Updated
Why the platform is where IT services prospecting starts
An IT services firm sells expertise in particular platforms: a cloud, a productivity suite, a CRM, an ERP, a security product. The companies already running one of them are the ones that can use that expertise, whether they need someone to manage it, secure it, extend it or tidy up what an earlier partner left.
Starting from the platform also makes the first message credible. Saying you help companies on the platform they use beats saying you do IT, and the certifications a buyer cares about are the ones for the system they already have.
Who to contact
Who buys depends on whether the company has an IT team of its own:
- IT Director, Head of IT or IT Manager: the buyer when there is an internal team, often looking for extra hands or skills.
- CIO or CTO in larger companies, for strategic platform work.
- COO, CFO or founder in smaller companies without an IT lead, where IT is bought as a service.
- The platform's owner on the business side, such as a CRM or ERP lead, for application work.
What to say
Name the platform and one concrete thing you do on it: a health check of their setup, a licensing review, a security baseline, a migration or an integration. Keep it small enough to say yes to; a first project is a common way into a managed service relationship.
If you are a partner of the platform's vendor, say so, and say what it brings them: access to support, training, or early word of changes.
How Coolie finds them
Name the platforms you support
Choose up to five platforms you are certified on or know well, among the products Coolie suggests as you type.
Coolie finds who runs them today
It looks for companies that use those products now, from the tools their job posts name and the technology changes it dates.
It keeps the companies that fit your ICP
Your ideal customer profile (industry, company size, location) filters the companies before anyone is contacted.
It finds the decision makers
At each company, Coolie looks for the people whose job titles match your ICP, and gives each lead a score.
It researches the leads you pick
For the leads you choose, Coolie writes a research brief (the company's news, the person, the reason to write now) and a personalized email and LinkedIn sequence.
It writes and sends from your own accounts
Email and LinkedIn steps go out from your own mailbox and LinkedIn account, spread over your working hours. You approve each message, or let the agent run on autopilot.
Signals to pair it with
A company that just stopped using a platform may need help moving off it: Competitor Churn finds those changes for the products you name. A new IT leader often reviews the company's partners in their first months: Recent Job Change finds them. See all signals.
Example (fictional)
You run a managed service provider certified on a widely used productivity suite and a cloud platform, and name both.
Coolie finds Fernhallow Dental Group, 150 employees in Australia, which runs both and fits your ICP.
It finds Fernhallow's Operations Director and Finance Manager, ranks them by score, and once you choose them drafts an email offering a licensing and security review of their setup.
Every company and person in this example is invented.
Frequently asked questions
Which platforms can Coolie find?
Those in Coolie's list, which suggests the matching products as you type a name. A platform that no job post names and that leaves no public trace is hard for anyone outside the company to see.
Should I write to the IT team or to the business?
Both can work. Where a company has an IT leader, start there; where it has none, operations or finance usually buys IT services. Put the titles you sell to in your ICP, and each company's matching people are found.
Is every company on the platform a fit?
No, which is why your ICP filters them first: industry, company size and location narrow the list to the companies you can serve, and each lead's score ranks the rest.