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Deal Sourcing for PE & M&A Advisors in Memphis, TN

Across 9 counties, the Memphis metro counts 26,131 business locations employing 561,551 people. The 1,923 with 50–499 employees are the starting pool for a deal sourcing campaign, and Sapper works them by phone first.

Get the Memphis market brief

Or talk through your Memphis target list →

The Memphis market at a glance

26,131

business locations in the Memphis metro (Census, 2023)

1,923

have 50–499 employees

9,730

general and operations managers in the metro

2,750

financial managers in the metro

What this means for your outreach: Memphis’s business count fell by 179 locations between 2022 and 2023. The 1,923 mid-size companies are the starting pool, and Sapper narrows it to the ones that fit your offer before anyone calls.

Where Memphis’s owner-led company buyers are

Sector	Locations	Jobs	50–499 employees	500+ employees	Change since 2022
Health care	2,992	83,591	235	16	+41
Manufacturing	783	40,809	158	10	−17
Wholesale trade	1,398	36,996	137	3	−57
Construction	1,709	22,998	99	0	+12
Professional services	1,950	22,029	79	0	−21
Information	394	5,403	20	0	−6

Where to start: In Memphis, the second-deepest mid-size list is manufacturing (158), after health care (235). The fastest-growing of these sectors was health care, +41 locations in a year.

Where Memphis companies cluster

County	All locations	Finance	Health care	Prof. services
Shelby, TN	19,359	1,282	2,277	1,599
DeSoto, MS	3,349	203	350	192
Crittenden, AR	844	43	129	33
Tipton, TN	777	56	84	33
Fayette, TN	690	38	53	41

Where the market sits: Shelby County and DeSoto County hold 86.9% of the metro’s business locations across 9 counties. Shelby County counts 1,599 professional services locations, against 192 in DeSoto County. The metro crosses state lines (TN, MS, AR), so buyers here answer to more than one state’s rules.

Titles to test in Memphis

9,730

general and operations managers, 29% fewer per job than the US average

2,750

financial managers, 17% fewer per job than the US average

4,390

accountants and auditors, 23% fewer per job than the US average

What it suggests: none of these roles is more concentrated in Memphis than the US average, so the list here is built on fit with your offer rather than an unusually deep title pool.

Who else is calling Memphis buyers

The metro has 304 securities, commodities and investment locations. That is a lot of outreach competing for the same attention, so the first message has to be specific.

What wins: local detail. Mention Shelby County or a Memphis sector so the buyer can tell the message is about them.

How Sapper books your Memphis meetings

1. We agree on the accounts first

You approve the target list. It is exclusive to you.

2. We introduce you, then keep going

Phone first, backed by email, LinkedIn and mail.

3. We qualify before we book

Need, timing and who else is involved, confirmed.

4. You walk into a warm conversation

With the account history and a confirmed time.

For deal sourcing, we build the list around the size band, industries and geography in your thesis. Public counts do not show ownership, so you set the criteria and approve every account. Shelby County and DeSoto County hold the most Memphis locations, and health care has the most mid-size ones (235). How appointment setting works →

Add inbound to your Memphis outbound

Add a website and search program for private equity and M&A firms to your outbound campaign: up to 100 pages within 30 days of kickoff, tracked calls and forms, and an update every business day. See how it works →

Questions

How many companies in Memphis could buy what you sell?

The 9-county Memphis metro has 26,131 business locations. 1,923 have 50–499 employees and 89 have 500 or more (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Where should a Memphis deal sourcing campaign start?

The most mid-size locations are in health care (235), followed by manufacturing (158).

Who should the first Memphis meetings be with?

Titles to test first include general and operations managers. The metro has 9,730 of them, plus 2,750 financial managers. The final titles depend on what you sell, and you approve the list before anyone calls.

Nearby markets: PE & M&A Advisory in Little Rock (130 mi), PE & M&A Advisory in Nashville (196 mi) and PE & M&A Advisory in Huntsville (198 mi).

If your buyers are Memphis contractors or home-service companies, Abstrakt’s Memphis page covers that market.

Let’s build your Memphis target list

Download the Memphis deal sourcing market brief, or book a call and we’ll walk through your target list for the metro.