put out feelers
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishput out feelersput out feelersFIND OUTto carefully try to discover what people think about something that you want to do They seem interested in a peace settlement and have begun putting out feelers. → feelerExamples from the Corpusput out feelers• Their intelligence agency, the Kempeitai, put out feelers to nationalists like Ngo Dinh Diem.