1. Introduction

Forget the 9-5, a buy-side M&A firm specializing in the acquisition of food and beverage businesses, faced a common challenge in the industry: sourcing high-quality, motivated sellers.

Historically, their strategy relied heavily on brokers and personal networks, which, while occasionally effective, lacked the scalability and cost-efficiency required to meet their ambitious growth objectives. These methods also failed to guarantee exclusivity, as many brokers provided shared leads to multiple buyers. To address these challenges, Forget the 9-5 partnered with Vincere Marketing Solutions (VSM) to implement a digital, first lead generation strategy.

By leveraging precision-targeted digital advertising, VMS aimed to provide the firm with a scalable, cost-effective solution for sourcing exclusive, high-quality leads. This case study examines the implementation of this strategy and highlights the measurable improvements achieved in lead generation, cost efficiency, and conversion rates.

2. Background

The Food & Beverage M&A Landscape

The food and beverage sector is one of the most active spaces for small business M&A transactions. Common types of businesses include restaurants, bars, catering companies, pizza shops even upstream (Manufacturers/Processing). Many owners in this sector are family-run businesses, often seeking to exit due to retirement, market competition, or a desire to transition to other opportunities.

Deal sourcing in this sector has traditionally been dominated by

Brokered Transactions: Brokers act as intermediaries, but their fees are high, and their leads are often shared with multiple buyers, diluting exclusivity.

Personal Networks: Time-intensive and reliant on existing relationships, personal networks often limit the scalability of sourcing efforts.

Cold Outreach: Direct calls and emails can yield results but are labor-intensive, inconsistent, and less precise in targeting specific seller profiles distracting your team from execution.

Forget the 9-5 sought to break away from these traditional methods and adopt a data-driven, scalable approach that could effectively target sellers in their niche market.

Client Goals

Forget the 9-5 had three primary objectives:

Generate Exclusive Leads: Focused on small food and beverage business owners, particularly restaurants, bars, and pizza shops.

Target Sellers with Clear Criteria: Identify businesses generating $10k-$15k in minimum monthly cash flow and owners open to creative financing, such as seller financing and rolled equity.

Establish a Scalable Strategy: Implement a cost-efficient, repeatable process for sourcing leads aligned with their acquisition goals.

3. Problem Statement

Forget the 9-5’s reliance on brokers, personal networks, and cold outreach was no longer sufficient to meet their expansion goals. These traditional methods presented several challenges:

Scalability: The volume of leads generated was inconsistent and could not be scaled predictably.

Cost-Efficiency: Broker fees, retainers and time-intensive outreach drove up the cost per lead ("CPL") without guaranteeing conversions.

Lead Quality: Shared leads from brokers were often irrelevant or poorly aligned with Forget the 9-5’s financial and operational criteria.

To address these challenges, Vincere Marketing Solutions introduced a precision-targeted digital marketing strategy, marking Forget the 9-5’s first foray into paid advertising.

The goals were too significantly -

Reduce CPL: Transition from high-cost traditional methods to cost-efficient digital campaigns.

Improve Lead Quality: Use targeted ad campaigns and pre-qualification processes to focus on sellers that met strict financial criteria.

Enhance Conversion Rates: Established automated workflows and provide the Forget the 9-5 team with tools and training to efficiently convert leads into actionable conversations.

4. Implementation

Vincere Marketing Solutions designed and executed a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, combining advanced targeting, optimized creative assets, and robust lead-nurturing systems.

4.1 Precision-Targeted Digital Campaigns

Platform Choice: Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) were selected for their detailed audience targeting and cost-effective reach.

Budget Allocation: A modest $2,000/month ad spend was carefully managed to maximize ROI.

Targeting Criteria:

Demographics: Business owners aged 45-64, a segment most likely to align with the selling profiles targeted by Forget the 9-5.

Geographic Focus: Ads were geo-targeted to specific states (WI, PA, NJ, CT, South Florida, and Southern California) where Forget the 9-5 had operational focus or demand.

Behavioral and Interest-Based Targeting: Focused on individuals interested in small business ownership and restaurant management.

Creative Messaging: Initial ads used generalized messaging such as “Are you looking to sell your brick-and-mortar business?” These yielded some results but had a high CPL of $35. Revised ads targeted specific niches, such as pizza shop owners, with messaging such as “Want to sell your pizza shop?” These campaigns lowered CPL to $20, with some ads achieving as low as $18.

A/B Testing: Multiple ad formats, headlines, and visuals were tested continuously, with high-performing versions scaled to maximize results. By implementing A/B testing, the cost scaled down over time as the strategy was refined to meet their unique needs

4.2 Optimized Landing Pages

Design and Content: Landing pages were tailored to the food and beverage industry, featuring specific messaging that resonated with business owners. Pre-qualification forms collected key data, such as monthly cash flow and openness to seller financing, ensuring only relevant leads progressed further.

Trust-Building Elements: Incorporated professional branding, testimonials, and clear next steps to instill confidence in potential sellers.

Impact: Enhanced lead capture rates by ensuring a seamless transition from ad engagement to form submission.

4.3 Automated Lead Nurturing Systems

Workflows Implemented: Our automated SMS and email sequences initiated immediate follow-ups, ensuring timely engagement with leads. Personalized messaging addressed common concerns, such as “What to expect when selling your business emphasizing early seller education, making for a smoother transition towards LOI.

Results: These workflows significantly improved responsiveness, with 70% of leads replying within 48 hours of initial contact.

4.4 Enhanced Qualification and Outreach Training

Qualification Benchmarks: Collaborated with Forget the 9-5 to define financial and operational criteria for viable leads, ensuring resources were focused on high-potential opportunities.

Outreach Training: Provided Forget the 9-5’s team with scripts and best practices for follow-up communication, enabling efficient and professional lead engagement.

5. Results

The campaign delivered exceptional results, demonstrating the power of digital marketing in transforming M&A deal sourcing for the food and beverage industry.

5.1 Lead Generation Metrics

Lead Volume: Averaged 68 leads per month over three months.

Cost Efficiency: Reduced CPL from $100’s of dollars (traditional methods) to $20, with top-performing ads achieving $18 CPL. (Cost Per-Lead)

Engagement: Generated 244,263 impressions with a 0.73% click-through rate (CTR).

5.2 Conversion Metrics

Responsiveness: 70% of leads responded to initial outreach within 48 hours.

Pipeline Velocity: Average time from lead capture to initial conversation was two days.

Conversion to Conversations: 50% of leads progressed to meaningful discussions, with three deals closed in the first three months.

5.3 Scalability and Quality

Qualified Leads: 65% of leads met predefined criteria, including monthly cash flow and seller financing readiness.

Exclusivity: Leads were not shared with other buyers, ensuring direct access to motivated sellers.

6. Conclusion

Forget the 9-5’s partnership with Vincere Marketing Solutions highlights the transformative impact of digital marketing for M&A firms in the food and beverage sector. By adopting a modern, data-driven approach, Forget the 9-5 achieved:

A scalable, cost-efficient lead generation system.Improved lead quality and conversion rates. Enhanced operational efficiency through automation and qualification processes.

This case study demonstrates that digital marketing is not just a viable alternative to traditional methods—it is a superior solution for M&A firms seeking to thrive in a competitive, underserved market.