Buyer guide
Off-market deals are not hidden — they are simply not advertised. This is the working playbook buyers use to surface private service businesses in the US: how to build a target list, what to send owners, how to earn pocket listings from licensed brokers, and where members-only deal flow fits alongside your own sourcing.
Buyers who close consistently run all four at once. Each has a different speed, cost, and level of control.
Build a list of 300-500 owner-operated companies in one trade and one metro, then contact each owner by letter, email, and phone on a repeating cadence. This is the only channel you fully control.
Most brokers hold businesses they have not marketed yet. Introduce yourself with a written buy box and proof of funds, and check in monthly. Pocket listings go to buyers brokers already trust.
CPAs, transaction attorneys, wealth advisors and SBA lenders know which owners are preparing to exit, often a year ahead. Ten strong relationships beat a hundred loose ones.
Platforms that source privately and release deals only to verified buyers. You pay a membership instead of a year of sourcing labor, and you compete against a handful of buyers rather than hundreds.
Six sources that produce real owner contact data for US service businesses, ordered by signal quality.
| Source | Why it works |
|---|---|
| State licensing boards | Confirms an active, regulated operator — best source for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, pest control and septic. |
| Secretary of State registries | Entity age and registered agent; companies formed 15+ years ago skew toward retirement-age owners. |
| Google Maps and Yelp | Review count and photos reveal crew size, service radius, and whether the owner still answers the phone. |
| Trade association directories | Members tend to be established, insured, and reachable by name rather than a generic inbox. |
| Franchise resale boards | Multi-unit franchisees often sell quietly to avoid alarming staff and franchisor peers. |
| Paid business data providers | Fills in revenue estimates, employee counts, and owner contact details at volume. |
Owner-operators are on jobs all day. Repetition across channels — not volume in one channel — is what produces replies.
Short, specific, and explicitly confidential. Replace the bracketed fields and send it as a signed letter first, then as an email.
Hi {Owner} — I'm {Name}. I buy and operate {trade} companies in {metro}, and yours came up as one of the established operators in the area.
I'm not a broker and I'm not listing anything publicly. I'm just looking for one good business to acquire and run for the long term, keeping the crew and the name in place.
If you've thought at all about what happens to the company in the next few years, would you be open to a short confidential call? No pressure and nothing shared with anyone.Call between 7-8am or after 5pm — that is when owner-operators answer their own phone.
Focused buyers close faster. Pick the category you want to own and read its valuation, diligence, and financing specifics.
$1M – $8M revenue · 2.5x – 4.5x SDE
$750K – $5M revenue · 2.5x – 4x SDE
$1M – $10M revenue · 3x – 5x SDE
$500K – $3M revenue · 2x – 3x SDE
$400K – $4M revenue · 3x – 5x SDE
$1M – $12M revenue · 2.5x – 4.5x SDE
$600K – $6M revenue · 2.5x – 4x SDE
$500K – $8M revenue · 3x – 5x SDE
$300K – $3M revenue · 2.5x – 4x SDE
$700K – $5M revenue · 2.5x – 4x SDE
$500K – $4M revenue · 3x – 4.5x SDE
$150K – $1.2M revenue · 3x – 5x SDE
Our acquisitions team and licensed broker partner network source privately across the US every week. Qualified members see those businesses with financials, seller context, and a concierge introduction — before anything is shopped publicly.
Start free weekRun four channels in parallel: direct outreach to owner-operated companies in one trade and geography, relationships with licensed business brokers who hold pocket listings, professional referrals from CPAs, transaction attorneys and SBA lenders, and a members-only platform that sources private deals for you. Any one channel alone produces inconsistent deal flow.
Start with state licensing boards, Secretary of State business registries, Google Maps and Yelp for the trade in your metro, trade association member directories, and paid data providers. For service businesses, license registries are the highest-signal source because they confirm the company is active and regulated.
Plan on roughly 300-800 qualified owner touches to produce one closed acquisition through pure cold outreach. Around 5-10 percent will reply, 1-2 percent will share financials, and a fraction of those clear a buy box and reach a signed LOI.
Keep it under 100 words: who you are, that you buy and operate businesses in their specific trade and area, that you are not a broker and are not listing anything publicly, and a single low-commitment question asking whether they would consider a conversation about their plans in the next few years.
Brokers protect their sellers, so they release unlisted deals only to buyers who look safe. Send a one-page buy box, proof of funds or an SBA pre-qualification letter, and a short track record. Respond fast, never renegotiate without cause, and close what you sign — reputation is what earns the second pocket listing.
For most buyers, yes. Building a working sourcing engine takes six to twelve months of consistent effort and cost. A platform that already sources privately and vets sellers compresses that to weeks, which is why BusinessLocating members start with reviewed deals instead of a cold list.