Permission first. Every time.
Most prospecting fails because it is careless: bought lists, guessed emails, a pitch to whoever picks up. We work the other way, and every step leaves a record you can show anyone who asks.
The method in five steps
- A real reason to talk. Every company on your list has a dated, public reason to need you now: a tender won, a new site, rapid hiring, a merger, a fleet purchase. Each one is linked to its source.
- The right fit. Each company is graded against your profile. Anything off-limits, including your existing customers, is left out.
- The right person, reached properly. Only business contact details the company itself published, each recorded with where and when we checked it. We never guess an email or a number.
- Warm introductions first. Where someone you already know is connected to the company, we show you, so you can ask for the introduction.
- Ask before you pitch. Otherwise your first message says who you are and why you are writing, and asks whether they would like to hear more. Once. A yes is recorded with its date. No reply, or a no, means no further contact, ever.
An example first message
Subject: Your new Durban distribution centre
Dear Ms Naidoo, I saw that Coastline Logistics opened its Durban distribution centre last month and is hiring about 120 staff (announced on your website on 14 October). I advise employers on staff benefits. Would you like me to send a one-page note on what growing employers usually review at this stage? A simple yes or no is fine. If it is no, you will not hear from me again.
"How did you get my details?"
Every record carries the answer: the public page the detail came from, the date we found it, the event that made this month the right time, and the date of any yes. Your people can answer in one sentence, and point to the source.
What we never do
- Contact your prospects ourselves. Your people decide and send.
- Sell, buy or share lists.
- Guess an email or a number, or use a personal phone number or home address.
- Send a second message to someone who did not say yes.
- Work around a website that blocks automated access.
- Mix one client's data with another's, or delete an opt-out. Opt-outs are kept, so they hold.
Why it matters
Privacy rules in South Africa and abroad expect businesses to ask before they market by email, phone or message. South Africa's POPIA protects companies as well as people, and the Information Regulator reads it strictly. The details differ by country, so every record carries its country, and where rules differ the stricter one wins.
For regulated industries
Insurance, financial services, legal and healthcare carry rules of their own. For these clients we act as a research supplier, not a lead seller or an intermediary. We never discuss or recommend your products, and your licensed people make every approach. We recommend you show this method to your compliance team before the first message goes out, so it is approved in advance rather than defended after a complaint.
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Tell us what you sell and where. Within days you get a one-page Market Brief: the companies buying now, who decides, why now, and how AI tools describe your company.
