Approaching owners who aren’t selling: a 5-step method

10–40%of owners open to a conversation

≈90%of them in touch with no other buyer

360°market map, reusable

A target list only becomes an opportunity on the phone

Identifying the players in a sector is not enough. A list only becomes an opportunity when a competent person picks up the phone, in the other party’s language, with a precise reason to call. That is the part of the system no screen shows, and it is what separates a database from deal flow.

Hence the principle behind the whole method: artificial intelligence draws the map, practitioners make the approach. An owner who is not selling and receives a serious, confidential approach is in an entirely different position from a seller in an organised process: nobody is rushing them, nobody is putting them in competition.

Every first contact starts with analysis

A prepared call gets a conversation; a generic call gets a polite no. Preparation draws on four skills, assessed on a single grid for everyone who makes approaches:

reading an M&A transaction and handling the first objections;
analysing a sector: its players, deals and strategies;
running an interview with an owner: listening, confidentiality, pace;
approaching in the local language, across more than 120 countries.

On cross-border deals, the interview is conducted by someone from the country, in the owner’s native language. This is not a nicety: an owner approached in their own language replies, and replies better. The quality of the information you obtain is decided in that first exchange.

“Your sector is consolidating, and here is who is buying”

Each target is placed in the movement of its market through the sector’s deal history, where repeat acquirers stand out immediately. That is what lets you open the conversation with something better than “we are interested in your company”.

The owner hears a precise knowledge of M&A activity in their sector. Being able to share the latest deals in their sector in two clicks makes the call credible and opens the discussion on ground they know. This reading of the market is developed in Your competitors’ strategy is written in their deals.

Five steps, from decision-makers to introduction

The approach follows the same sequence for every target, which makes campaigns comparable with one another.

Fig. 1The approach sequence. Five steps, the same for every target, from identifying decision-makers to the introduction.

Decision-makers: the owner and their decision-making circle are identified, and the approach method is chosen.
Approach: contact is direct and confidential. Your identity stays protected.
Appetite: motivation, time horizon, capital structure, orders of magnitude.
Capitalisation: positions and reasoned refusals are dated and recorded.
Introduction: you take over directly, with the information gathered. No exclusivity.

“Not for three years” is data, not failure

Everything collected feeds your pipeline: stated positions, reasoned refusals, announced sale horizons, qualified contact details. An owner who says “not for three years” is handing you dated information that will be worth its weight in gold at the right moment.

In one campaign run in building cleaning services across Europe and North America, 422 targets were identified: 147 relevant, 149 not interested, 4 in discussion and 1 interested. The 149 refusals are not losses: they are dated positions that will serve the next campaign.

Fig. 2One campaign, 422 targets identified. Status of a campaign run in building cleaning services across Europe and North America. Bars drawn to scale.

This capitalisation is what separates a sourcing campaign from simple prospecting. At the end of it, you hold a 360° map of your market, reusable for your next projects.

A prepared call gets a conversation; a generic call gets a polite no.