By Brett Kaufman. 8 years using relationships to build sales pipelines, from political fundraising to a 7 figure business to running matchmaking for two communities. Over 1,000 introductions facilitated.

Start with buyers who already raised a hand: listing inquiries, underbidders on your past deals, and buyers referred by lenders, CPAs, attorneys and other brokers. Then add strategic buyers, private equity add on buyers and searchers by sector, and capture criteria, funding and a dated last conversation on every buyer from the first call.

That is how to build a buyer list. Business broker or M&A advisor, the order is the same: earned names first, sector names second, and a record on each that stays true.

Here is the scene. You just signed your first listing in a sector you have not sold before, or you just went out on your own. The engagement letter is done. The seller asks who you are going to call. You have 40 names, and you know half of them are stale.

I am not a broker. I have made over 1,000 introductions and run matchmaking for two communities, and building a list of people who fit a need is the work I do every week. Here is how I would build yours.

Where do business brokers find buyers?

Mostly from eight sources, and they are not equal. Gregory Kovsky of IBA, in best practices for finding a buyer, names the main channels: the firm’s own buyer database, online marketplaces such as BizBuySell and BizQuest, network marketing through brokers, attorneys, accountants, bankers and consultants, and direct outreach to strategic buyers picked for the specific deal. He reports that historically 20 to 25% of IBA’s companies sell to a buyer already in its database. That is why the list is worth building before you need it.

Source	Who you get	What to capture first	Watch out for
Marketplace inquiries	Individual buyers, first time buyers	Funding, timeline, why now	Many are early and unfunded
Your past underbidders	Buyers who already bid	Their offer and why they lost	They go cold fast if you do not call
Attorneys and CPAs	Clients ready to buy	Who referred them	Thank the referrer every time
SBA lenders	Buyers seeking acquisition debt	Lender and approved amount	Ceiling on the loan size
Other brokers	Buyers for co brokered deals	Fee split, in writing	Whose buyer it is
Searchers	Funded searchers on a clock	Investors, target size	Search ends without notice
PE firms and independent sponsors	Add on and platform buyers	Platform company, check size	Want larger, cleaner deals
Strategic buyers	Competitors and adjacent companies	Seller sign off, NDA	Confidentiality risk

A few notes on the rows. Underbidders are plentiful on larger deals: the IBBA and M&A Source Market Pulse for Q2 2026 found 87% of deals over $5 million drew at least three offers. Every one of those losing bidders is a buyer who did the work. On searchers, Stanford GSB’s 2026 search fund study found new search fund launches at historically high levels, about 20 months to acquire, and a median purchase price of $16 million in 2024 to 2025. On lenders, the SBA’s 7(a) program tops out at $5 million and covers changes of ownership. For co brokering, the IBBA Find a Business Broker directory searches member brokers by location and industry, and the fee side is in the co brokering referral tracking template.

How to build a buyer list, business broker style, in four weeks

This is an illustrative plan. Adjust the pace to your deal load.

1. Week one: mine what you already have. Every inquiry, NDA and offer in your inbox, your phone and your old deal files. Every underbidder from every deal you closed. Each one gets a row today, with the date you last spoke.
2. Week two: call your referral partners. Ten attorneys, CPAs, bankers and SBA lenders. Ask one question: who among your clients is trying to buy a business right now? Log who referred whom.
3. Week three: build the sector names for your current listing. Strategic buyers, private equity platforms that do add ons in that sector, and searchers whose stated focus fits. Get the seller’s sign off before any strategic outreach.
4. Week four: qualify and tier. Sort everyone into a bench you would call first, a middle you would email, and a watch list. The bench is a few dozen buyers whose funding and criteria you have confirmed.

What should you capture on every buyer from the first call?

Enough to decide, months later, whether they can still close. The IBBA’s description of a serious business buyer, by Michael Fekkes, is a good checklist: detailed criteria, a lender prequalification letter, a plan to finance the whole transaction, a partner or investor who already agrees, advisors ready, and a buyer who knows a quick no beats a slow no.

Add three things to every row on day one: how they came to you, the date of the conversation, and the reason you would call them next. Those are the fields that go stale first.

How do you screen out buyers who will never close?

Verify before you trust. Jim Parker, writing for Business Brokerage Press on selecting serious buyers, warns that anyone can call a broker, give a name and even sign an NDA using a false identity. He says it is essential to know whether the buyer has the means to buy, and that a serious buyer will not let days pass before getting back to you.

So the NDA gets someone on the list. Proof of funds and a fast answer get them on the bench.

What happens after the list exists?

It starts going stale the day you build it. Listings run six to 10 months on Main Street, per the same Market Pulse survey, and buyers close elsewhere, change lenders and narrow their criteria in that time. Keeping the bench current between listings is its own job, covered in how brokers keep their buyer list warm between listings. Deciding who gets the first calls when a listing signs is in which buyer to call first.

Here is how I would run it

Build the list once, carefully. Then let a system tell you every morning which buyers on it need a touch, and why.

That is FRONT OF MIND. It opens on your 10 minutes for today. Each buyer on it has one line on why today: they posted, a follow up is due, you met at an event and never followed up, they are going cold. Every draft is a text style message, 40 words max. Nothing sends without your tap, and it learns from your edits.

Meeting buyers at a conference? Say a name and a sentence out loud, snap a card or badge, or take a selfie together, and it is filed under the event. When a listing signs, ask Liala “who do I know buying HVAC in Texas” and get the right buyers with why.

It runs in your phone browser and saves to your home screen. There is no native iPhone app yet. Your contacts are encrypted. No one on our team looks at them. Export and delete anytime. Concierge setup is $500.

If FRONT OF MIND doesn’t surface people in your network worth reaching out to within 72 hours, we’ll refund you. No questions asked.

Start free with your first 25 contacts, then $29 a month, and see which buyer comes up first.

See how it works