The importance of the buyer-seller relationship
Numbers get a deal to the table. The relationship between buyer and seller decides whether it actually closes, and how much friction there is along the way. Ask any advisor what matters and they'll point to the valuation and the SPA. Ask anyone who's actually sold a business and they'll tell you the relationship with the person on the other side of the table is what got that paperwork signed without six months of unnecessary back-and-forth.
1. A good deal is one both sides actually like being part of
Liking the person you're doing a deal with isn't a soft, optional extra — it changes how the whole process runs. People extend goodwill, flexibility, and patience to someone they respect and get on with, and dig their heels in against someone they don't. This matters even more for trade and family businesses, where an owner isn't just selling a P&L, they're handing over a team, a customer base, and a reputation they've spent years building. Knowing, and liking, who's taking that on changes how a seller negotiates everything else.
2. No one should leave the table feeling like they lost
A deal that feels lopsided to either side rarely stays settled. A seller who feels short-changed becomes difficult during handover. A buyer who feels they overpaid starts looking for reasons to renegotiate, delay completion, or dispute warranty claims down the line. The best deals aren't the ones where one side extracts the maximum possible value from the other — they're the ones where both sides walk away thinking they got something fair. That's not a compromise on a good outcome; it's what a good outcome actually looks like.
3. Don't let your solicitors become the only channel you talk through
Advisors are essential for the legal and technical work, and that work should absolutely go through them. But when every small question, no matter how minor, gets routed through legal teams because the principals never speak directly, simple clarifications turn into formal correspondence, timelines stretch, and legal fees climb in direct proportion to how much back-and-forth happens. A five-minute call between buyer and seller can settle in moments what might otherwise take a week and a few hundred pounds in correspondence to resolve.
4. Keep a direct line open, but be clear on what belongs there
Staying in regular, informal contact throughout a deal, even something as simple as a shared message thread for logistics and quick questions, keeps momentum and builds the working relationship that gets you through the inevitable bumps. The discipline is knowing what belongs on that channel and what doesn't. "How's the survey going" or "can we move Thursday's call" belongs there. Anything touching price, terms, or representations about the business belongs in writing, through your advisors, where it's properly recorded. Keep the relationship on the informal channel and the commercial terms in the formal one, and you get the speed without creating problems for yourself later.
5. The relationship doesn't end at completion
Many trade-business sales include a handover period, an earn-out, or a consultancy arrangement once the deal closes. A buyer and seller who've built a genuine working relationship through the process tend to have a far smoother transition than two parties who only ever spoke through lawyers. An earn-out, in particular, runs on trust as much as it runs on the numbers written into the agreement — and trust is built well before completion, not after.
BUK Capital treats every conversation with a seller as the start of a working relationship, not just a transaction. If that's the kind of buyer you're looking for, get in touch and judge it for yourself.
