If you're a business broker or M&A advisor and thought 2024 was wild; welcome to the sequel! It's louder, more complicated, and apparently directed by someone who hates making deals.
Tariffs are back with a vengeance, the SBA is playing policy ping-pong, and sellers are mentally checking out while pretending to still run things. If you've been feeling like every deal lately is one emotional breakdown away from collapsing; congratulations, you're a broker in 2025.
Here's the thing: this chaos doesn't immediately mean catastrophe. It means adjust or get run over, and if you want to succeed in 2025, you'll adjust.
The Tariff Tangle: When a Shipping Container Costs More Than the Business
Do you remember when margins were predictable? Yeah, neither do I. But, with triple-digit tariffs on some imports, your local seller who depends on steel parts or electronics is now staring at freight invoices like they're ransom notes.
As M&A professionals, we are watching good businesses bleed slowly because their cost of goods just tripled and no one's sure if they can pass that cost to customers. Our sellers want yesterday's multiple with today's profits; and buyers, bless their little hearts, are suddenly supply chain experts because TikTok told them what a "margin squeeze" is. 2025 is really shaping up to be a reality show: a mix of "Shark Tank" meets "Survivor".
So what do we do about it?
SBA Says "No".......Again
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the loan pool, SBA pee'd in the pool and didn't even bother getting in before they did.
Starting June 2025 we're back to:
So what does that mean? That "easy" deal with the first-time buyer and seller willing to carry the whole thing... yeah, it's dead.
So, now what?
You get ahead of it. If you're waiting until the LOI to figure out if the buyer can pull this off, you're already behind the curve.
Start building financing models into your prep. Offer structure options from day one. If you're not comfortable with it, partner with an SBA lender or bring in a fractional CFO to workshop terms before listing.
You don't have to be a banker; you just have to be proactive.
I know here (at Elite), we offer buyers and sellers the opportunity to connect with SBA and other lenders when they start their journey to get themselves pre-qualified. So you (our clients) don't have to work as hard (shameless self promo? no, we're not ashamed).
You Thought COVID Was Bad; Seller Fatigue is the New Pandemic (in M&A)
Let's address the elephant in the room: sellers are done. They aren't "thinking about selling in a few years" done; I mean "checked out but still holding the keys" done.
They survived COVID, inflation, staffing shortages, "work from home", and now tariffs. The burnout is real; and it's showing up in your pipeline.
You know the type. The seller who calls and says, "I want out in 90 days, I'm tired". These are the same ones who haven't updated their books, have no SOPs, and think a google drive folder with the business name counts as due diligence prep.
So what's the move? Create structure for them. For you. For the sake of the deal.
Implement some kind of exit readiness scoring system. It doesn't have to be fancy, just something to gauge their readiness and make sure it's real and based on todays market, not 2022 hype.
Your "Hustle" Won't Save You: Not This Time!
Here's the truth no one wants to say out loud. Most brokerages are held together with duct tape, charisma, and spreadsheets (did you know over 40% of brokerages DON'T have automation in their systems? weird?).
But this market isn't forgiving anymore. You need systems, you need processes, and you need automation and strategy because you're going to have to work harder for your clients to get deals done in 2025. If your strategy is "grind harder", you're gonna be like my old dog; just chasing your tail.
But where do you start?
And, yeah; we've built tools at Elite Business Exchange to make all of that easier. Not because we're trying to sell you something here, but because we got tired of watching good brokers lose good deals for dumb reasons. (And no, we're still not ashamed to self promote).
B.L.U.F. (Bottom Line Up Front)
This isn't all doom and gloom, this is all about discipline.
2025 isn't trying to kill the business brokerage and M&A industry, but what it will do is mature it.
Buyers are getting smarter. Sellers are getting more desperate. And policy? It's getting tighter, not friendlier. Brokers are going to have to be more consultant than salesperson as the industry changes. I get it (because I've been a broker), the administrative tasks are already overwhelming and we need better tools to combat the time-suck admin takes from us (.....like what I did there? and no, I am still not ashamed of promoting Elite and what is built for brokers). But if we are not willing to adjust how we conduct our business, we will fail.
So we have two choices.
Adapt and become the brokers the market needs; or, keep winging it and hope we don't drown in paperwork and broken LOIs.
This is written by Marcus Inman, Former Business Broker, Now, Founder and CEO of CNH Holdings Inc. and Elite Business Exchange.
