Put this into practice with Resquared
Resquared is the AI sales platform built for selling to local businesses: the most complete local business database, verified contacts, and outreach written and followed up in your name.
- Verified emails and phone numbers, with owner and staff names on premium plans
- Filter by radius, category, business size, hours and recent reviews
- AI writes each email in your name from the business's own details
- Automated follow-ups that stop when someone replies; replies land in your inbox
Every digital footprint of every brick-and-mortar business, resolved into one record and checked source by source.
See how it worksDefine the buyer's thesis before searching: business category, geography, size, ownership profile, financial requirements, and exclusions. Search one category and practical market area at a time so the list and message share a clear premise.
Start with an ordinary-language AI search that describes the ideal businesses, examples, exclusions, geography, and acquisition goal. Review the filters and map before saving the list. Keep the first list broad but coherent, then remove obvious category errors and duplicate businesses rather than filtering for a perfect target.
Resquared lists 14,786,458 active local businesses in the US and Canada, and 87% of active listed businesses are independent. It combines information from sources such as websites, maps, reviews, social pages, and public records. Treat individual fields as signals: public records can be stale, inferred fields are estimates, and small differences in names or addresses can affect matching.
Send a short, plain-text email that identifies the buyer or mandate, gives a truthful reason the business fits, and asks an easy yes-or-no question about whether the owner would consider a confidential conversation. A general inbox often reaches the decision-maker at an owner-run business. Use a 3-email sequence with emails sent 3 days apart, call interested owners the same day when possible, and move a reply into the CRM once it becomes a real conversation.
What to do
- Write the acquisition thesis, including category, geography, size, ownership profile, financial requirements, and exclusions.
- Describe that thesis in AI search, then inspect the generated filters and map before saving a focused prospect list.
- Review obvious mismatches, duplicate records, and uncertain data without turning every estimated field into a hard exclusion.
- Launch a short plain-text sequence from Resquared-managed sending addresses; prospects see the broker's name, and replies go to the broker's normal inbox.
- Call positive replies promptly and qualify ownership authority, financial fit, timing, motivation, and willingness to explore a sale.
Related questions
Should brokers only contact businesses that show signs of selling?
No. Off-market sourcing reaches owners before a sale is public. Build the list around acquisition fit, then use direct conversations to uncover timing and motivation.
Is a personal owner email required?
No. At an owner-run business, the general inbox often reaches the owner or another decision-maker. Confirm decision authority when a multi-location business or larger organization responds.
What should the first email ask?
Ask an easy yes-or-no question, such as whether the owner would be open to a confidential conversation about a possible acquisition. Save valuation requests, document lists, and detailed terms for later.