This is the cold email plan we'd run for an agency that builds online ordering for distributors and manufacturers in one industry. The signal is easy to see. Go to their website and try to place an order.
Your market is every distributor and manufacturer in your industry that sells to repeat business customers. Many still take orders by phone and email and PDF order forms.
These are the signals worth looking for.
Their site has a request a quote button or a PDF catalog and no customer login. Orders all go through a person.
A downloadable catalog means the product data exists and nobody has put it online.
Job posts for customer service reps or order entry clerks on LinkedIn or Indeed mean orders arrive by phone and email and someone types them in.
Check their competitors' sites. A rival with a customer login and online reorders is easier to buy from.
Job posts often name the system that runs their inventory and orders. That tells you what the ordering site has to connect to.
A distributor bought by a private equity firm often gets a push to modernize. Press releases announce the deals.
At smaller distributors the owner or the president decides. At bigger ones it is the COO or the head of sales with IT in the room.
A mockup of their best product category as an online ordering page. Customer pricing and quick reorder and order history built from their own catalog.
It works because they see their own products sold the way their customers wish they could buy them. The mockup takes real work and a portal project is big enough to justify it.
Present it on a 20 minute screen share. Customer pricing and approvals work differently at every distributor and the call is where they explain theirs. The build is the project.
Screenshots of how two competitors take orders online next to their own quote form.
It works because nobody likes seeing a rival make buying easier.
Walk through it on a call because they'll know which of their customers already buy from those rivals. Closing that gap is the project.
Load one product category into a demo store with sample customer pricing and give them a login to try it.
It works because their sales team and their best customer can click through it. Once they have used it the full build is the next step.
It starts with a 20 minute call to pick the category and get the catalog file. Deliver the demo within two weeks of that call.
Each segment gets its own email because a specific email gets more replies than a general one. Split each segment by sub-industry too so the examples in the email fit the reader.
Keep each email under 100 words with one reason for writing and one line of proof and one offer and one question. The proof lines are examples of the kind of result to use. Swap in real results of your own before anything goes out.
Lead with their catalog and the reorder a customer can't place online. Offer the reorder mockup.
Hi {{first_name}},
Downloaded the {{company}} catalog. There's no way to reorder online and the site asks for a quote instead.
We build ordering sites for {{industry}} distributors. Mocked up how {{product_category}} could look with customer pricing and one click reorders.
A distributor we built for now takes a third of its orders online and moved two inside sales reps back to selling.
Want me to walk you through it?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with the job post and the orders a portal would take instead. Offer the demo store.
Hi {{first_name}},
Saw {{company}} is hiring a {{job_title}} to handle phone and email orders.
A customer login takes a lot of those orders without anyone typing them in. Happy to load one of your categories into a demo store you can click through free.
A client that went live with its portal last year paused the same hire and cut order errors to almost none.
Interested?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with the competitor's customer login. Offer the comparison.
Hi {{first_name}},
{{competitor}} lets customers log in and reorder online. {{company}} still asks for a quote.
Put their ordering next to your quote form on one page.
A distributor in the same spot won back three large accounts within a year of launching its own portal with us.
Want me to walk you through it?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with the acquisition and the growth plan that often follows. Ask for a call directly.
Hi {{first_name}},
Saw {{company}} was acquired by {{acquirer}} in {{deal_month}}. New owners usually want growth without adding headcount.
We build online ordering for {{industry}} distributors and manufacturers. One client moved 40 accounts onto self-service ordering in its first quarter live.
Worth 15 minutes to see what a portal would take?
{{sender_first_name}}
Send two follow ups in the same thread three to five days apart.
Each reply should end in a booked meeting that actually happens. The lead magnet and the offer get delivered on that call and never go out as a file to read later.
The replies below cover the three ways people say yes.
They asked for the mockup. The call covers how their pricing and approvals work.
Hi {{first_name}},
Happy to. Customer pricing and approvals work differently at every distributor so the mockup is best walked through with you. Twenty minutes on a screen share is enough.
Does Tuesday at 10am or Wednesday at 2pm work?
{{sender_first_name}}
They want the demo store. The call picks the category and gets the catalog.
Hi {{first_name}},
Great. I need 20 minutes with you to pick the category and get the catalog file. The demo store is ready within two weeks of that call.
Does Thursday at 11am or Friday at 3pm work?
{{sender_first_name}}
They said yes to a call. Tell them what they'll leave with so they show up.
Hi {{first_name}},
Perfect. I'll bring how a portal would fit your catalog and a rough timeline and budget. You'll leave knowing what the first phase would include.
Does Monday at 1pm or Tuesday at 9am work?
{{sender_first_name}}
Results aren't guaranteed and nobody honest can promise a number before the first emails go out. A few things decide how a campaign does.
The first few weeks show how the market responds. The list and the copy and the offer get sharper from there.
We build and run this campaign for one agency per industry.
This page is a starting point and a strategy we'd happily test ourselves. Working together gives us more context on your agency. That context lets us add better strategies and build better lists and offers and automations for you.
Thirty minutes on your market and how we'd reach it.