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Plays

Every play starts with a reason to talk.

A play is one reason to reach out, built once and run every day. These are the plays we run today, and how each one works.

Trigger
We spot the moment and reach out from your sellers' accounts.
Funnel
We work through your market one account at a time, with research on each.
Signal
We spot the moment. Your seller decides what to do with it.

Anatomy of one play

Role switch
  1. 01

    Spot

    Checked daily, across your whole market.

    A new Head of IT starts at Vandermolen, a logistics group with 600 people across 40 sites in the Netherlands.

  2. 02

    Qualify

    In the sellable market, not a customer, no open deal.

    • In the sellable market: several entities, partly on-prem
    • Not a customer
    • No open deal in your CRM
  3. 03

    Research and write

    Two short messages in the buyer's language.

    The research finds an ERP move on the way. Message one notes the new role and offers to share how a logistics group the same size prepared for its own. Message two is a short follow-up. Both in Dutch.

  4. 04

    Hand over

    From the seller's own account, to one reply owner.

    Sent from your seller's own LinkedIn, in a campaign you approved. The reply lands with one owner on your side, research attached.

Example with a made-up company.
On this page

Six triggers, in the order we usually deploy them.

Each one is built once in Clay and never switched off. They all run the four steps above, and every name is checked against your CRM each day, so customers and open deals stay out.

01

Role switch

Always the first play. New leaders review tools and partners in their first 90 days.

6.5%reply rate
What fires it
Someone takes a new role at a company in your sellable market.
What we check
They sit in the buying committee and started within the last 90 days.
What the message does
Notes the new role once, names one thing people face in their first months, and offers something useful.
Opener

“Congrats on the new role. Most people who take over IT start by mapping what runs where. Happy to send the checklist a group your size used.”

02

Champion switch

Small volume, high trust. They already know what you do.

15%reply rate
What fires it
A contact from one of your won deals moves to a new company.
What we check
The new company fits your market. If a seller already owns that account, it goes to them as a signal instead.
What the message does
Starts from the project you did together, so it doesn't need to pitch.
Opener

“We worked together on the planning rollout at your previous company. If something similar comes up in the new job, happy to help again.”

03

Followers and engagers

The smallest volume and the best reply rates.

19%reply rate
What fires it
Someone follows your company page, engages with posts from your leaders, or writes about the problem you solve.
What we check
They work at a company in your market and sit in the buying committee. Attention alone isn't enough.
What the message does
Mentions the interest lightly and offers one useful thing.
Opener

“Noticed you've been following our posts on document control. Happy to send a short write-up on how a company like yours set it up, no call needed.”

04

Hiring

Harder to get right. Strong when the post is specific.

5%reply rate
What fires it
A job post that names the problem you solve, in words a buyer would use.
What we check
We read the whole post, not only the job title. A vague post is dropped.
What the message does
Starts from what the post says and shares how a similar team handled the same problem.
Opener

“Saw that your demand planner post mentions moving planning out of spreadsheets. Happy to show how another food producer made that move.”

05

News, funding, M&A, compliance deadlines

A budget or a deadline appears.

Volume follows the news
What fires it
A funding round, an acquisition, a new market, or a compliance deadline such as NIS2 or DORA that applies to them.
What we check
The event is recent and changes something you can help with. A press release alone isn't a reason.
What the message does
Connects the event to the one thing it changes for them.
Opener

“Congrats on opening the German office. A new market brings its own rules from day one. Happy to share what a peer had to change in their first year there.”

06

Website visitors and competitor followers

Already paying attention.

Volume follows your traffic
What fires it
A company in your market visits your website, or people there follow a competitor.
What we check
A visit shows the company, not the person, so we find the right people in its buying committee.
What the message does
Doesn't open with the visit or the follow. It starts from their situation, found in the research.
Opener

“We work with logistics groups that run a mix of sites and systems like yours. If supplier onboarding is on the list this year, I can send how a peer approached it.”

Reply rates from our Lemlist campaigns for enterprise software clients. Email without a trigger usually lands at 2 to 3%. Openers use made-up companies.

A new trigger every few weeks, and the earlier ones keep running.

Role switch goes live in the first month. Each trigger after it adds more reasons to talk. Funnels start once two or three triggers have run and shown which messages land.

The first six months TriggerFunnelSetup
Market map and approvals, first half of month 1
Role switch, from mid month 1 onwards
Champion switch, from month 2 onwards
Followers and engagers, from month 2 onwards
Hiring, from month 3 onwards
News, from month 4 onwards
Website visitors, from month 5 onwards
Market funnels, from mid month 3 onwards
Milestones
  1. Weeks 1 to 2Market map, exclusions against your CRM, campaigns approved
  2. Weeks 3 to 4First replies from role switch
  3. Month 3Triggers at steady volume
  4. Month 6All triggers running, funnels on messages that work
The exact order depends on your market and your data.

Then the rest of the map, one account at a time.

Triggers catch accounts at the right moment. Funnels cover the sellable market around them.

Research where your offer meets their situation Two overlapping circles for one example account. Left, what you do: document control, cases at two insurers, fits their claims tool. Right, what they face: three entities after a merger, an audit due in spring, hiring in compliance. The overlap is the reason to talk: one document process across the three entities, before the audit. Your side won deals, cases, what you build Their side website, news, job posts, stack What you do Document control Cases at two insurers Fits their claims tool What they face Merged three entities Audit due in spring Hiring in compliance The reason to talk One document process across three entities, before the audit. Research where your offer meets their situation Two overlapping circles for one example account. Top, what you do: document control, cases at two insurers, fits their claims tool. Bottom, what they face: three entities after a merger, an audit due in spring, hiring in compliance. The overlap is the reason to talk: one document process across the three entities, before the audit. Your side won deals, cases, what you build What you do Document control Cases at two insurers Fits their claims tool The reason to talk What they face Merged three entities Audit due in spring Hiring in compliance Their side website, news, job posts, stack One document process across three entities, before the audit.
One account, researched before anyone writes a word. 5%reply rate on market taking, on enterprise software campaigns.
Funnel 01

Market taking

The whole sellable market, each account researched on its own. One message per account, written from where your offer meets their situation.

Starts fromyour market map

Funnel 02

Account based

A named list your team picks. We research each account and the people who decide in it, and write one message per account.

Starts fromyour target accounts

Funnel 03

Customer expansion

Sister companies and entities of your customers that aren't customers yet. The message starts from the work you already do in their group.

Starts fromyour customers' group structures

Funnel 04

Re-engagement

Old pipeline, closed-lost deals and your sellers' own networks. People who know your name. We look at what changed since the last conversation and write from there.

Starts fromyour CRM and your sellers' networks

Some moments belong to your sellers.

A trigger means we find it and reach out. A signal means we find it and your seller acts, because the account is already theirs.

  • Buying-committee changes

    Someone joins or leaves the group that decides at an account your team already works. The account owner hears about it, with the context.

  • Champion moves to an account you own

    A contact from a won deal lands at an account one of your sellers already owns. It goes to that seller, not into a campaign.

A reply only turns into pipeline if someone picks it up.

We stop writing when someone raises a hand. These make sure your side is ready when they do.

  1. 01

    A reply queue

    Every reply in one place, with the thread and the research next to it, so no hand-raiser waits.

  2. 02

    Reply analysis

    What people answered, per play, per market and per message. The next round is written from what came back.

  3. 03

    Pre-call briefs

    Before a first call: the account, the people in it, the trigger and the thread so far.

  4. 04

    In your own Clay

    The same plays built in your Clay workspace, sending tool and CRM, with hands-on training for the people who will run them. How we build in Clay

Which play fits your market first?

Send us your website and a few customers you'd like more of. We look at your market before we talk, and come with the two or three triggers we'd start with.

Talk to us See how it works