No Business Relationship? No Business Deal!

David Barnett is a businessman who has learned the ropes the hard way, hands on! He's been through several types of deal-driven growth in his career, not only deals of his own but also by managing deals as a broker for clients.

He attributes most of his success to the lessons he's learned along the way. If you're looking for some business advice from someone who has "been there, done that," look no further than David.

After a career in advertising sales, David started several businesses including a commercial debt brokerage. Helping to finance small and medium sized businesses led to the field of business brokerage. Over several years, he sold dozens of businesses for others while also managing his own portfolio of income properties and starting his career as a local private investor.

 This is a true deal-maker to deal-maker behind the scenes episode. Don’t miss it!

If You Can't Form Good Business Relationships, You Won't Be Able To Close Deals!

When you're looking to buy or sell a business you need guidance, errors in deal-making are way too expensive to run the risk of not having experienced help. That's where David comes in! As an expert on preparing for selling and selling businesses privately or via a business broker, David makes sure any deal goes off without a hitch.

Sometimes (and by that I mean often) deals need a great deal of fixing up before completion. From macro level work like building relationships to micro level work like finishing touches on paperwork; all of it can make or break a deal. However, most importantly... we always put your goals first which means finding out what matters most to everyone involved and if the other parties understand and respect that.

To make that happen, you need relationships! No relationships? No deals.

Not All Exits Are The Same

Another critical factor we discuss all the time are the goals of a deal. What does the exit look like? When we think of an “exit” in business we usually think of selling a company, but there are so many ways to exit a business. Corey and David talk about the many possible goals a deal-driven leader might have from their exit strategy. This includes people who buy up multiple ventures from a distance and stay out of the weeds to people who sell large businesses to go buy fishing lodges in the West.

Corey has a great story of a wildly successful wall street leader who ended up working a couple of days out of the week from a bed and breakfast he lived in as part of his exit arrangement.

Sounds like a dream life, right? Exactly!

Many people struggle to describe their dream outcome or personal goals from a deal. We’ve talked about this in the past but this episode really dives deep in showing you the possibilities. You can use some of the scenarios we discuss as inspiration to create your vision for your own dream life.

But make sure you know what your dream is before starting a deal so that you can negotiate the deal that’s right for YOU.

Answer These Questions Before You Start Planning A Deal

Barnett loves to say that it took him 10 years to unlearn what he was taught in business school. University had trained him to be a middle-manager in big enterprises, he was totally unprepared for the realities of small business or deal-making.

Here’s a quick cheat sheet to help you get up to speed from the learning David shares on this episode. Start by thoroughly answering these questions:

Is your business ready for sale?
Is there anything in your business you could simplify?
Why should you prepare now vs. later?
What if you’re not ready to sell?
What’s your dream outcome?

Listen to the full episode with David here.

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

Take the Deal-Ready Assessment today if you want to find out how deal-ready you are!