CGS Partners, a Chicago-based search fund, set out to acquire a well-run business in a deliberately narrow footprint: Illinois and Indiana. Their thesis focused on specialty distribution, HVAC, equipment maintenance and repair, freight forwarding and logistics, and industrial supply, with an emphasis on healthy companies where the owner could step back from day-to-day operations and oversee the business at a high level.
Most of the deal flow they were seeing came from public listings, where every buyer was competing for the same opportunities. The tight geography also limited broker activity, and even with a few local broker relationships, the number of relevant transactions was too small to build a real pipeline. CGS needed proprietary opportunities they could own and control.
We built a proprietary origination system designed to connect directly with business owners, confirm whether they were open to a sale, and put them in front of CGS for a direct conversation. The goal was simple: give CGS the chance to build relationships with sellers before those businesses ever reached a broker or a public listing.
The campaign ran on a multi-channel approach using email and LinkedIn, the two channels we identified as the most effective way to reach this owner base. After a 10-day build-out period, the system went live.
In a local market, a generic private equity or broker pitch falls on deaf ears. So the messaging was built around CGS's own thesis, background and long-term vision, explaining clearly who they are, why they want to own a business in the region, and what they intend to build. Every touchpoint was personalized to make owners feel they were hearing from a serious, committed operator rather than one more financial buyer.
The feedback from sellers confirmed it. Owners who took calls told us the message stood out from everything else in their inbox, and that CGS came across as the most credible and trustworthy partner, the one most capable of delivering on its promises and the one that genuinely cared about their business. Each opportunity was screened against the thesis before it reached the CGS calendar.