Once a business owner has identified a prospective purchaser of his or her business, a letter of intent will typically be entered into. All too often, merger and acquisition (M&A) lawyers are engaged after sellers have signed letters of intent. This approach is a mistake. While the deal terms outlined in letters of intent are usually, for the most part, non-binding, in practice letters of intent have great moral authority. It can be challenging to renegotiate, in connection with preparing definitive transaction documents, items that have agreed to in the letter of intent.