The Walking Billboard Strategy
Tell everyone you meet that you buy businesses, then ask every owner whether they would sell.
A two-part origination habit. First, become a walking billboard: state, to everyone you meet, that you buy businesses — most deal flow arrives from people who merely remembered what you do. Second, ask small-business owners directly whether they would consider selling. Sanchez pairs it with a negotiation posture of restraint once the conversation opens, on the view that amateurs talk themselves out of deals.
- Deal flow follows stated intent
- The best sellers are not looking for a buyer yet
- Ask directly — most owners have never been asked
- Once they are talking, stop selling and listen
One of the five lead-generation methods in Sanchez's March 2025 Entrepreneur essay, drawn from the decade between her first laundromat and a 24-business portfolio. It sits against a demographic backdrop she cites repeatedly: a large cohort of boomer-owned businesses, roughly 80% of them profitable, with no succession plan.