The Real Currency of a Deal

When you’re selling a business, it’s easy to assume the hardest part is the math.
What’s it worth? How’s it financed? What’s in the legal documents?

Those are the questions that keep most owners up at night. But in practice, about 95% of whether a deal closes or collapses comes down to one thing: trust.

Not spreadsheets. Not tax returns. Trust.

I’ve seen deals with perfect financials fall apart over a single uneasy conversation, and messy businesses get sold smoothly because both sides believed the other was honest. Numbers matter, but they only work when people do.

The Hidden Variable in Every Deal

Every transaction, big or small, has what I think of as a “trust meter.”
Both sides start at zero. The goal is to build that meter to 100.

For a buyer, 100 means: I’m confident enough to write a big cheque.
For a seller, 100 means: I’m comfortable enough to let go of something I’ve poured years of my life into.

It sounds simple, but there’s a lot happening underneath. Every small action either builds or drains that meter.

Every clear and honest conversation? Points on the board.
Every time you follow through on what you said you’d do? More points.
Organized financials, quick responses, and clean communication during due diligence? The meter climbs higher.

But it works in reverse, too. If you drag your feet on providing documents, if emails go unanswered, or if problems get brushed aside instead of dealt with head-on—the trust meter drops fast.

What makes it tricky is that everyone’s threshold is different.
One buyer might shrug off a missed deadline. Another sees it as a dealbreaker.
And once that invisible line gets crossed, once the meter dips below their comfort zone, the deal is usually done. Sometimes instantly, without warning.

Where It Actually Falls Apart

From the outside, a failed deal often looks like a disagreement over price or terms.
But inside, it’s rarely about that.

More often, it’s a slow erosion of confidence. A buyer starts wondering what else they don’t know. A seller feels like the buyer’s dragging them through unnecessary hoops. Both sides retreat a little, communication tightens, and before anyone says it out loud, the deal’s already dying.

That’s why I always tell clients: the most valuable thing they can do in a sale is continue to build trust with the buyer.

If you say you’ll send a document Tuesday, send it Tuesday. If there’s a problem in your financials, flag it early instead of hoping it goes unnoticed. Every bit of transparency adds weight to your side of the scale.

I’ve watched buyers stretch further on price simply because they trusted the seller. I’ve also seen buyers walk away from fair deals because something just didn’t feel right.

No spreadsheet fixes that.

The Human Factor

Small business sales are uniquely personal. These aren’t faceless corporate transactions. There’s a human on each side of the table, each with their own fears, pride, and baggage. For a seller, this isn’t just an asset, it’s often their life’s work. For a buyer, it’s a huge leap of faith, sometimes the biggest financial commitment they’ve ever made.

That’s why the relationship matters so much.

If the seller is guarded and defensive, buyers assume there’s more they’re not seeing. If a buyer comes off skeptical or combative, sellers shut down. Once that mutual trust starts to crack, it’s nearly impossible to patch.

The best deals I’ve seen aren’t necessarily the most profitable ones, they’re the ones where both sides respected each other. They had a shared sense that the other person was acting in good faith. That doesn’t mean there weren’t disagreements or tough negotiations. It just means they kept showing up honestly through it all.

Contracts Don’t Create Trust

There’s a common misconception that once you get the deal on paper, the trust is locked in. It isn’t. Contracts don’t create trust; they formalize it.

By the time a deal reaches the legal stage, the relationship’s already been tested dozens of times; in emails, phone calls, document exchanges, and site visits. Each of those moments either builds or erodes confidence.

If the foundation is weak, no amount of legal language can save it. And if the foundation is strong, the paperwork becomes a formality. That’s the irony of deals: the most decisive moments aren’t the big ones. They’re the little ones, the quick replies, the tone of an email, the way you handle a surprise issue.

Trust is built in inches and lost in miles.

How to Build It (Without Overthinking It)

You don’t need a perfect strategy to build trust. You just need to act like someone you’d want to buy from.

Be consistent.
Be organized.
Be human.

Answer questions directly, even when the answer isn’t flattering. Admit mistakes quickly. Be clear about what you know and what you don’t.

Buyers don’t expect perfection. In fact, sometimes the imperfections can be a core reason they’re interested in the deal. It gives them something to come in, fix, and realize the growth.

If something in your business isn’t ideal, name it and frame it. Maybe your margins dipped last year. Explain why, and what you did about it. Maybe you’re behind on documentation. Own it, then show that you’re cleaning it up.

Every time you acknowledge a flaw instead of hiding it, you’re still gaining points on the trust meter.

The Real Work of Selling

Selling a business is rarely just a financial transaction. It’s a transfer of faith. You’re asking someone to step into your world, carry your customers, your staff, your reputation; and trust that it’ll continue to work under new ownership.

That doesn’t happen through polished marketing or airtight contracts. It happens through human connection.

So if you’re selling your business, treat trust like the real currency of the deal. Build it, protect it, and manage it like it’s worth more than the dollars on the table, because it is.

You never know which small moment will make or break the deal.

And more often than not, it’s the ones you don’t even realize you’re having.