ICI prospecting means deciding in advance which organisations you want as drainage customers, then reaching the person who signs for each one, again and again, until they either meet you or say no. It's slow at first and steady afterwards. Done properly, it produces the kind of account that pays for a truck: a hospital, a grocery chain, a property-management firm, a school board's facilities team. It works best alongside a credible capability statement, because the first thing a serious buyer asks for is something to read.
The job, the buyer, the offer
The job. Scheduled jetting, camera inspection, catch-basin and interceptor service, and emergency response for buildings and businesses that can't afford a backed-up line during opening hours.
The buyer. It varies by account, and getting it wrong wastes months:
- Facility or maintenance managers at institutions, plants and offices care about downtime, contractor safety paperwork and one invoice format.
- Operations directors at restaurant groups care about health inspections, closures and a single vendor across locations.
- Property managers care about tenant complaints, after-hours response and a predictable line in the operating budget.
- General contractors care about schedule and whether your crew causes problems on site.
The offer. Not "we do drains". A specific first step: a no-charge line assessment for one building, a pilot quarter at two locations, or a pre-qualification pack sent before their next tender.
What's included
- Target-account list. Typically 150 to 300 organisations for a regional company, ranked by fit (building type, number of sites, distance from your yard).
- Contact research. The role that signs for drainage at each account, found from the organisation's own website, LinkedIn and public directories.
- Outreach sequence. A first letter or email, a phone call, a LinkedIn connection and two follow-ups over about six weeks, each with a reason to reply.
- CASL check per contact. Commercial email in Canada needs consent, and the federal guidance says the most serious violations can bring penalties of up to $1 million for individuals and $10 million for businesses (ISED). The Act allows implied consent where a person has published their business address without objecting to messages and the message relates to their role, and it requires unsubscribe requests to be honoured within 10 business days (CASL, s. 10–11). We record the basis for each contact. This is how we run our process, not legal advice.
- Scripts and objection notes for the calls you or your estimator make.
- A simple pipeline in a CRM or spreadsheet you own, with every touch logged.
Timeline
- Weeks 1–3: list, research, messaging and the capability statement if you don't have one.
- Weeks 4–10: first full outreach cycle.
- Months 3–6: second cycle to non-responders with a different angle; meetings and site walks.
- Month 6 onward: pilots, proposals and the first contracts, then a refreshed list.
Commercial buying cycles are long. If you need cash next month, prospecting alone won't deliver it; maintenance-contract marketing aimed at existing customers is faster.
How results are measured
We report monthly on numbers you can check in your own pipeline:
| Measure | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Accounts contacted / reached | Shows the work is happening |
| Conversations with the signer | The real leading indicator |
| Capability statements requested | A sign of serious interest |
| Site walks and pilots | The step before a contract |
| Bid invitations | Especially for institutional and contractor accounts |
| Contract value won | The only number that pays the bills |
A worked illustration (assumed numbers): 200 accounts contacted, 30 conversations with the right person, eight site walks, three pilots, two annual agreements. If each agreement is worth $9,000 a year, that cycle added $18,000 of recurring revenue, before renewals.
Mistakes to avoid
- Emailing everyone at once. A blast to a bought list risks CASL trouble and burns your domain's reputation. Small, researched batches work better.
- Pitching the wrong person. The building superintendent may love you and still have no authority to sign.
- No reason to reply. "Let us know if you need anything" earns silence. Offer one concrete, low-risk first step.
- Stopping after one touch. Most replies come on the third or fourth contact, not the first.
- Over-claiming. Never say you hold a certificate, insurance limit or safety record you can't document.
Proof from our HVAC work, and what transfers from it, is on the results page. To talk about your target list, call, text or email.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the target list come from?
From you first: past customers, quotes that went quiet, buildings your crews drive past. We add organisations from public sources such as business directories and municipal business-improvement area listings. We don't buy scraped lists of personal addresses.
Is cold email legal in Canada?
Commercial email needs consent under CASL. One form of implied consent covers a business address someone has published without saying they don't want messages, as long as the message relates to their job. We check that basis for each contact, and we use letters and phone calls where it isn't met.
How many meetings should we expect?
We don't promise a number. In the first 90 days the useful signals are replies, conversations with the right person and requests for your capability statement; contracts usually follow later.
Who makes the calls?
Usually you or your estimator, because buyers want to talk to someone who knows the work. We write the scripts, the call list and the follow-up, and we track every touch.