Deal certainty: what it really means, what sellers can control, and why it matters
A business owner agrees to sell for $2.4 million. Eight weeks into due diligence, the buyer’s accountant raises concerns about customer concentration. The buyer proposes a $300,000 price reduction “to reflect the risk”. The seller, exhausted and already mentally checked out, accepts. The business sells and the owner exits, but on terms they settle for, not the terms they wanted.