How much research do you actually do before reaching out to a business?

[Michael Eskenasy]

I’m curious how people here approach outreach when they’re considering doing business with another company.

Let’s say you’re thinking about reaching out to a company you might want to partner with, buy from, sell to, or potentially do a deal with.

Before sending that first message or email, what do you usually look at?

For example, when I’m evaluating whether to reach out, I tend to check things like:

• what the business actually does and who they serve

• whether they appear to be growing or stable

• who the likely decision-maker is

• whether there’s any overlap with what we do

• whether timing even makes sense

But I also know some people who just reach out directly and figure it out through conversation.

So I’m curious how others here handle it.

Do you typically research a business first before contacting them, or do you just start the conversation and see where it goes?

And if you do research first, what’s the one or two things you always look for before reaching out?