What have people found most successful in outreach?

January 20, 2025

by a searcher from Boston University - Questrom School of Business in Boston, MA, USA

I'm trying to make sure I'm approaching the owner and not their employees. Many of these small businesses have shared inboxes, outside of trying to guess the owner's email (with some success), are there any searchers out there that have succeeded from other methods? How do you ensure you're not setting off alarms with employees on outreach? Am I overly concerned about this?

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Reply by an intermediary
in United States

^redacted‌ - Correct me if I am wrong here, but based on the message it seems most of your outreach has been through email. If that is the case, then I would try alternative channels where you can get directly in front of the owner. Social media is one of them and no, I am not referring to linkedin alone. You would be surprised to see how many small business owners are active on other social media channels if you know how to find them (of course this is relative to the niche you operate in and size of the companies you are targeting). Calls are fine too and I would put them at the bottom of your funnel to increase efficacy and reach out to people who haven't replied to other messages on different channels already. You can solve for this by segmenting your list in 1. general emails and 2. personal emails. In case n.1 you may want to consider a more personalized channel for first outreach, like social media message or call directly to the person, in case n.2 you can go for email and then follow through with a waterfall strategy. What is the main channel you have been facing in these few months of testing?

Reply by a searcher
from Harvard University in Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274, USA

In my experience, I would not worry about that. Tag a few people you think could be the owner, and let it rip. Getting "are you for sale?" emails is pretty much a fact of life for any SMB in a moderately attractive sector - and everyone with a domain email gets them. Just like that extended home warranty telemarkter call you get is not setting off your personal existential alarms, they aren't panicking regarding your email. Honestly, I would focus more on how you can get the owner's attention with a well-written email (i.e. customization for region and industry) and send to a few people who could be that owner; they will tell you fairly quickly how confidential you need to be moving forward.

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