Reaching out to B2B e-commerce providers: how to make a successful first contact

Contacting a vendor too early—before your goals and requirements are clear – wastes time for both sides. Contacting them too late – when the decision has practically already been made – limits the vendor’s ability to address your specific needs.

The ideal time: once your goals have been defined, the most important requirements have been identified and the shortlist has been drawn up. Then you can enter the discussion with specific questions.

Larger providers have specialized pre-sales teams, solutions engineers, and account managers. When making initial contact, you should reach out to a solutions consultant – someone who can answer your technical questions.

How do you find the right contact person? LinkedIn is often helpful. Alternatively, you can ask the general sales contact to connect you with a technical contact for the evaluation phase.

A well-written request shows that you’re prepared. Briefly describe who you are (industry, company size, current IT landscape), what you’re looking for and what you expect from the initial meeting.

Also mention your timeline and decision-making timeline. This helps the vendor prepare the right structure for the meeting and identify relevant reference customers.

Prepare 5–10 specific questions. Don’t ask, “What can your system do?” but rather, “How does your system handle approval workflows for orders over 10,000 euros?”

Use the initial meeting to observe the vendor as well: Do they listen, or do they just talk? Do they ask follow-up questions about your requirements? How do they handle questions they can’t answer right away?

Document your impressions immediately after the meeting. What did the vendor answer well? Which questions remained unanswered? What commitments were made?

Ask the provider for a summary of the meeting that outlines the next steps. How detailed and accurate this summary is reveals a lot about the provider’s quality of work.