B2B lead generation for New Zealand businesses
Lead generation in New Zealand, written for a market where word gets around
Your buyers know each other, and a pushy campaign can follow your name for years. We write to each company on its own merits and set up a meeting when someone wants one.
The short answer
What lead generation looks like in a small market
Lead generation in New Zealand runs into a limit that bigger markets rarely hit: the list is short. In plenty of industries you could name most of the companies worth selling to, and their owners and managers already know one another. Burn through that list with a generic sequence and there is nobody fresh to approach next quarter.
So we treat every name as one you cannot afford to waste. We build a verified list of decision-makers, write each email for one company with something true about it, and send from separate domains and mailboxes that have been warmed up for weeks. A real person reads every reply, and a yes turns into a meeting in your calendar.
For plenty of NZ firms, Australia is the obvious next market once home starts to feel small. The method works the same across the Tasman: we build the Australian list as carefully as the local one, and you take the meetings from wherever you are based.
The problem
Where lead generation goes wrong in New Zealand
The usual way
- A bought list was put together for a much bigger market, so many of the names turn out to be offshore or out of date.
- The same template reaches two managers who sit on the same industry committee, and they compare notes.
- A brand new domain fires off messages at full speed, and the first impression your company makes is a junk folder.
- A reply with a sensible question sits unanswered for a week, and in a small market that silence gets talked about.
With Ace
Ace DigitalThis is cold email, done one person at a time. No mass blast, no single template for your whole list.
- We build your list of real buyers
- We write to each person, one by one
- We warm up every inbox first
- A real person reads every reply
Step by step
How it works
- 01
We build your list of real buyers
We start with companies and people who actually match what you sell. Every email address gets verified before we ever write to them.
- 02
We write to each person, one by one
Every email opens with something true about that one company. When there's nothing real to say, we skip it.
- 03
We warm up every inbox first
New mailboxes spend weeks warming up before they send anything to a prospect, and we only raise the volume while bounces and complaints stay low.
- 04
A real person reads every reply
When someone replies with interest, we flag it and get the meeting on your calendar. Nothing here runs on autopilot, and when a lead asks us to stop writing, that's the last email they ever get from us.
Your options
Hiring a business development manager compared with outsourcing the first step
A good BDM brings things we cannot, like a familiar face at local events and relationships built up over years. This is how the opening stage of selling compares.
| Question | Hiring a BDM | With Ace |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Hiring a BDMA recruitment round, then time to learn your product and your market | With AceList building and mailbox warm-up first, then sending begins |
| Who they can reach | Hiring a BDMMostly the people their own network and phone get them to | With AceA verified list of decision-makers built for your campaign |
| Writing to each company | Hiring a BDMSqueezed in between meetings, quotes and admin | With AceEvery email written for one company, with something true about it |
| Selling into Australia | Hiring a BDMOften a second hire, or regular flights across the Tasman | With AceA separate Australian list, worked the same way |
| Answering replies | Hiring a BDMWhenever the diary allows | With AceA real person reads each one and books the meeting |
| If it does not work out | Hiring a BDMTheir contacts and what they learnt walk out the door with them | With AceThe meetings already booked stay in your calendar |
| How you pay | Hiring a BDMA salary, plus recruiting costs and their tools | With AceA setup fee and a monthly fee, shown on this page |
Across the country
Auckland, Hamilton and Queenstown
None of these has a page of its own. Here is how the list would change in each.
Auckland
The largest city and the country's main commercial centre, where many national head offices sit. The challenge is the reverse of the rest of the country: far more companies, so the real work is choosing the right ones.
Hamilton
The heart of the Waikato, surrounded by dairy country, with agritech and rural service firms in and around the city and the Fieldays show held nearby every year. If you sell to agribusiness, Hamilton is a natural place to start the list.
Queenstown
Tourism drives the town, from adventure operators to hotels and restaurants. The peak seasons leave operators little time for meetings, which is worth weighing when you plan a campaign aimed at them.
Example
A first email to a Waikato farming group
Subject: herd records across the group
Hi Ngaire, saw Hollowbrook Pastoral is now running farms on both sides of the Waikato River.
More farms usually means more managers keeping herd records their own way. Paddockline puts every herd in one place, so you can see the whole group without ringing round.
Would a short chat be useful before calving gets busy?
Asier Mugica, founder of Ace DigitalWho’s behind it
You talk to me from the first call
I’m Asier Mugica. On the call I’ll tell you plainly whether any of our services fits.
Fit
This suits New Zealand businesses that
- Sell to other businesses, at a value that makes a sales call worthwhile.
- Can name the industries they serve and know the list is not endless.
- Want to test Australia without hiring someone over there first.
- Have a person who can take the meeting and follow it up properly.
Probably not for you if you
- Sell to consumers, or close most sales in a single conversation.
- Need someone in the room at local events and trade shows, which a remote team cannot be.
- Sell into a niche so small that you already know every buyer by name.
- Want the largest number of emails sent at the lowest price.
Pricing
Booked sales meetings
Ace DigitalUS$2,900setup
US$1,200/momanagement
Domains, mailboxes and tools are included.
What's included
- Separate domains and mailboxes, warmed up for weeks
- A verified list of decision-makers
- Every email written for one company
- A two-email sequence
- Every reply read by a real person
- Meetings straight into your calendar
Do you have a team in New Zealand?
No. We work remotely, across time zones, and have no office in New Zealand. The emails go out on your behalf and the meetings are yours, so how well we understand who you sell to matters far more than where we sit.
Is New Zealand too small for cold email?
For some niches, yes. If there are only a handful of possible buyers, you are better off ringing them yourself. On the 30-minute call we size your list honestly and say so if it is too thin to be worth running.
Can you find buyers in Australia as well?
Yes. We can build an Australian list alongside the local one, and each gets its own emails, since what is true about a Brisbane company is rarely what is true about an Auckland one.
How big does my market need to be?
Big enough for the guarantee to be realistic. Getting 12 qualified meetings in 60 days of sending needs a list with real depth, and we check that with you before you commit to anything.
Want meetings with NZ buyers without wearing out your market?
In 30 minutes we look at how many companies fit your offer in New Zealand and across the Tasman, and tell you plainly whether the list is deep enough.
Book a 30-minute call