You're not as differentiated as you think as a Searcher.
August 20, 2019
by a searcher from Harvard University - Harvard Business School in Omaha, NE, USA
Almost every day I receive an email from a Searcher, PE fund, or a Strategic asking me for a 15-minute call to discuss my legacy preservation, a committed growth partner, or the exploration of "strategic opportunities" (code for--I want to buy you). Sound familiar? Sometimes I'll take a call because I want to hear the pitch. I'm actively in the market looking for more follow-on acquisitions (I've done two since my initial search acquisition), so I'm sensitive to my market differentiation.
I read every Searcher site and many of the PE sites. Guess what? They all look, read, and feel the same. There's no differentiation. They're boring. There's bound to be a mountain, sailboat, trail, or someone looking into the distance. Was that me five years ago? Yep.
I asked my PE friends about this at my HBS reunion this past June, and they all confirmed how hard it is to differentiate in the marketplace. What wins? They were in consensus--a personal connection and relationship.
Reflecting on my own search experience and follow-on acquisitions, all the deals that gained traction are the ones that I established a strong rapport and a personal, empathetic relationship.
As you read all the posts about the best email campaign software and best practices, the best CRMs, and the best uses of interns, remember that they are only tools. Remember that your websites are a commodity product on a Target shelf. What's going to win for you to gain the traction you need is establishing that personal connection. That may come off the phone, but it will most likely happen in person over coffee (or my case, many coffees).
You can't hack your way to strong rapport.
from Harvard University in Omaha, NE, USA
In one week a couple of months ago, I received 5 emails from 5 different searchers. All had "heard" how great my business is, all wanted "just 15-minutes" of my time to "explore opportunities" with me, and all had a link to their online calendar where I could sign up for a phone call. I looked at each of the Searcher's websites. They all looked like carbon copies of each other. Three of them had the same investor groups.
Imagine that presentation--how compelled are you to click the calendar link?. How powerful do you think the searcher's value proposition is when it looks exactly like 4 others in this instance? That was me five years ago, too. Being on the other side of the table, I can see exactly why I was lost in the noise. What broke me through was dialing the phone and physically getting out there and in front of people.
I see a lot on this site tips & tricks, hacks, and the best tools to conduct a search. I don't see a lot of what will actually get you traction -- getting in front of people, building rapport, and be willing to keep getting in front of people. It is a searcher best practice to have a healthy travel budget, which I realize is an advantage a traditionally-funded searcher would have over non-traditional.
My point is that tools are great, but they don't supplant tried-and-true methods of physically engaging with someone. I'm sure you'd would agree with me on this point.
from Harvard University in San Francisco, CA, USA
However, while I respect your opinion, I’m struggling with the pessimistic tone of your posts because I don’t want people considering search to get the wrong impression. Your story about receiving emails from 5 different searchers in one week is highly unusual, if not unique. That is not the experience of 99.9% of business owners.
I feel compelled to respond to your posts because I hear far too often from prospective searchers that “search is becoming too crowded”. Not so. Not only are searchers differentiated from PE, as you agree, but the vast majority of business owners seldom hear from a searcher. It’s important to remember that the universe of small businesses dwarfs the number of searchers.