10. Start Your Outreach
Email is the standard for strategic outreach. A few guidelines will help maximize your response.
Sequence your outreach in order of highest ranked prospect to lowest ranked. If you get a hot offer that requires a “no-shop” period, you want it to be from your best prospect.
If you do not get a response, follow-up after two weeks and state that this is your last follow-up. It’s very common for opportunities to be circulated internally. If your contact is waiting for feedback from the rest of the team, the follow-up can prompt a response.
No is no. Strategic acquisitions are huge, time-consuming investments. They are not the type of sale where a compelling pitch or fancy objection handling will overcome resistance. Take your no’s gracefully and move on.
SHARING INFO
Your prospect will need sensitive information to make a decision. It is fair for you to ask for non-disclosure (NDA) protections when you are beyond casual consideration. A guide to expected information at each stage follows.
Before the NDA:
Revenue, company name/URL
After the NDA:
Detailed P&L, architecture, anonymized customer information (to gauge revenue concentration)
After the LOI / during diligence:
After the LOI / during diligence: Code walk-through, de-anonymized customer information (for verification if required)
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