How to write a cold email that gets a reply when you can't find the right contact at the company
firstcontact_felix · 2026-06-16 · 890 views
One of the most common cold email problems I see. You know the company is a perfect fit. You can't find the right person to email. Here's the approach that actually works.
Start with the most visible person, not the most correct person. If you can't find the decision maker directly, email the person whose LinkedIn you can find at the right seniority level. Marketing, sales, or ops lead. Introduce yourself. Be honest. "I'm not sure if you're the right person, but wondered if you could point me in the right direction." This works because people inside companies know who handles what. Redirects give you a warm introduction to the real decision maker.
Use LinkedIn to find a path before going blind. Spend 5 minutes in Apollo or LinkedIn Sales Navigator before sending anything. Filter by company, then seniority and function. You'll often find the right person in under 3 minutes. If the role doesn't exist at that company, it's probably not the right ICP for you. That's useful information, not a failure.
Look at job postings. If a company is hiring a "Head of Revenue Operations," they have revenue operations problems right now. That tells you who to target and what pain to lead with. I source first lines from job postings more than any other input.
Email the wrong person on purpose and ask. Short email, clear ask: "I'm looking to connect with whoever owns [X] at [Company]. Any chance you could point me the right direction?" Response rate on these is surprisingly high. People are genuinely helpful when you're not pushy about it.
Infrastructure still matters even when targeting is exploratory. Running these from 12 PuzzleInbox Google Workspace inboxes on Smartlead means they land in primary inbox, not spam. An honest redirect email sent to the spam folder accomplishes nothing.
The perfect contact list beats blind guessing every time. But an honest redirect email beats leaving a company off your list entirely because you can't find the exact name.