Email marketing case study: the Cornerstone Team at Website Closers

Client Overview:

Website Closers is a small business to lower middle market advisory business specializing in mergers and acquisitions of digitally based businesses. They work with business owners that are interested in selling their companies that need help positioning their business for sale and optimizing marketability and valuation.

Challenge:

The Cornerstone Team was looking for a scalable way to increase their deal flow. They needed a solution to generate high-quality leads in a consistent and efficient manner.

The Solution:

Hacked BD provided a turnkey cold email marketing solution to meet Cornerstone’s needs. This included infrastructure setup, lead generation, and campaign management.

Our services included:

Infrastructure Setup: New dedicated domains and email accounts to ensure high deliverability
List Building: Targeted list creation based on the ideal client profile
Copywriting: Crafting personalized email copy focused on maintaining high conversion rates
A/B Testing: Testing copy to optimize response rates and refine messaging
Reporting: Detailed tracking and reporting to monitor campaign effectiveness and make data-driven adjustments.

Results:

Leads Generated: In less than 10 months Hacked BD generated 350 leads, with 50 in long-term evaluation and 50 still actively being explored. Cornerstone has successfully engaged with 5 deals—1 closed, 1 under contract, and 3 actively engaged.
Pipeline: The initial five listings are valued at $18.5M. Cornerstone has up to 100 additional deals in the pipeline, which will likely narrow down to approximately 5 additional deals.
Deal Size: The average deal size for Hacked BD deals in the pipeline is $4.2M, compared to an overall pipeline average of $4.8M.

Example of Success:

One standout example is an omnichannel arts and crafts business that responded to an outreach. They are growing at double digits and seeking a better understanding of their business’s valuation and potential exit options.

After working with Cornerstone:

Valuation: $8M was determined through a detailed evaluation.
Offer: They had an initial offer of $5M from a Private Equity group, with only $2M guaranteed.
Outcome: After engaging with multiple offers, the company was under LOI for $8M with $6.4M guaranteed—resulting in an increased customer cash flow of $4.4M.

Testimonial:

"Working with Hacked BD has been a great experience for us, and I would describe it more as a partnership. It feels as though we have a full in-house outbound email marketing team, and we are able to quickly and easily tweak campaigns to get the desired results. In the first few months, we signed 2 premium brands that have the potential to generate 7 figures of income for our firm, in addition to several smaller deals. The response rate is much higher than expected. Of course, not all responses are a perfect fit, but there are consistently some 'gold nuggets' in the leads. We highly recommend partnering with Hacked BD to produce a steady stream of outbound generated leads." - Tom Howard

Impact on Business:

The campaign has significantly impacted Cornerstone’s overall business:

Lead Generation: Hacked BD leads now account for 19% of Cornerstone’s active deal flow.
Efficiency: Less time is spent chasing leads, and when they arrive in Cornerstone’s inbox, the team can focus on their core competency—closing deals.

Conclusion:

Hacked BD’s outbound marketing services have proven to be an invaluable asset to Cornerstone, helping them grow their pipeline with high-quality leads. The consistent results from tailored campaigns have allowed Cornerstone to focus on working with sellers, ultimately improving their business efficiency and contributing significantly to their growth.