? What are they including? What assumptions are they making?

Get a real number.
A buyer saying, “We’re very interested in roofing companies like yours,” is not an offer. Get them enough information to put something specific in front of you.

Get a timeline.
If they are serious, ask what happens next and when. When will they make an offer? When would they want to close? What do they still need from you?

Get your own opinion of value.
This is where using a business brokerage like Legacy Entrepreneurs can help. Even if you already have a buyer, it helps to get a more neutral opinion. Sometimes after I talk to owners they realize they are getting hosed and could get a better offer (boom I just earned my commission) or sometimes they realize they should hop on that offer immediately (boom, just screwed myself out of a commission lol)

I usually tell owners not to be afraid to share the appropriate documents once they are comfortable with the buyer and confidentiality is handled.

Get them the information they need.

Then push for a specific offer and a timeline.

If you can get those two things, you probably have a real buyer.

At that point, I still think there is value in bringing in help. The buyer is negotiating for themselves. You should have somebody negotiating for you. That means pushing on price, understanding the terms, keeping the buyer moving toward a close, and making it clear that they are not necessarily the only option.