New clients, found by name — before they start looking
Right now your pipeline is referrals plus whoever happens to find you. This is the third source: companies that just had a reason to buy what you sell, reached by name, in their own language, in an email that comes from your domain and carries your signature.
There is a fourth source, and it is the only one you can switch on deliberately.
Four ways to get new clients. One of them leaves something behind.
Every row below is a question you would ask a vendor anyway. Here they are answered side by side.
- Who it reaches
- Whoever they get through this week
- Time to the first real reply
- Three months of ramp, paid throughout
- Whose domain and data
- Yours, and theirs to learn on
- What is left if you stop
- Nothing. The person left
- Cost of being wrong
- A year of salary and a rehire
- Who it reaches
- Whoever their template was pointed at
- Time to the first real reply
- A month or two, on domains that are not yours
- Whose domain and data
- Theirs. It leaves when they do
- What is left if you stop
- Nothing
- Cost of being wrong
- A spent quarter
- Who it reaches
- Whoever is already searching
- Time to the first real reply
- Immediately, but only against active demand
- Whose domain and data
- Not applicable
- What is left if you stop
- Nothing. Traffic ends with the budget
- Cost of being wrong
- A spent budget
- Who it reaches
- Companies you named, each with a reason on public record
- Time to the first real reply
- First email in week three, first replies in week four
- Whose domain and data
- Yours, on your accounts from day one
- What is left if you stop
- The list, the stop-list, the copy, the warmed domains
- Cost of being wrong
- Six weeks at a fixed fee
Why the timing matters more than the pitch
By the time a company starts searching for a vendor, the shortlist is already written — mostly from names the buyer knew before the search began, and research on B2B buying keeps finding that the vendor who made contact first wins most of the time. Advertising cannot get you onto that list; it only appears after the search starts. This can, because it starts from the event that causes the search.
6sense, 2025 B2B Buyer Experience Report
Every email has a reason attached to that company
Nothing goes out as a template. Something happened at that company, it is on public record, and the email is about that. Read the real email for any of these markets — or ask for the one written for yours.
Subject: Your May contract, before the steel is booked
Saw [Plant] won the [tender] in May — delivery falls on you by autumn, and the rolled steel is not booked yet.
We hold that grade in stock and can fix the price for the whole run, not per shipment.
Mill certificates go out with the first delivery, so acceptance does not stall.
Worth a price on your volume?
- 01One fact they can verify
- 02One specific offer
- 03One question, no pitch
- 04No attachment, no deck
Where the reason comes from
Where the companies come from
Registries refresh at different speeds, so a reason that appears on Monday is written to the same week. All of it is public record — nothing is bought from a list broker, and nothing comes from a scraped inbox.
Two formats. Pick by who is going to work the replies.
The work is the same up to the handover. The only question is whether you have someone free to take the conversation from there.
You have someone to work the replies
Leads
Selection, contact finding, emails, correspondence, qualification. You get a client who confirmed a need and is ready to talk terms. Your manager picks up a conversation that is already running.
You do not, and one more inbound only gets in the way
Leads + deal
All of the above plus the deal: pinning the specification, requesting terms from your suppliers, assembling the quote, and running the correspondence to an agreed price and lead time. Your account manager receives a finished order.
Nine stages, every company goes through them in order
Nothing is skipped in either format — the second one simply does not stop at the handover. Full stage-by-stage breakdown on request.
From a cold email to a company asking for a price
The email does not sell anything. Its whole job is to earn a reply from the person who decides — everything after that is an ordinary conversation about a deal.
Saw you switched suppliers around April. We are on the ground where your factories are, and inspection is live — you join by video and watch the cartons opened. Worth a look at your next order?
We do have a batch going out in about six weeks. What does inspection cost, and can you cover two factories in the same window?
Both factories, one window, one invoice. Sending the checklist and a price for that batch today — if it fits, we book the window.
An example of how it goes.
Where you come in
Not at the first email, and not at the tenth. You come in when a company has agreed on the substance and wants to talk terms. Everything before that point is mine.
The kind of company that answers
Metals trading, B2B, from a cold start:Want the numbers — funnel by stage, deliverability, cost per client? I send them in writing on request, before you commit to anything.
Five rules that protect your name
Writing to the wrong person or dropping into spam damages your brand, not mine. So the rules are fixed before the first send.
Your own clients never get a cold email
You set the exclusion list. Anything on it drops out of every send, permanently.
Unsubscribe is absolute
It blocks the company's whole domain, not one address. No exceptions.
One company, one email
Deduplicated across the whole database, so no one is contacted twice from two segments.
Volume ramps in steps
Each step only after bounces are checked. Above the threshold, sending pauses automatically.
Positioning stays yours
Copy, prices and service wording are approved by you before the first send.
Why none of this is a target
Sending pauses itself before bounces can reach the domain. That is the whole point of the ramp — it is not a number to hit, it is a brake. The rest works the same way: the lists are built from public registries, the emails go to companies at business addresses, and an unsubscribe blocks a whole domain rather than one mailbox. None of it is checked after the fact. All of it is wired in before the first send.
Who this works for, and who it does not
It is a narrow channel on purpose. Below is the honest version of both lists — if the right column describes you, say so and I will tell you straight.
- You sell to businesses
- The purchase is considered, not impulsive
- The buyer is an identifiable legal entity
- The deal justifies a month of correspondence
- The buying event leaves a public trace
- You sell to consumers, or the decision is made by a person rather than a company
- The average deal is small enough that a month of correspondence costs more than it returns
- You need volume this week — the first emails go out in week three
- You want everyone who clicked. This channel is narrow by design and stays narrow
- A decision-maker's answer takes weeks to approve on your side. The company moves on before you reply
If you are not sure which column you are in, that is a two-message conversation, not a project. Write and I will tell you if it does not fit.
Six weeks, a fixed fee, and an end date you can hold me to
Not a retainer that quietly renews. A fixed scope with a fixed price and a decision at the end — and everything built along the way is on your accounts from day one.
What you hold at week six
How the six weeks run
Setup
Your current flow, segments, sources, first extract, filtering rules.
First wave
Selection, address verification. Copy goes to you for approval.
Sending
Stepped sending with bounce control, inbound triage, follow-ups.
Report
Funnel by segment, cost per client, what to change next.
And if it does not work?
Then you have a documented answer for why not — which segment, which trigger, which offer failed to earn a reply — plus the list, the domains, the copy and the stop-list, all of which keep working for whatever you do next. That is a cheaper way to find out than a year of guessing.
The seven things people ask before they say yes
Asked in these words, more or less, by everyone who got this far. Answered here so you can decide on the substance.
Cold email does not work any more. Everyone gets two hundred of these.
Everyone gets two hundred templates. What is described on this page is one email per company, built on something that company actually did, sent from your domain under your signature. Nobody replies to a campaign. People do reply to someone who clearly looked.
We tried an agency once. It burned a quarter and delivered nothing.
Usually because the domains were theirs, the database was shared across their whole client list, and the copy was a template with your name dropped into it. Here the domains and mailboxes are yours, the list is built for you alone, and you approve every line before the first send. If we part ways, all of it stays with you.
Our product is too complex to sell over email.
The email does not sell it. Its job is to get an answer from the person who owns the budget. What follows is an ordinary conversation, in whichever format suits the two of you.
Why not just hire an SDR?
Then you are paying three months of ramp with the salary running throughout, you are managing them yourself, and when they leave, their read on the market leaves with them. This is six weeks at a fixed fee, and the list, the domains and the copy stay on your side either way.
What if the pilot brings no clients at all?
Then you keep the list, the domains, the copy, the stop-list and a number for every step of the funnel — enough to see exactly where it broke: the segment, the trigger, or the offer. That is an answer too, and it costs less than a year of finding out slowly.
How much is it?
Three parts, all of them in the next section: a fixed fee for the pilot, a monthly retainer after it, and a share of the result on clients I brought. Two things move the number — how many segments you want running, and how many languages they run in. One segment in one language sits at the floor of the range; four segments across three languages sits at the top. I put the figure in writing as soon as I know which of those you need.
Is this you, or a team?
Me. The selection, the copy and the correspondence are mine personally. That is also what limits how many clients I take at once, and I would rather say so now than after you have signed.
How the money works
Three parts, none of them a surprise later.
Fixed fee, six weeks
Half at the start, half on completion. Covers setup, segmentation, sourcing, correspondence and the report.
Monthly retainer
Depends on format, volume and how many languages are in play.
10–20% of gross profit
On clients I brought, for the first 12 months of each relationship, then it stops.
What stays with you
Domains, mailboxes, the database of selected companies, the stop-list and all copy — on your accounts from day one.
Full contract terms — attribution, exclusivity, exit — on request before we start.
Three moves to the first email
You can start in writing today.
Ten questions
Which services are the priority, who your best client is, which markets are closed. You answer in writing.
A six-week plan
Concrete segments with volume estimates, launch order, correspondence language, and the first email drafts for approval.
We start
The first email goes out in week three, the first replies land in week four, your own numbers in week six.
Paul Burg
Cold outbound for B2B · RU, EN, ESI do cold client acquisition for B2B companies, in Russian, English and Spanish. Before this: my own projects since 2011 and contract development — bots, CRMs, dashboards, automation. That background is why this is built as a system you own rather than a service you rent.
Tell me who your best client is
Two minutes. I answer personally, usually within a few hours.
What happens after you send
- 01I read it and answer in writing, usually within a few hours.
- 02If it does not fit, I say so in that first reply, and tell you what would.
- 03If it does, you get the ten questions and a six-week plan with segments and volumes.
You are answered by me, not by an assistant or a sequence.