You're not alone, and it's not a reflection on your business. Here's what's really going on — and a way through it.
You've had people look. Maybe you've even had an offer. And then it stalls — because the buyer can't get the bank to back them. Lending criteria have tightened hard, and a lot of otherwise capable buyers simply can't raise the money a traditional sale needs.
So the process drags on. Weeks turn into months. Buyers fall through at the last minute, after due diligence, after you've told your accountant, sometimes after you've told your staff. Most business owners never actually sell their business — that's not a statistic, it's a tragedy. Years of graft, jobs, and a legacy you built from nothing, simply disappearing because the money couldn't be arranged.
I've been on the other side of this. I've built, run and sold businesses myself, and I've seen good, profitable businesses fail to sell for no better reason than a bank saying no to the buyer. It doesn't have to end that way.
Here's the bit most sellers don't hear until it's too late. When a buyer can't get bank finance, the businesses that do get sold in that situation often go to "cash buyers" — people who know full well the seller is stuck, and price their offer accordingly. A weak position gets used against you. You end up taking a knock-down figure just to get it over the line.
Vendor finance is the other way. Instead of waiting for a bank to say yes, you agree to be paid over an agreed period, directly by me, structured properly and set out in writing from day one. Because the deal isn't held hostage to a bank's decision, it can be priced fairly — reflecting what the business is actually worth, not what a buyer can scrape together upfront.
That's the difference. A cash buyer's discount is the price of your weak negotiating position. Vendor finance removes that weak position, so the price reflects the business, not the buyer's cash constraints.
I'm not asking you to just take my word for it and hope for the best. A vendor finance deal is built on real protections, set out by your solicitor before anything completes:
Your solicitor drafts it, your solicitor reviews it, and nothing completes until you're satisfied it protects you properly. That's not a favour I'm doing you — that's how a proper vendor finance deal is supposed to work.
I'm Bob Parsons. I've built, run and sold these businesses myself — taxi firms, a garage, a tyre business, recovery. I know what it takes to build something from nothing, and I know exactly how it feels when a sale falls over for reasons that have nothing to do with how good the business is.
I'm not a broker chasing a listing fee. I'm the buyer. If we agree terms, there's no bank in the middle to say no at the eleventh hour.
So if buyers keep falling through because they can't get finance, have a confidential chat with me. It's free, there's no obligation, and if nothing else I'll lend an ear and tell you straight whether vendor finance could work for your situation. We understand!
A full, plain-English guide to how seller finance works, the numbers, and the protections built in.
An honest, side-by-side look at which route actually pays you more — with real numbers.
If things are tight and you're worried about going under, there's a dignified way out.
Been trying to sell and getting nowhere? A straight look at your options: broker, closing down, family succession, or a direct sale.