Advising Manufacturers: How to Build Trust and Add Value

Practical marketing strategies, backed by insights from our proprietary database of over 80,000 business owners, to help you refine your message, target the right audience, and build a more successful advisory practice.

The Manufacturer’s Dilemma

One of the most enticing marketing opportunities for advisors in 2025 is to create a campaign that targets manufacturing business owners. These businesses are often larger and more successful than other segments within the small and medium-sized business market, making them an attractive audience. However, crafting a successful campaign requires understanding their unique challenges.

That’s why this month, we’ve dedicated Advisor Marketing News to the manufacturing sector, exploring how you can connect with these owners, understand their challenges, and position yourself as the advisor they need.

The Value Builder Analytics team dug into the numbers to understand what makes manufacturing business owners tick—and how you can position your advisory firm as a go-to resource for manufacturers.

💻Check out the key findings below and join us on January 23rd at 12 pm EST for a webinar hosted by John Warrillow, author of the bestselling books Built to Sell, The Automatic Customer, and The Art of Selling Your Business. He’ll explore strategies to help you attract manufacturing owners and help them prepare for a lucrative exit.

Register Here

When you think of manufacturers, names like Boeing or Caterpillar may come to mind, but the bulk of manufacturing is done by relatively small businesses. According to IBISWorld, a leading provider of industry research, there are approximately 640,000 manufacturers in the U.S., and, as you’ll discover below, they represent an attractive segment for professional advisors to target.  

Manufacturers Are Large Enough to Pay for Your Advice

If you’re an advisor, calls from self-employed start-ups can be frustrating—they lack employees and the budget for outside advice. Manufacturing, however, is different. By definition, manufacturers are rarely tiny. They need significant capital to buy machinery and equipment, which means they’ve either raised or borrowed funds to run their business. That financial capacity also makes them more likely to afford professional advice.

After analyzing more than 80,000 business owners who have completed the Value Builder questionnaire (learn about offering the Value Builder questionnaire to your clients) our data shows that manufacturers are much less likely to be too small to pay for your advice.

Manufacturers Are Focused on Growing Profit

Manufacturers are large enough to pay for outside advice, and the way to get their immediate attention is to show manufacturers how you can help them increase profitability. Value Builder data shows that almost half of manufacturers are focused on profit as their number one business priority in the coming year.

Manufacturers are focused on preparing their companies for sale rather than exiting another way. Fifty-seven percent of manufacturing business owners tell us that they’re planning to sell to a third party rather than passing their business on to family or their management team.

Their desire to sell makes sense when you look at the offers they attract. Manufacturing business owners report receiving offers from potential acquirers that are 15% higher than other types of owners.

Focus Your Message On Profitability (Not Growth)

As an advisor seeking to engage manufacturers, focus on strategies that enhance profitability rather than merely increasing revenue. While many advisors propose to "grow your business," manufacturers often prioritize profit growth over revenue expansion. Emphasizing profitability aligns more closely with their primary objectives. Our data shows that 30% of manufacturing businesses are operating with a sub-10% profit margin. Manufacturers often face external challenges such as tariffs, raw material costs, and supply chain disruptions. These obstacles mean manufacturers are frequently less profitable than the average small business in our data. This stands in stark contrast to the average businesses we’ve analyzed, which often report profit margins exceeding 20%.

How to Find Manufacturing Companies (and Their Owners)

Leaning into profit as your “way in” to a conversation with these owners sets the tone for your outreach. Here are some ways you can connect with this group.

💻Leverage Industry Databases: Subscribe to manufacturing-focused databases like Thomasnet or IndustrySelect. Filter by revenue range to isolate $1-20 million targets.

👷‍♂️Team Up with Trade Associations: Join local and regional chapters (e.g., National Association of Manufacturers). Ask for member lists or sponsor events to get contact info.

🔍Refine LinkedIn Searches: Use Sales Navigator to filter by industry, headcount, and location. Focus on owner and C-level titles at small and mid-sized manufacturing firms.

📝Mine Conference Attendance: Attend niche manufacturing conferences and events. Ask for exhibitor lists—they’re often posted for attendees.

📌Online Targeting: Place paid ads on LinkedIn and Google with manufacturing keywords (e.g., “precision machining services,” “contract manufacturing”). Create a landing page with a clear call to action for owners.

✉️Cold Outreach: Verify addresses with email verification tools. Keep your messaging short and specific to manufacturing challenges.

Customer Concertation Often Drags Down Valuation

A manufacturing business is typically valued using a multiple of EBITDA, making profitability a logical starting point when talking with a manufacturer. However, profitability is only one part of the valuation equation. The multiple used to determine value is influenced by other factors, and one of the most significant threats to a manufacturer’s valuation is customer concentration. Acquirers view dependency on a few large customers as a red flag, indicating potential instability in future revenue streams.

According to Value Builder data, manufacturing businesses are far more likely to rely on key customers than other types of businesses. Nearly 50% more manufacturing owners report that their largest customer accounts for 16%–50% of their total revenue compared to the average business owner.

This isn’t just a theoretical risk—it’s one that manufacturing owners themselves recognize. Almost three-quarters admit their business would suffer if they lost their largest customer, a figure 30% higher than other types of owners.

Manufacturers Often Lack Recurring Revenue

In addition to customer concentration, manufacturers often face valuation discounts due to their reliance on “one-off” sales and lack of recurring revenue. Value Builder data reveals that 40% of manufacturing business owners report having no recurring revenue, a figure significantly worse than the average small business.

Learn More by Joining Our Webinar

Discover new ways to attract and connect your services with the needs of manufacturing owners by joining our live webinar on January 23rd at 12 pm EST with John Warrillow, author of the bestselling books Built to Sell, The Automatic Customer, and The Art of Selling Your Business. Get answers to your questions and explore strategies that help these businesses achieve their goals.

Register Here

🎥 As we kick off 2025, enjoy one of the most popular webinars that we released last year to help inform the work you do with clients. In Close Deals Faster (and Charge More) discover how Andy Cavanaugh, a seasoned broker, cut his sales cycle by 75%. In this webinar recording, you’ll learn proven tactics to identify red flags in the sales process and tailor your fees upfront. Watch the webinar recording.

📆 Mark your calendar for the 2025 Value Builder Summit, taking place March 2-4, 2025, at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center in Austin, Texas. Network with a community of 200+ advisors and gain insights from renowned speakers, including best-selling authors John Warrillow (Built to Sell), John Jantsch (Duct Tape Marketing), and Rob Walling (Exit Strategy). Check out the 2025 Value Builder Summit website for full details and to reserve your spot.

💻Curious to learn more about how Value Builder helps advisors start more strategic conversations with business owners. Check out our 5-minute product tour video.

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This Issue's Contributors

Jason Reilly, Vice President of Marketing; Michael Sarkis, Director of Advisor Marketing; Deanne Kong Ting, Director of Customer Success; and Jen Chou, Senior Graphic Designer.