Lance Hood:               So how do you get the seller and broker to work on your timelines?

Richard Parker:           The most important thing is you have to take charge of the process. And you do so by arriving on the scene if you will as a knowledgeable buyer. I mean this doesn't mean experience. It means understanding the steps and the process, and being very well prepared and informed, and conveying confidence and commitment and intelligence.

                                    If you are new at this and don't get educated first or you sort of jump into the process with a dream it won't work. I mean dreams are important but dreams just give us hope, but knowledge is what guarantees our success. So if you take that coupled with a proven action plan and the right advice along the way, it really is a sure fire recipe to achieve anything that want.

Lance Hood:               What are some of the key areas that are going be your biggest waste of time?

Richard Parker:           Anyone who's thinking about buying a business has to keep two critical things in mind. First there are ten times the number of buyer in the market as there are of businesses that will be sold.

                                    Second, good businesses sell fast. I mean really, really fast. So this tells us that A; the biggest competition comes from other buyers. And B; you need to put yourself in a position to pounce on a good opportunity.

                                    What happens typically is - there are really six typical issues that cause people to waste their time. First most people turn this into a looking process and not a buying process. There's what I call the "too quick to click syndrome" as a second point and let me explain.

                                    The Internet is the greatest and worst thing that's ever happened to the business for sale marketplace. The greatest because you have lots of business listed in one place where you can go and look. The second thing is there are lots of businesses listed in one place where you can go and look. And so we've been programmed as web users to sort of just click, click, click. What happens is you may find a business that's of interest and the ad's not well written, or it's missing some information and you sort of just, "Let me click at the next. Let me look at the next one. Let me see what else is out there." Like the grass is always greener on the other side of fence. And it's sort again, what I call the "too quick to click syndrome." We're too quick to move onto what we think may be a better business just one click away as opposed to digesting the information and making an effective inquiry. And that's point number three which is the fear of making inquiries.

                                    If you look online at all for businesses for sale or see them in the paper or hear about from someone, people sort of tend to digest the information and think about it as opposed to jumping upon it and saying, "You know what? I'm going to make that phone call. I'm going to send that email and let me see what else is there."

                                    I mean it doesn't A; it doesn't cost you anything. And B; you're not going to do anything wrong. You're just looking to find additional information. So the fear of making inquiries is certainly something that will cause people to waste a lot of time.

                                    The fourth thing is apprehension about making offers. You must make offers. And just because you may be missing some information it can't stop you.

                                    So for example, you may think that you need more detailed financials but can't get access to them. Or at the same time you may be worried about losing the opportunity. So you can easily make an offer including all the protection you need so even if you learn that the business doesn't make sense for you - you can still back out and be fully protected.

                                    The fifth thing where people waste time is they let others dictate the rules of engagement. You remember what we said about taking charge? Well, so this also extends to when a broker tries to bully you into how the process will work, or tries to tell you for example, "You can't meet the seller until you make an offer," or some other BS. Remember, this is your money and your future on the line, and if you want to be the boss you have to start acting like one. And that's the fifth point.

                                    And the last point would be - and this is really important. It's people's tendency to look for the perfect business. Well guess what? It doesn't exist. Every business is going to have some warts. The key is to know the difference between sort of warts and cancer, and incidents and catastrophes.