Adding Personalization to your M&A Process

Today's #smb #acquisitions thread is about how to add personalization to your outreach strategies, helping you get noticed (in the right way) by brokers and sellers.

Experienced buyers, anything else you're doing to stand out? Here's my set of tips for this process:

1. Your Initial Message to Brokers/Intermediaries: According to our sell-side contacts, a lot of buyers include very little information in their initial email to a broker or when reaching out via a broker's website. This is a missed opportunity. Sharing more --> responses

2. Your Follow Up Strategy: In our experience, many buyers conduct very little follow up outreach While most brokers get dozens of inquiries on their deals, fewer buyers will follow up via phone and email multiple times. Stand out with persistence!

3. Your Questions After Receiving a CIM: Use the opportunity to ask questions to build a strong impression. This means tailoring your questions to each specific deal rather than sending out a list of generic questions.

4. The Due Diligence and Negotiation Process: Once you’re under LOI with a deal, the pressure rises. You can help smooth the way by allowing your hired diligence experts to ask difficult questions while focusing on maintaining your relationship with the seller.

5. The Way You Structure Your Deal Process Overall: Kevin Henderson mentioned on a recent Private Market Labs Insights episode that searchers should make sure they don't seem like a “finance person” but still run a Private Equity-style process. Be organized, not stuffy/elitist.

Hope this was helpful! Make sure to give me a follow and attend my interview tomorrow here on SEarchfunder with Jessica Cullen and Scott Duke at 3:00 CT about search in Canada!