Below is an actual deliverable from a recent engagement, anonymized. This is what you'd receive on your complimentary 20-minute strategy call: a sized buy box, a sector-level breakdown, and a verified sample of named target companies for your specific buy box.
| MSA | Total Establishments | Deal-Qualified Pool | % of Pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| Region MSA A | 892 | 304 | 27.1% |
| Region MSA B | 671 | 241 | 21.5% |
| Region MSA C | 438 | 156 | 13.9% |
| Region MSA D | 344 | 124 | 11.0% |
| Region MSA E | 286 | 98 | 8.7% |
| Region MSA F | 211 | 76 | 6.8% |
| Region MSA G | 168 | 58 | 5.2% |
| Region MSA H | 114 | 41 | 3.6% |
| Region MSA I | 77 | 24 | 2.2% |
| Total | 3,201 | 1,122 | 100% |
| NAICS Sector | Total Establishments | Deal-Qualified |
|---|---|---|
| Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing | 946 | 338 |
| Machinery Manufacturing | 724 | 261 |
| Industrial Machinery Wholesale | 432 | 156 |
| MRO / Repair Services | 389 | 141 |
| Other Specialty Manufacturing | 312 | 112 |
| Plastics & Rubber Products | 198 | 72 |
| Light Industrial Subcontract | 132 | 27 |
| Other | 68 | 15 |
The verified deal-qualified pool of 1,122 owners is materially larger than the buyer initially projected. Two MSAs (Region A and Region B) account for nearly half of total density, so a phased campaign could front-load those geographies before expanding.
Fabricated metal product manufacturing dominates the sector mix at 30% of the qualified pool, consistent with the buyer's stated preference. Industrial machinery wholesale is the second-largest adjacent sub-segment and is an expansion opportunity if the initial campaign produces a short list of pursued targets faster than expected.
Owner-operated structure is over-represented in the qualified pool. Roughly 68% of the 1,122 identified businesses have ownership structures (sole proprietor, single-LLC, partnership) consistent with a transition-ready profile. The cultivation timeline should assume the standard 6-to-18-month window for most of these.
Recommended starting tier: Tier 02 (Epic Search). Buy box size and owner profile favor the priority handwritten mail layer. Full Tier 03 ad coverage isn't needed given the relatively low PE competition in the specific sub-segments targeted.
50 named companies pulled from the qualified pool, verified by an Aligned Profit analyst. Below is a sample. Your report includes all 50 with full company names, websites, ownership notes, and employee estimates.
| # | Company | MSA | Sector | Employees | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | [Target Co. Alpha] | Region A | Metal Fab | 45–60 | PASS |
| 02 | [Target Co. Bravo] | Region A | Machinery Mfg | 30–45 | PASS |
| 03 | [Target Co. Charlie] | Region B | MRO | 20–30 | PASS |
| 04 | [Target Co. Delta] | Region C | Metal Fab | 55–75 | PASS |
| 05 | [Target Co. Echo] | Region A | Industrial Wholesale | 15–25 | PASS |
| 06 | [Target Co. Foxtrot] | Region D | Machinery Mfg | 40–55 | PASS |
| 07 | [Target Co. Golf] | Region B | Light Industrial | 25–40 | PASS |
| … 43 more verified targets in the full report … | |||||
Deal-qualified definition: establishments with 10–99 employees, owner-operated structure, in approved NAICS codes and approved MSAs. This is a proxy for the EBITDA band. Final qualification happens through analyst phone screening on every responding owner.
Sample verification: 50 named companies were manually verified by an analyst, and disqualified targets were replaced. Verification confirmed that the company is operating, that ownership is independent (not already PE-owned), and that the business is not currently in an active sale process.
Data sources: U.S. Census County Business Patterns (2023), Aligned Profit proprietary buy box build, and validation against public filings and ownership history records.
We rebuild the full buy box from the verified deal-qualified pool (1,122 owners), approve it with you in Week 1, and launch the first multichannel sequence by Day 10. First qualified owner conversations land in the 30-to-45-day range.
We'll build a Buy Box Viability Analysis™ on real data for your target industry and geography, then walk through it together on a 20-minute call. The report is yours to keep either way.
Get your complimentary Buy Box Viability Analysis™