Why Transparency Wins: How Openness Attracts Better Buyers for Your Business

Reading time: ~5 minutes

If you've ever browsed real estate listings, you know the feeling: one listing shows a single blurry photo and a vague description — "charming property with potential." The next shows 25 high-quality images, a floor plan, energy certificate details, and an honest description of what needs work. Which one do you click on? Which one do you trust?

The same principle applies when selling a business. Yet in the German M&A market, secrecy remains the default. Many brokers treat every detail as classified information, hiding basic facts behind NDAs and weeks of back-and-forth before a potential buyer learns anything meaningful. The intention is to protect the seller — but in practice, this approach often backfires.

The Culture of Secrecy in German Business Brokerage

The traditional approach to selling a small or medium-sized business in Germany follows a familiar pattern: a vague, anonymized listing ("profitable service company in southern Germany, €500K–€1M revenue") followed by layers of gatekeeping before any real information is shared. Buyers must sign NDAs, prove financial capability, and often wait weeks — all before knowing whether the opportunity is even relevant to them.

This comes from a well-meaning place. Sellers worry that employees, customers, or competitors might find out the business is for sale. These are legitimate concerns. But the pendulum has swung too far toward opacity, and the cost is real: fewer qualified buyers engage, deals take longer, and many promising transactions never get off the ground.

What Research Tells Us About Transparency and Buyer Behaviour

The evidence from adjacent markets is striking. In real estate, a comprehensive study by VHT Studios analysing over 200,000 listings found that properties with professional, detailed presentations sold for 32% more than those with minimal information. Zillow's data showed that listings with fewer than nine photos were 20% less likely to sell within 60 days. Buyers spend roughly 60% of their time looking at property images and only 20% reading descriptions — but both matter. The more complete the picture, the more serious the engagement.

These findings aren't just about pretty photos. They reflect a deeper behavioural truth: people engage more when they can quickly assess whether something is relevant to them. Incomplete information creates friction, and friction kills interest.

In B2B sales more broadly, research by Todd Caponi — documented in The Transparency Sale — shows that leading with honesty, including acknowledging limitations, increases the number of qualified opportunities, raises average deal sizes, and shortens sales cycles. Counterintuitively, being upfront about weaknesses builds trust faster than pretending they don't exist.

A study by Label Insight found that 94% of consumers are more likely to be loyal to brands that are transparent, and 56% said they would remain loyal for life to a completely transparent company. While these numbers come from consumer markets, the underlying psychology applies universally: people reward honesty with trust, and trust accelerates decisions.

What This Means for Selling Your Business

Nobody is suggesting you publish your client list or share your trade secrets on a public listing. Transparency in a business sale doesn't mean giving everything away — it means giving enough upfront information for a qualified buyer to decide whether it's worth pursuing.

Consider the difference between these two approaches:

The opaque listing: "Established company in the trades sector. Profitable. Region: North Rhine-Westphalia. Revenue undisclosed. Contact broker for details."

The transparent listing: "Electrical installation business, established 2005, based in Cologne area. Revenue €800K, 8 employees, owner-managed. Strong recurring maintenance contracts with commercial clients. Owner retiring, flexible transition period available."

The second listing doesn't reveal anything that would harm the business. It doesn't name the company. But it gives a serious buyer enough to immediately know: Is this the right industry? The right size? The right region? Can I picture myself running this?

That initial qualification step is critical. When a buyer reaches out after seeing detailed information, they're already genuinely interested. That means fewer tyre-kickers, more productive conversations, and a faster path to a deal.

Transparency Builds Trust — And Trust Closes Deals

The selling process doesn't end with the listing. Transparency needs to carry through the entire journey: in how financial data is presented, how challenges are discussed, and how the transition is planned.

Buyers expect due diligence to uncover some surprises. That's normal. But when a seller has proactively organised their records, honestly presented their financials, and openly addressed known challenges — perhaps a key employee who might leave, or a customer concentration risk — the dynamic shifts. The buyer sees a trustworthy partner, not someone hiding problems.

This matters enormously in small business transactions where the seller often stays involved during a transition period. If trust breaks down during due diligence because hidden issues surface, the entire deal can collapse — even if those issues were manageable. It's the dishonesty, not the problem itself, that kills the transaction.

The Practical Balance: What to Share and When

Getting transparency right means finding the appropriate level of detail at each stage:

In the initial listing, share the industry, general location, revenue range, employee count, years in business, and a brief description of the business model. This is enough for buyers to self-qualify without exposing the company's identity.

After an NDA and initial screening, share more detailed financials, the company name, customer and supplier overview, and key operational details. This is where most German brokers currently start — but by then, many good buyers have already moved on.

During due diligence, full financial records, contracts, employee details, and operational documentation should be available — ideally well-organised and proactively prepared, not drip-fed in response to requests.

The goal at every stage is the same: give the buyer what they need to take the next step with confidence.

A Better Approach Benefits Everyone

Sellers who embrace appropriate transparency typically see more buyer interest, faster processes, and less deal fatigue. Buyers get to focus their time on opportunities that genuinely fit. And advisors spend less time managing information requests and more time on what actually matters: getting deals done.

The German SME market is going through a generational transition. Hundreds of thousands of businesses need new owners in the coming years. The old approach of extreme secrecy made sense in a seller's market with plenty of interested buyers. In today's environment — where finding the right buyer is genuinely challenging — making it easy for serious buyers to engage isn't just good practice. It's a competitive advantage.

At Sequi, we believe that the right amount of transparency creates better outcomes for everyone involved. Our platform is designed to give potential buyers the information they need to engage meaningfully — while protecting your business until you're ready to share more.