Prospective Buyer's Initial Evaluation Questions
- Who are your best customers? Why?
- Who are your most difficult customers? Why?
- Who are the key suppliers? How long have you done business with them?
- Have you ever had any difficulty with the key suppliers? Explain the situation.
- Who are the key employees? Why? Are there any issues concerning these employees…now or in the past?
- Who are the employees most critical to daily production operations?
- Who really does the sale work for the company? How much do you do?
- What do you do every day? Who else can do the things you do?
- How many vacations do you take each year?
- Who runs the company when you are gone?
- What do you like best about the business?
- What do you like the least about the business?
- How long do you think it will take for you to “train” or “transfer” the critical management skills to effectively run the business?
- What should be done to build the business? Why hasn't it been done it?
- What kind of problems do you have with the production equipment?
- When was the last time that you lost a day of production do to such problems?
- What kind of problems do you have with the building?
- When was the last time that you had to address a major building problem?
- What type of leases do you have for the operating transportation equipment? When are the leases up? What changes would you make in the new leases?
- What worries you the most about the business? What have you done about it?
- Who are your, primary competitors?'
- What can they do that you and or the business cannot or has not done?
- How does the business stack up to the competition? Products; Price; Service
- What can be done to improve competitiveness? Why have you not done it?
- Who does the purchasing of primary raw materials for the business?
- Who sets the prices?
- What causes prices to be changed?
- How are price changes determined?
- When was the last time prices were changed?
- How were these changes implemented?
- How often do you personally meet with customers?
- When was the last time you met with a top ten customer?
- What was the subject of the meeting?
- What expansion plans do you have in place? Are they in writing? Do you have any quotes on building expansion plans or for new equipment?
- When do you think it will be necessary or desirable to expand the production capacity?
