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Introduction - Reaching Business Owners

by heidelbergjohn
21 replies
First I would like to say that I am new and am looking forward to getting to know all of you. I don't have much experience so I apologizes for asking silly questions.

I hope some of you can help me with this question. Three weeks ago I spoke with a family friend who owns a Mergers & Acquisition firm. Which is just a fancy why of saying a person who sells businesses to other business. He told me if I can bring him businesses looking to sell I will make a % commission on his revenue.

So far I have purchased 200 email addresses of business owners from infoUSA for $99. I simply message them, "Mr. X, Are you interested in selling X?" from my gmail account. This surprisingly has produced some interest, but most were below the targeted revenue even though I set the parameters correctly.

I called infofree.com and they hardly had any email addresses. Also, I have looked at referenceUSA from the local library, which lets me breakdown businesses into categories, but has no email addresses.

Is there a better way of doing this? Thank you so much.
#business #introduction #owners #reaching
  • Profile picture of the author RyanLB
    You'll have to get your hands dirty a bit more.

    Most businesses don't have public financial info available. Target businesses that you KNOW are likely to have revenue levels that you are looking for. You didn't mention where the bar is set, but identifying industries that typically meet your minimums (medical practices, roofing companies, etc etc) and then reaching out - you may have better luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author heidelbergjohn
      I am looking for business that have revenue between 10 million and 250 million annually. To me that seems like a tremendous amount of money, but it is considered mid market. If the revenue is below that range they pass the business owner to another firm who I also receive a commission from.

      InfoUSA let me break down the businesses before sending the email lists, but as you said the revenue is not accurate. After the business expresses interest I pass the firm's contact information over to business owner.

      ReferenceUSA lets me break down businesses by geography, revenue, and type. The revenue does not seem to be accurate unfortunately.

      Writeaway, as far as a virtual assistant, for now I can do that. Do you suggest simply calling up the mainline of a business and asking for the owner?

      Currently I am focusing on manufacturing in the Midwest. More advice would be greatly appreciated, and thank you for your time RyanLB, and Writeaway.
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    • Profile picture of the author heidelbergjohn
      We did sign an agreement for 20% of his revenue. Also I have known the man from my entire life. It would be problematic for him if he lied and broke his contract with me.

      Randall Magwood I agree that I have to be creative. I'm here asking for advice.
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    Step 1: Hire a Virtual assistant

    Step 2: Instruct your VA to look for websites associated with offline businesses

    Step 3: Instruct your VA to filter through the list to look for medium sized businesses or profitable smaller businesses. There are a few ways to determine this.

    Step 4: Get contact information - preferably phone numbers

    If you need help with calling, there are outsourced outbound call centers you can use.

    I've used VAs to do similar type research but for a different purpose. It's all about how you instruct your VA. If you have any questions, just ask away.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jessica S
      Originally Posted by writeaway View Post

      Step 1: Hire a Virtual assistant

      Step 2: Instruct your VA to look for websites associated with offline businesses

      Step 3: Instruct your VA to filter through the list to look for medium sized businesses or profitable smaller businesses. There are a few ways to determine this.

      Step 4: Get contact information - preferably phone numbers

      If you need help with calling, there are outsourced outbound call centers you can use.

      I've used VAs to do similar type research but for a different purpose. It's all about how you instruct your VA. If you have any questions, just ask away.
      For step 5? You can have your VA do all the calling for you. For example, I specialize in customer service work which means I call my client's leads. Research is fun as well. But hiring one person (VA) would save a lot of money than hiring a call center.

      Jess

      Virtual Office Assistant
      //www.linkedin.com/pub/jessica-sharp/33/767/436
      bemyassistant.wordpress.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Originally Posted by heidelbergjohn View Post

    Is there a better way of doing this? Thank you so much.
    Yeah, get out of that kind of business. The guy who made you the offer with the Merger & Acquisition firm..... did yall shake hands and did you sign an agreement stating the terms of the offer? How much is the percentage of the revenue that you will get from each business?

    Plus... buying leads online suck. You gotta get creative with your marketing and do lead generation if you want some success with what you're trying to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author fasteasysuccess
    Alot of ways, but one easy one...

    Target business owners through ppc and other sources online already actively trying to sell their business. Then follow up as well offline (direct mail) to convert better. Either as straight offer or lead generation.
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    • Profile picture of the author heidelbergjohn
      I had not considered using PPC. That is an excellent idea. fasteasysuccess, how would you recommend I set that up? What services should I use?
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  • Profile picture of the author fasteasysuccess
    No matter what you do, just start out small and targeted, test, then ramp up once rolling right.
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  • Profile picture of the author HarrieB
    You can set up Bing ads. You can easily get a $100 coupon for like $20-$30 and then just start running ads for your website.
    Biz owners will fill the contact form and you have leads.

    PM me if you need coupons, I run ads regularly and can get you a bing ads coupon.
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  • Profile picture of the author AntonioSeegars1
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author heidelbergjohn
      HarrieB I sent you a PM

      AntonioSeegars1 It would be great if I could cut out the middleman, but this type of business is very technical and is actually considered investment banking. One successful lead would produce hundreds of thousands of dollars for me.

      Does anyone have suggestions on how to create a simple but effective landing page? Does Bing or Google offer such a service for free or at cost? Currently I don't have a website for this purpose.
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  • Profile picture of the author rosario1990
    I think you should do it manually. By doing research on the internet using your targeted area. If you can't do this you can take help from someone in this case.
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    • Profile picture of the author heidelbergjohn
      rosario1990 ReferenceUSA provides me with the names of the businesses I need to target for free. My problem is that I don't know how to get directly to the owner of the business to ask if they want to sell.

      Do you suggest calling or emailing the companies regular email address and requesting the owner?
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  • Profile picture of the author fasteasysuccess
    I think you're missing something key....if don't mind, i'll share...

    Not every business owner wants to or will sell to you. You want to spend your time with people wanting to sell, so therefore by automatiting your process like said, where you use ppc and other methods to generate the lead for straight sale (fill out info on your page, you respond by phone) and then you get the lead automatically and call right away or do lead generation and attract the buisness owners looking to sell, then you call them after got your freebie with value and something obviously leading back to you being the obvious one to help...

    Then one's can't close right away, you simply continue to follow up via email, direct mail and phone (in helpful ways, not bugging them to pull the trigger).
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  • Profile picture of the author jherewini
    Have you tried LinkedIn? thats full of business owners post a question in your target markets group section you would be suprised at how much of a response you get.

    Once they respond to your question connect with them and you can even private message them your offer. and they will take the next step if they are interested.
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    • Profile picture of the author heidelbergjohn
      jherewini I have not tried Linkedin for this purpose. I'm really glad I came here. You have all been very helpful.

      Any other suggestions?
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  • Profile picture of the author James 0
    You could post a job of “extracting emails of businessmen from USA” on Elance.com.
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