What Search Methods for Owners Work Best?

August 20, 2022
by a professional from Marquette University in 21370 SW Langer Farms Pkwy #196, Sherwood, OR 97140, USA
Last year I helped a company sell. We used a M&A firm that has lots of contacts with Private Equity companies and others. As it turns out, the company was sold to someone that is part of this community. That may have been a coincidence or not. I doubt I'll ever know.
I'm currently doing my own search for owners and presidents of companies from $1 Million to $100 million in sales in the manufacturing, technology, and transportation areas. I've hired a company, ClientsIO, to do some searches for me and do cold calling. This was based on the M&A Firm mentioned above using them and giving them a good referral to me. I'm about 1 month into the process with less than stellar results. I had a recommendation for several companies using LinkedIn and Sales Navigator, but rejected those because I find many small business owners don't have LinkedIn profiles or look at it at all.
What approaches and experience are others using and having?
from Central State University in Atlanta, GA, USA
I can't tell you how many times I've heard: "Are you a business broker or are you a PE firm?"
When I answer No, the owner says "oh, okay, I'll talk to you".
Maybe try to not sound like a professional services firm but instead like a friend making a call for a friend.
I use Data Axle to find a name and a number. That's it. databases aren't always accurate in terms of sales volume for private companies. I do filter by a certain size. As long as I have a name and number I can feel out the owner for the financial information.
from Marquette University in 21370 SW Langer Farms Pkwy #196, Sherwood, OR 97140, USA