12 Listing Conversations Per Month With Business Owners
A business brokerage firm needed consistent deal flow. We built outbound that reaches business owners considering a sale -- before they list with a competitor.
Reply Rate
Listing Conversations/Month
Pipeline Growth
Avg. Deal Size
The challenge
The firm helps business owners sell their companies. Their pipeline was referral-driven and seasonal -- strong in Q1 and Q4 when owners think about exits, thin the rest of the year. They had tried direct mail and cold calling, but response rates were dismal. Business owners are protective of confidentiality and reluctant to engage with unsolicited M&A inquiries. The firm needed a way to reach owners who might be open to a conversation about their business's value without broadcasting that they were considering a sale.
Who we targeted
- Business Owners (15+ years)
- CEO/Founders ($2M-$30M Revenue)
- Family Business Operators
“Our pipeline used to depend on who called us. Now we choose which business owners to talk to and when.”
Our approach
We built segmented lists of business owners based on company age (15+ years), revenue range ($2M-$30M), industry vertical, and geography. Outreach sequences were crafted to feel like a private, confidential inquiry -- not a mass marketing campaign. We referenced industry-specific valuation trends, comparable transaction multiples, and market timing factors. Each message offered a no-obligation valuation conversation, positioning the firm as a trusted advisor. Campaigns ran across email and LinkedIn, with immediate phone follow-up on every warm reply.
The results
The firm went from 2-4 listing conversations per month (all referral-driven) to 12+ listing conversations per month with a mix of outbound and referral sources. The outbound channel produced consistently higher-quality conversations because the targeting was precise -- owners in the right revenue range, in the right industries, at the right stage of their business lifecycle.
Timeline
First listing conversations within 3 weeks
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