For SaaS selling to manufacturers
Reach the plant while the budget is open.
For software companies that sell to OEMs, contract manufacturers and the aerospace and defense supply chain: we build outbound, ads and the CRM underneath on the signals that move a plant (contract awards, compliance deadlines, expansions, supply-chain hires), run the system with your team, and hand it over when the numbers hold.
Usually starts with GTM engineeringFrom $12,000 a monthWhere to start →
Who this is for.
You sell software to the people who run plants: the VP of supply chain, the director of procurement, the quality lead at an OEM, or the owner of a contract manufacturer with a few hundred people. The deal is six figures, takes most of a year, and passes through a committee that has been burned by software before. Your market is a known list of companies, not an open web, so there is nothing to discover and everything to time. The question is never who to contact. It is which of them has a reason to talk this month, and who inside the building to talk to.
- Sells to
- OEMs, contract manufacturers, tier suppliers, and the aerospace and defense supply chain.
- The buyer
- VP of supply chain, director of procurement, plant and quality leadership, the owner at a smaller shop.
- The deal
- Six figures a year, most of a year to close, a committee rather than a single buyer.
- The market
- A finite list you can count, segmented by what a plant makes and who it makes it for.
The signals that work here.
Manufacturing is the rare market where the buying reasons are public. These are the ones we build on, and the play each one fires.
- Contract awards
- A prime or a supplier just won government work, published on the public record the day it lands. New work means new suppliers, new compliance and new headcount.
- The play Scrape the award feed, match the awardee to your target list, and send one message the same week that names the award and asks one question.
- Compliance deadlines
- CMMC and the standards like it arrive on a calendar, and a plant that has to certify has budget for whatever gets it through.
- The play An education-led sequence that explains what the deadline means for their contracts, written so a rep can run it without the founder on the call.
- Expansions and funding
- A new line, a new building or a round of capital shows up in the local press and in permits before the plant has chosen its software.
- The play Monitor expansions and funding in Clay, and reach the operations and procurement leads while the project budget is still being allocated.
- Supply-chain hiring
- A posting for a VP of supply chain or a director of procurement is a plant admitting the function has to change.
- The play Reach the hiring manager now and the new hire in their first months, when they are expected to change the tools.
- OEM or contract manufacturer
- The same product is two different sales. An OEM buys to manage its own supply base; a contract manufacturer buys to win and keep OEM work.
- The play Map every account to one of the two before any message goes out, and run a separate play for each with its own proof and call to action.
- A competing suite in place
- The plant already runs a sourcing or supplier suite, which tells you the budget line exists and roughly when it renews.
- The play Detect the suite from public signals and run a take-away sequence timed to the renewal, never a pitch into a happy customer.
- Engagement with sourcing content
- Someone at a target plant liked or commented on a post about domestic sourcing, supplier risk or reshoring in the last month.
- The play A LinkedIn note that mentions the post, then an email, with everything stopped the moment they reply.
How this sale is different, and what we build for it.
Three things about selling to a plant that a generic outbound motion gets wrong.
- The committee
One champion is sequenced, the other five people in the decision never hear from you, and the deal stalls the week the champion gets busy.
Every account is worked as a committee: the economic buyer, the operational champion and the quality or compliance lead, each with a message written for their job.
- The reputation
A generic SDR sequence into a plant reads as spam to a buyer pitched by every software vendor, and a burned domain is a burned market.
The signal decides who is contacted and when, so every message names a reason the reader would recognise. Inboxes are kept apart from your main domain and checked daily.
- The year
A sale that takes most of a year gets managed in a spreadsheet, and the plant that said not this quarter is forgotten by the next one.
Every account carries a state in your CRM, a positive reply stops every other sequence, and the ones that said later come back on the date they named.
Built for these companies.
The clients of our manufacturing work, named because proof you cannot check is not proof. Their figures are published once each client has checked them, and not before.
Supplier management software for US manufacturers and the defense supply chain. We built and ran its outbound and the CRM underneath.
- Wabash Plastics
A manufacturer. We worked with the company directly, on the buying side of the market this page describes.
Where this buyer usually starts.
Most software companies selling to manufacturers start with GTM engineering, because the signals are public and the market is a finite list. The other three come in the order the system needs them.
- GTM engineeringStart hereThe signal feed, the committee map and the plays, run in Clay and your CRM. Where this buyer starts.From $12,000 a month
- RevOpsThen, secondThe account state, the stop rule and routing by territory, so a long deal is never managed in a spreadsheet.From $6,000 a month
- Paid mediaThen, thirdLinkedIn and Google aimed at the plants on your list and the terms their engineers search, once outbound has shown which segments reply.From $8,000 a month
- LinkedIn contentThen, fourthPosts from your founder or your plant-floor experts on sourcing, compliance and capacity, with the people who engage matched to your target plants.From $8,000 a month
What software companies selling to manufacturers ask us.
Do you work with software companies that sell to manufacturers?
Yes, and it is one of the two markets where most of our client work sits. We built the outbound and RevOps system for Sustainment, which sells supplier management to US manufacturers and the defense supply chain, and we have worked directly with a manufacturer, Wabash Plastics, on the buying side of the same market. The figures are published once each client has checked them.
What buying signals exist in manufacturing?
More than in most markets, because so much of it is public. Government contract awards, compliance deadlines such as CMMC, plant expansions and funding, postings for supply-chain and procurement leaders, the sourcing suite a plant already runs, and engagement with posts about reshoring and supplier risk. We collect them into one feed in Clay, and the feed decides who is worked each week.
How do you handle OEMs and contract manufacturers differently?
They are two sales. An OEM buys to manage its own supply base, so the conversation is about visibility and risk across suppliers. A contract manufacturer buys to win and keep OEM work, so it is about quoting faster and passing audits. Every account on your list is mapped to one of the two before a message is written, and each gets its own play and proof.
Our sales cycle is most of a year. Does outbound even help?
It helps most when the cycle is long, because timing is the whole game. The signal reaches the plant while the budget is still open, the committee is worked as a committee rather than one champion, and every account keeps a state in your CRM so a plant that said later comes back on the date it named. Nothing is forgotten between quarters.
Will cold email burn our reputation with plant buyers?
It can, which is why volume is not the plan. Each message names a reason the reader would recognise, sending domains are kept apart from your main domain and checked every day, LinkedIn and the phone carry the high-intent follow-up, and any positive reply stops every other sequence. A person reads a sample of every batch before it launches.
Which service should we start with, and what does it cost?
Usually GTM engineering, at the published rate on this page, because the signals are public and the market is a finite list. RevOps comes next when the CRM cannot hold a long deal, and paid media and LinkedIn content once outbound has shown which segments reply. Each service is priced on its own, and the first call ends with a scope and a number.
Can you publish the results from your manufacturing clients?
Only once the client has checked each figure in writing. Sustainment is named here as a client, and its numbers are with the client for approval, so this page carries none of them. We show results live on the first call instead. Nothing on this site is a figure a client has not approved, which is the rule that makes the figures worth reading.
Do you know the defense supply chain, or manufacturing in general?
Both, from the same client work. The defense side adds its own signals, contract awards on the public record and compliance deadlines tied to contracts, and its own caution, since a buyer who has to certify is wary of vendors. The plays on this page were built for a client selling into that supply chain, and they run the same way for you.
Read next.
- Growth-engineering partners for SaaS selling to manufacturers, comparedA fair comparison of the firms that do this work, WarmUp among them.
- GTM engineeringHow the signal-led outbound service runs, what it costs, and the first ninety days.
- The playsThe steps behind the work, written down and free to copy.
Tell us what the plant buys from you.
Thirty minutes. We will tell you which public signals exist for your segment, how we would map OEMs against contract manufacturers on your list, and what you would own at the end.
Or call +1 317 414 1157, or pick a time without the form.