Two messages that work for new companies
The list gives you the companies; this page gives you the words. Both messages are short, name something specific about the company, make one offer, and say clearly who you are and how to opt out — which is what the rules require and also what gets a reply.
The rules, in four lines
- Send within the first month. The companies on the list were formed last week; the one who reaches them before the bank, the landlord or a competitor does is usually the one who keeps the account.
- Name one thing you saw. The line from their website, the trade, the town. It takes a minute and it is the difference between a message and a mailshot.
- One ask. A checklist, a ten-minute quote, an opening order. Not three services and a brochure.
- Say who you are, and how to say no. Your firm's name, address and company number; a one-line opt-out. Business-to-business email to a limited company is permitted under PECR on exactly these terms. Chase once by email at most; after that, a letter or nothing.
The email
To the generic mailbox on the company's site. Plain text, no images, no tracking links. Around a hundred words.
Subject: [Company name] — congratulations, and one useful thing Hello, I saw [Company name] was set up on [date] and that you're [what the site says — e.g. opening a café on Moulsham Street / offering plastering across mid-Essex]. I'm [your name] at [your firm], [what you are, in five words — a small accountancy practice in Chelmsford]. Most new companies in your position need [the one thing — a first set of accounts and a VAT decision / employers' liability before the first hire / a website people can find] within the first few months, and it's cheaper to sort early than late. If it would help, I can [the one offer — send a one-page checklist of the first-year deadlines / give you a quote in ten minutes]. No obligation either way, and good luck with it. [Your name] [Firm], [address], [company number] If you'd rather not hear from us, reply "no thanks" and we won't write again.
The letter
To the registered food premises or a verified trading address — never to a formation agent's address, which goes in the bin. First class, with the one-page note it promises.
[Your firm letterhead] Dear [Company name], Congratulations on setting up [Company name] — I saw the incorporation on the register this week. We're [your firm], a [what you are] a few minutes from you in [town]. We work with a lot of businesses in their first year, and the same three things come up every time: [thing one], [thing two] and [thing three]. I've enclosed a one-page note on the deadlines that apply in your first twelve months. If you'd like to talk it through, call me on [number] or email [address]. If not, no problem — keep the note. Yours sincerely, [Name] [Firm], [address], [company number]
The one line that matters, by trade
Accountants
Name the first-year deadlines (accounts, confirmation statement, corporation tax registration, the VAT threshold). The offer is a checklist, not a discount.
Insurance brokers
Name the cover the trade needs before it can take its first job — employers' liability if they hire, public liability if they visit sites. Offer a quote in ten minutes.
Web agencies
Say what you found when you searched for them (nothing, a parked domain, a Facebook page). Offer a one-page site by a date, at a price.
Hospitality suppliers
Write to the premises, not the registered office. Mention the trade (café, takeaway, restaurant) and offer an opening-week order at trade price with no minimum.
B2B suppliers
One product, one price, one sentence on why new businesses choose it. Do not attach a brochure.
Commercial property
Name the kind of space their trade usually needs and one available unit or desk with a monthly figure. Offer a viewing, not a call.
What to expect
Nobody should promise you a reply rate, and we do not. What firms doing this steadily report is a reply from something like one in ten of the companies they write to in the first month, a conversation with a few of those, and a new client every month or two from a single council. That is with the ranked list, a specific first line and one clear offer. With a raw register dump and a generic letter, the same effort reaches five times as many companies and converts a fraction as well, because four in five of them will never trade or already have what you sell.
Business-to-business email to a limited company or LLP is permitted under PECR without prior consent, provided you say who you are and offer an opt-out. Every row says where the address came from. No director names, no home addresses.