MBO Ventures — 10.1x ROI
MBO Ventures booked 20 qualified meetings with business owners actively exploring ESOP options, earning a 27% reply rate by deliberately avoiding urgency tactics and leading with education. ESOP transactions are deeply personal decisions about legacy, employee welfare, and the future of something owners built. Rushing that conversation is the fastest way to lose trust permanently — so the campaign didn’t rush it.Total Spend
$7,200
Revenue Generated
$80,000
ROI
10.1x
Meetings Booked
20
Cost Per Meeting
$360
New MRR Added
$20,000
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Industry | Investment Banking |
| Company Size | 5-20 employees |
| Services Used | Email + AI Calling + LinkedIn |
| Duration | 4 months |
The Challenge
Business owners considering ESOPs are relationship-driven and allergic to urgency tactics. Rushing an exit conversation is the fastest way to lose trust permanently. Transaction-focused M&A outreach that failed to build consultative trust or educate prospects about ESOP structures before asking for a meeting was producing zero systematic pipeline. Before Outbound System:- No systematic pipeline for ESOP-ready business owners
- Transaction-focused messaging missing the trust element
- No intent signals for exit readiness (tenure, revenue stability)
- Urgency-based outreach destroying trust with prospect base
- 20 qualified meetings in 4 months
- 27% reply rate from business owners
- Education-first approach earning conversations on the prospect’s timeline
- LinkedIn-led relationship building before any pitch
The Solution
LinkedIn was the lead channel for these relationship-driven decision-makers. Targeting filtered for exit-readiness signals: founder tenure, company age, stable revenue, and industries where ESOPs are most advantageous. Sequences were paced to educate over weeks, deliberately avoiding urgency — because trust-first timing actually accelerated deal progression downstream.LinkedIn Outreach
Lead channel with connection requests paired with thought leadership content on ESOP structures, creating a consultative first impression rather than a transactional one. Business owners saw MBO as an advisor before seeing them as a vendor.Cold Email
Reinforced LinkedIn touchpoints with specific ESOP case studies showing how comparable owners preserved company culture and unlocked personal equity without selling to PE or competitors.AI Cold Calling
Reserved for owners who engaged with multiple touchpoints but hadn’t booked, using brief, respectful scripts focused on education rather than closing. No urgency. Just information owners needed.Beyond the Meetings
- Market Intelligence: Exit-readiness signal analysis revealed owners with 15-25 years of tenure and stable (not growing) revenue were the strongest ESOP candidates, improving targeting precision significantly.
- Pipeline Insurance: Education-paced sequences meant prospects not ready today entered long-term pipeline, with touchpoints keeping MBO top of mind as exit windows approached.
- ICP Refinement: Manufacturing and professional services industries showed 2x engagement with ESOP messaging versus industries with high employee turnover.
- Trust-First Pipeline: By avoiding urgency tactics, prospects arrived with higher trust levels, resulting in faster deal progression despite slower initial engagement — a counterintuitive but validated finding.
Campaign Timeline
Weeks 1-2: Exit-Readiness Mapping
Exit-readiness signal mapping: founder tenure, company age, revenue stability. LinkedIn thought leadership content prepared. ESOP case study sequences developed with education-first pacing.
Weeks 3-4: LinkedIn-Led Launch
LinkedIn-led campaign launched. Cold email reinforcing touchpoints with ESOP case studies. 27% reply rate from the start.
Months 2-3: Trust Building
AI calling added for multi-touchpoint-engaged prospects. Education-paced sequences building trust over weeks, not days.
Full Metrics Breakdown
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Total Spend with Outbound System | $7,200 |
| Campaign Duration | 4 months |
| Qualified Leads Generated | 28 |
| Cost Per Qualified Lead | $257 |
| Meetings / Calls Booked | 20 |
| Cost Per Booked Meeting | $360 |
| Show Up Rate | 82% |
| Revenue Generated (cash collected) | $80,000 |
| New MRR Added | $20,000 |
| ROAS (on cash collected) | 11.11x |
| Total ROI | 10.1x |
“Getting leads to have the actual appointments, that’s not difficult anymore.” — Darren Gleeman, Managing Partner at MBO Ventures
Get Results Like MBO Ventures
MBO Ventures proved that trust-first outbound works in ESOP advisory — and that deliberately avoiding urgency tactics actually accelerates deals downstream. If you’re in financial services and need to reach business owners evaluating exit options, education-paced outreach earns conversations that transaction-focused pitches destroy. See how our LinkedIn outbound service builds consultative relationships and our cold email service reinforces trust through ESOP-specific case studies.Book a Strategy Call
See how education-first outbound and exit-readiness targeting would work for your advisory pipeline.