← ALL PLAYS / TARGETED OUTBOUND
Auction house outbound for an auction software vendor
Five emails to auction house leaders after a buying signal, asking for a demo. Covers the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia.
| TYPE | TARGETED OUTBOUND | MARKET | B2B |
|---|---|---|---|
| INDUSTRY | AUCTION MANAGEMENT AND ONLINE BIDDING SOFTWARE VENDOR | ||
| OUTREACH | ADAPTIVE, 5 EMAILS, 3+ DAYS APART | FEEDS | SIGNALS |
| SENDING | AUTOMATIC, LAUNCHED WITH EVERY OTHER PLAY | ||
| DRAWN BY | HACKING DEMAND | ISSUED | OCT 27, 2026 |
THE PLAY / FOR AN AUCTION MANAGEMENT AND ONLINE BIDDING SOFTWARE VENDOR
Trigger
A company in the segment shows a buying signal such as a new executive hire, a product launch, a geographic or physical expansion, growth metrics, or trade event attendance. Before the first email, the agent checks the records against existing customers, open deals and recent demo requests.
Audience
Owners and managing directors, operations or back office managers, and marketing or digital leads at auction houses and auctioneers that run live, timed or hybrid sales in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia. Each company must be a record in the CRM within the auction house segment.
Signals the agent reads
- Executive hiring
- Product launch
- Geo expansion
- Physical expansion
- Growth metrics
- Event attendance
Selling angle
A house that has just added a leader, entered a new region or sale type, or opened a new sale room is often reviewing how catalog, live sale, timed sale and invoicing fit together. Running every format from one catalog and one bidder record, under the house's own brand, means lots are not re-keyed and the house owns its bidder list instead of renting marketplace traffic. The message follows the signal, so a new head of operations hears about the back office while a growing marketing lead hears about bidder reach.
Outreach approach
Five touches run three days apart, each with a different angle, and the agent writes every one from the signal and the contact's role. Touch one names the signal and the platform fit and asks for a 30-minute walkthrough of the house's own catalog. Touches two and three cover bidder list ownership and a customer example, and touch four speaks to operations or marketing needs with a yes or no question. Touch five is a soft close with a recorded webinar or marketing guide and no meeting request, and the play stops on a reply, a booked meeting, an unsubscribe, a bounce or after 30 days.
- 01 / DAY 1Signal and platform fitNames the buying signal and the house's sale format, links live, timed and hybrid sales to one catalog and one bidder record, and asks for a 30-minute catalog walkthrough on Tuesday or Thursday morning.
- 02 / DAY 4Bidder list ownershipExplains how a branded website and bidder list stay with the house instead of a shared marketplace, and asks for a 15-minute call.
- 03 / DAY 7Customer exampleShares a short example of a house that grew turnover after moving to its own branded online platform, with no invented figures, and asks whether that result fits its plans.
- 04 / DAY 10Operations or marketing angleFor operations contacts, covers back office tools and mobile cataloging. For marketing contacts, covers website pages and lot highlights. Ends with a yes or no question.
- 05 / DAY 13Soft closeOffers a recorded industry webinar or a marketing guide with no meeting request, and closes politely.
Advanced instructions (excerpt)
SUBJECT LINE: Keep subjects under six words, sentence case, with no exclamation marks, emoji or prices. Choose the default subject closest to the buying signal, and keep follow-ups in the same thread with the same subject. EMAIL LENGTH: The first touch runs 120 to 180 words in short plain paragraphs, with one question and one link. Later touches run 80 to 130 words. If you cannot write 120 words of specifics about this house, do not send. EVERY EMAIL: Name the buying signal you saw and the house's sale format, whether live, timed or hybrid. Name one product from this play, and include one link from the approved pages. Ask one question. Mention no prices, discounts or contract terms. RELATIONSHIP CHECK: Read the company and contact records first. If the company is a customer, has an open or closed-won deal, or the contact requested a demo or submitted a form in the last 90 days, write nothing. If an earlier contact went quiet, acknowledge that once in the first line. If the record holds no history, write a first approach with no invented history. If the sale format is empty, do not send.
Sample first email
SUBJECT Your auctions under your own brand
Hi [First name], Congratulations on the new head of operations role at [Company]. A new hire is often when a house looks again at how catalog, live sale and invoicing fit together. Our live and timed bidding software runs from one catalog and one bidder record, under your own brand, so lots are not re-keyed between formats. Our back office suite covers the post-sale work that follows. Would a 30-minute walkthrough of your own catalog help, Tuesday or Thursday morning? If neither suits, grab a time that works using the scheduling link below. Thanks,
Guardrails
- Send only to contacts in the auction house segment who have a buying signal and a sale format on the record.
- Never write to existing customers, open or closed-won deals, or contacts already in other outreach plays.
- Never quote prices, discounts or contract terms.
- Never invent customers, statistics, quotes or links, and use only the approved pages.
- Stop on a reply, a booked meeting, an unsubscribe, a bounce or after 30 days.
- Use commas, periods or parentheses in place of dashes, and never use exclamation marks.
Setup in HubSpot
- Build the segment from auction house company records by region (U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia) and sale type, and set enrollment to the buying signals.
- Exclude existing customers, open and closed-won deals, contacts in the demo and playbook plays, bounced addresses and unsubscribes.
- Turn on Send without review so emails send automatically.
- Set the sender to a named sales lead, with the team sales lead as the fallback.
- Send on business days from 8:00 to 17:00 in the sales office time zone, launching together with the other plays.
KPIs
- Demos booked from this play, tracked per 100 enrollments.
- Bounces kept under 3 percent of sends, checked weekly.
- No more than 5 emails per enrollment, checked in the activity history.
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Good questions.
Straight answers.
What happens if a contact replies to the second touch?
The play stops and the sales rep takes over the conversation.
How does the agent choose the angle for each touch?
It reads the buying signal on the company record and the contact's role, then picks the matching product and proof point for that touch.
What if the sale format field on the company record is empty?
The play does not send, because the agent needs the sale format to write an accurate first email.
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