Can a buyer walk away from negotiations just because they don't like my personality?

Yes — there's no legal requirement for a buyer to have a business reason to walk away from a negotiation, and personal fit genuinely matters to many buyers, particularly for a smaller business where the buyer may expect some transition period working alongside or learning from you. A buyer who doesn't feel they can work with you, communicate well with you, or trust you personally can walk away for reasons that have nothing to do with your financials or your price.

The nuance is that this is a real, if sometimes underappreciated, part of small business sales, since a buyer isn't just acquiring numbers on a page, they're often stepping into relationships with your staff, customers, and suppliers that you'll be introducing them to, and how that introduction goes can shape their confidence in the whole transaction. Being difficult, evasive, or combative during negotiations can cost you a deal even when your business itself is genuinely strong.

There's not much a business lawyer can do to fix a personality mismatch directly, but having your lawyer or broker manage more of the direct back-and-forth, rather than every conversation happening seller-to-buyer personally, can sometimes reduce friction that has nothing to do with the underlying deal.