What changes
Outreach happens every week, not just at Expo West. Each note goes to a founder whose brand just hit a moment that means they need you, and it names the moment.
Hire Scout · Brands about to move
Finds the brand about to move.Starts the conversation.
A co-man closes and every brand it made for needs a plant this quarter. A snack brand lands Sprouts and suddenly needs more units than its plant can run. A founder posts "looking for a 3PL, 250 SKUs, 200 orders a month" and the big networks say no. Scout watches for those moments in your categories, finds the founder, and writes the note you would have written if you'd had the afternoon. You approve. Scout sends the emails and follows up. LinkedIn notes go out by your hand.
Flat monthly fee. All five employees included.
BUILT AROUND YOUR BUSINESSScout
Brands about to move
A little less on your plate
A pipeline that fills itself.
What goes away
The list of brands you meant to call after the show. The co-man closure you read about on Monday and did nothing with. The quarter where nobody did any outreach because the plant was slammed. The hope that the next brand finds you on a marketplace before it finds the other three warehouses listed there.
What you get back
A pipeline that grows on a schedule. Brands you'd never have met, reached the week they started looking, so you're the first reply when they are.
A normal Tuesday.
A month with Scout.
New conversations started. You approved every one.
Week 1
Scout builds your target list from your own history: the categories, order volumes, channels, and brand sizes where you win, and the brands you've turned down and why.
Every morning
He watches for moments: a 3PL or co-man closing or being bought in your region, retail wins and viral spikes in your categories, founders complaining about their current warehouse, founders posting that they're looking, and brands launching a frozen, supplement, or hazmat SKU for the first time.
Tuesday 7am
Four moments this week. A regional 3PL was bought by a national network and its small brands are nervous. A pet-supplement brand just got into Chewy and Petco. A skincare founder posted that her current 3PL lost a pallet at peak. A beverage brand launched its first cold-chain SKU.
Tuesday 8am
Scout has written a short note for each. Peer to peer, specific, one question at the end. You read four, edit one, approve all four. You send.
Two weeks later
One reply so far. The pet-supplement founder wants a rate proposal. Scout hands her to Claire, who qualifies her and passes the record to Grant. The other three stay on the follow-up schedule you set.
Illustrative workflow, not a customer case study. Timing and outcomes depend on your setup, integrations, and approvals.
See the difference
From finding names to starting conversations.
A more consistent brand prospecting routine gives the pipeline in the model below somewhere to begin.
| At a glance | Do it yourself | List provider | ScoutYour AI employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finding a fit | Research between shifts | Brands who filled out a marketplace form, shared with every warehouse on it | Research around your ideal brand |
| Moments | You keep watch | None. A name and an email. | Relevant signals surfaced for review |
| First message | You write each introduction | Outreach is still your job | Personalized drafts for your approval |
| Follow-up | Your reminders and spare time | Separate outreach process | Scheduled follow-up within your rules |
| What reaches your team | Names you need to work | Contacts to qualify | Interested replies routed to the next step |
Illustrative workflow comparison. Research depends on available data; outreach uses approved messaging, contact permissions, and sending limits. New clients are an assumption in the ROI model, not a guaranteed result.
The math
Your next client. Already in the pipeline.
$324,000
Revenue from brands you would not have met, per year
25 brands per month × 6% reply × 15% sign × 12 months × $120,000 = $324,000.
$120,000 default revenue per brand per year. For a 3PL, roughly what one brand doing about 2,000 orders a month bills in service fees before shipping. For a co-manufacturer, roughly what one established brand bills across its runs in a year. Planning assumption; use your own number. Reply and conversion rates in the formula are planning assumptions, not Rainmaker results.
28% of a salesperson's week is spent selling. The rest is research, lists, and data entry. Salesforce, State of Sales, 7,700+ sales professionals. 2023.
Read the source ↗42% of replies to cold outreach come from follow-up messages, not the first send. Instantly Cold Email Benchmark 2026.
Read the source ↗3× gap between average reply rates (3.4%) and the top 10% of campaigns (10.7%). Targeting and relevance are the difference. Instantly 2026.
Read the source ↗Third-party research, not Rainmaker results. Some studies are older and may not match your business.
An estimate, not a promise. Your results depend on your market, your offer, and your follow-through. Each estimate stands alone. If you hire more than one employee, some of the gains overlap.
A look at the work
Five brands. A reason to reach out.
Sample. Names are invented. Moments and notes below are fictional illustrations for a specialty 3PL and a co-manufacturer, not real contacts.
Brand 01
Oakline Snacks
Decision-maker: Co-founder, operations
Moment: Their co-man announced it is closing at month end
Saw the news about your plant closing. We run a nut-free SQF line for bars. If you need a plant that can run your spec, starting with a test batch, I'd like to show you ours this week.
Brand 02
Juniper Pet
Decision-maker: Founder
Moment: Got into Chewy and Petco the same month
Congratulations on Chewy and Petco. Both come with routing guides and chargebacks, and we've shipped retail-compliant for pet brands for six years. Would a 15-minute call on what changes at that volume be useful?
Brand 03
Sable Skincare
Decision-maker: Founder
Moment: Posted that her 3PL lost a pallet during peak
Sorry about the pallet. Every brand we serve has a named account manager and a 24-hour turn, and we keep lot tracking on every unit. If you want a second opinion on your rates before next peak, I'm happy to look.
Brand 04
Tidewater Cold Brew
Decision-maker: Head of operations
Moment: Launched its first refrigerated SKU
Saw the cold-brew launch. Refrigerated DTC is its own set of problems: gel packs, two-day zones, summer cutoffs. We've done it for three beverage brands. If you're sorting out the first 500 orders, I can share what worked.
Brand 05
Marigold Wellness
Decision-maker: Co-founder
Moment: Their gummy manufacturer was acquired by a national group
Saw that your gummy manufacturer was acquired. We're a cGMP gummy plant with a typical first run around 5,000 units, and we answer the phone. If you want a backup plant on file before anything changes, I'd like to be it.
Built for you
Your categories. The right moments.
Cold chain or food-grade 3PL
Brands launching their first frozen, refrigerated, or supplement SKU, and brands whose current 3PL just got bought. Scout finds the founder and writes the note the week it happens.
Kitting, EDI or subscription 3PL
Brands that just landed Target, Costco, or a subscription partner and are about to meet chargebacks. Founders posting that the big networks turned them away. Scout spots them first.
Food and beverage co-man
Every brand of a co-man that closes or gets bought in your region. Brands that just got into Sprouts or Whole Foods and need a backup plant. Scout keeps the watchlist and writes the note.
Supplement or beauty manufacturer
Brands whose manufacturer was acquired, brands with a viral spike and a 10,000-unit problem, and founders with one-star reviews of a competitor plant. Scout finds the founder, not the info@ address.
Configured around your service area, availability, approved answers, and escalation rules. Outreach respects your contact permissions and opt-outs. Owner judgment and final approvals stay with your team.
TRY SCOUT FREE · PROSPECTING
Your Brand Opportunity Map
Tell us your categories, your specialty, your minimums, and the region you serve. Scout finds five real brands that just hit a moment that means they'll need you, the right person at each, and the note we would send.
Delivered within two business days.
Questions
Straight answers.
Trade press and newsletters (NOSH, BevNET, Food Business News, Packaging World, Modern Retail, FreightWaves), retailer and brand announcements, founder posts on LinkedIn and in Shopify and Reddit communities, review sites, and a company database for the contact details. He starts with a profile of the brands you've won and looks for the same kind of brand at the moment it starts looking.
No. Your current brands, the brands below your minimums, and the categories you refuse are on his exclusion list from day one. He also never contacts the same person twice within six months across any of your employees.
No. Scout drafts. You approve. Nothing is sent until you've seen it. Once you approve a sequence, he sends the email follow-ups on the schedule you set and stops the moment someone replies. LinkedIn notes are sent by a person, never a bot. He respects opt-outs and never messages the same contact twice in the same sequence.
Something public that says a brand needs a new or bigger 3PL or plant now. Their current warehouse or co-man closed or got bought. They landed a retailer or went viral. They posted a complaint about their current provider, or posted that they're looking. Scout watches for those and tells you which ones matter. He also watches for brands launching a frozen, supplement, or hazmat SKU for the first time, as a weaker signal. Funding rounds and new hires are tiebreakers, not reasons.
50 to 150 a month, depending on your plan. Scout goes for the right ones, not the most. You set the cap.
That's exactly who it's for. Scout doesn't replace your referrals or Expo West. He works the other 50 weeks, and he gets to the brand the week it starts looking, before it posts on a marketplace.
A short list of new brands with the moment behind each one, the right person to contact, the note ready to approve, and a summary of who replied. You spend fifteen minutes approving. Scout does the rest.
Better, together.
Claire
Quinn
Grant
Remy