A buyer makes an offer. It sounds like a fact. It is not. It is an opening move, chosen carefully to set the tone in their favor. Treating it as the real number is one of the most expensive mistakes an owner can make.
How anchoring works
The first number in any negotiation becomes the gravity for everything after it. Drop it low enough, and even a “big” increase still lands below fair. The buyer knows this. It is why the first offer is rarely their real ceiling.
One business owner received an offer and felt a rush of relief; it was more than he had feared. He nearly accepted on the spot. Then he got an independent valuation, which came in well above the offer. Armed with that, he countered, and the final price was far closer to the valuation than to that first relieved feeling.
What protects you
- Your own number, built before the talks start. It becomes your anchor, not theirs.
- The reasons behind it. A number alone can be waved away. A number with documented math behind it cannot.
- Patience. The owner who can walk away calmly negotiates from strength. The owner who needs the deal today does not.
The mindset
Do not react to the first offer. Respond to it. Reacting is emotional and fast; the buyer is counting on it. Responding means you already know your number and can compare theirs to yours, line by line.
The first offer is information, not instruction. It tells you where the buyer would like to start. Where you finish depends on what you know.
Talk it through
Before any offer arrives, have your own number ready. The M1 Valuations team builds the figure and the reasoning that let you respond instead of react. When you are ready, we will walk you through it.