I skimmed through the comments and didn't see anyone hit on this but for me I think it depends on your strategy (local/geographic vs. national search) and timeline. I'm running a local search and think about deal flow through three channels - direct broker (first/easiest to get ramped up with) and lump sites like BBS in here, advisors/consultants (CPAs, wealth mgmt, lawyers, etc), and direct. Brokers is easiest to ramp up with and good to immediately start seeing deal flow, advisors are longer term and can also be included in your deal team, direct can be fairly easy to ramp up too depending on your outreach strategy but could be a longer term/lower probability game. I think in today's competitive market, especially in a geo-constrained search, you need to be doing all three.

In my experience: 1) Brokers 2) Contacting all businesses in my area, which includes: phone calls, emails and mailing. Finding a good broker will be the priority to get deal flow. I highly recommend listen to Richard Parker since he has experience buying from brokers.