Brokers that will actually make a difference in your search?
As I'm working on my method to search more efficiently for profitable companies, I started asking every searcher-turned-CEO I meet (30+ so far) a simple question: How did you find the business you acquired?
A good majority of them said: through brokers. Others got "lucky" and mentioned trade shows, and some through funds that didn't focus on smaller deals. But here’s what I hadn’t always asked at first: How did you find those brokers in the first place? Yes, there are lists out there. But over the past weeks, I’ve started asking people I meet, whether it’s the president of a Chamber of Commerce, a CPA, or a lawyer working with SMEs if they could recommend 1 or 2 people I should speak to in their network (and ideally M&A boutiques or brokers in case they knew some). This week, that approach paid off. A CPA introduced me to a "hidden" broker who isn’t on social networks, doesn’t know what a SF is, but has been closing 5–10 deals a year in our exact target range for the past decade. Only work on word of mouth.
A good majority of them said: through brokers. Others got "lucky" and mentioned trade shows, and some through funds that didn't focus on smaller deals. But here’s what I hadn’t always asked at first: How did you find those brokers in the first place? Yes, there are lists out there. But over the past weeks, I’ve started asking people I meet, whether it’s the president of a Chamber of Commerce, a CPA, or a lawyer working with SMEs if they could recommend 1 or 2 people I should speak to in their network (and ideally M&A boutiques or brokers in case they knew some). This week, that approach paid off. A CPA introduced me to a "hidden" broker who isn’t on social networks, doesn’t know what a SF is, but has been closing 5–10 deals a year in our exact target range for the past decade. Only work on word of mouth.
