Hereโ€™s some encouraging news: small-business transactions ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐Ÿด% year-over-year in Q3, according to BizBuySell.

Entrepreneurs werenโ€™t waiting around to see what tariffs or shutdowns might bring – ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€.

And they acted fast: the average business closed in just ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿต ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐˜€, the quickest pace since 2017. Retail and service sectors led the charge, especially in reliable categories like HVAC, landscaping, and plumbing.

Yes, price points dipped slightly, down 2% year-over-year, but the flurry of activity shows one thing clearly: ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด, especially among the โ€œ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆโ€ crowd seeking more control and a better work-life balance.

โš ๏ธ SBA-backed loans are currently paused due to the shutdown, so Q4 could look very different. But the momentum from Q3 reminds us that SMBs are still seen as smart bets, even in choppy waters.

๐Ÿ’กย ๐—–๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜€๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐˜€โ€™ ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ
Weโ€™re seeing this same urgency in our ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ง๐™ ๐™š๐™ฉ-๐™๐™š๐™–๐™™๐™ฎ ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ฝ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ๐™จ ๐˜ฟ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™–, where formation and acquisition signals are often early indicators of momentum.

Many of these new owners arenโ€™t just first-timers; theyโ€™re strategic buyers entering with capital, vision, and a plan.

If youโ€™re a B2B marketer, especially in sectors like services, equipment, finance, or tech enablement, these are the folks you want to reach right now, while deals are still warm and decisions are still being made.

๐Ÿ” ๐™’๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™จ๐™š๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™๐™คโ€™๐™จ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ข๐™–๐™ง๐™ ๐™š๐™ฉ?
Ask us how to filter for sectors and geographies where deal activity is up and where buyers are still actively investing.
Direct marketing professionals often gather insights and industry updates through the Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW): https://dmaw.org