Templates
Questions That Test a Trade
Before You Send One
The [brackets] are your fill-ins, and the specific true line you put in them is what separates your note from the ones owners delete. Everything here belongs to one stage of the roadmap, Define & Test Your Thesis, and every other stage has its own set on the templates index.
Testing the Thesis
Trade Association Economics Ask
Asking an industry association for the operating benchmarks its members actually report, while you are still deciding whether the trade is worth a search.
Subject: Benchmark data for a prospective [INDUSTRY] owner
Hi [STAFF FIRST NAME], I am evaluating [INDUSTRY] as an owner-operator and I would rather build my expectations on what your members report than on what listing sites publish. Do you publish an operating benchmark or compensation study, and is it available to a non-member or on joining? I am specifically after gross margin by service line, labor as a percentage of revenue, and whatever you track on customer retention. If those numbers only go to members, tell me and I will join. And if there is a regional chapter closer to [REGION] that would be the better place to start, I would welcome the introduction. [YOUR NAME] [PHONE] · [EMAIL]
What You Wish You Had Known
A short cold note to an operator in a trade you are testing, asking the one question that surfaces the risks no listing mentions.
Subject: One question about [INDUSTRY], if you have a minute
Hi [OWNER FIRST NAME], I am weighing [INDUSTRY] against two other trades and trying to find the problems before I commit a year to hunting one. One question: what do you wish someone had told you before you started? I am after the specific thing rather than the general one. The customer type that is never worth it, the certification that takes longer than anyone says, the season the cash disappears. A two-line answer would genuinely help. If you would rather talk, I will call whenever suits. [YOUR NAME] [PHONE] · [EMAIL]
Supplier Read on the Trade
Asking a distributor or supplier what they observe across every operator they sell to, which is a view no single owner has.
Subject: What you see across [INDUSTRY] operators in [REGION]
Hi [SUPPLIER FIRST NAME], You sell into [INDUSTRY] across [REGION], which means you see something no single owner does: what separates the shops that grow from the ones that quietly shrink. I am planning to buy and run one, and I would value fifteen minutes on what you notice. Are order volumes trending in one direction? Which operators are adding trucks or crews? Where does the pain sit right now, labor or pricing or something else? I am not asking about any specific customer's business, and nothing you tell me goes anywhere. If I do buy in this trade, I would expect to be your customer. [YOUR NAME] [PHONE] · [EMAIL]
The Other Stages
Every stage has its own emails, because what you write changes completely between hunting a listing and papering a deal.