How to start an outbound sales campaign for proptech firms in the UK

Cormac Repman
2 days ago
4 min read

The proptech outbound opportunity you're missing

If you're building proptech in the UK, you know the market: rapid growth, venture backing, and intense competition for enterprise adoption. But here's what I see most proptech firms get wrong: they treat outbound like a checkbox. They buy a list, send templated emails, then wonder why their pipeline looks anemic.

Outbound isn't just a tactic for proptech. It's how you control when deals land.

The UK proptech market is worth £2.2bn annually, growing 15% year-on-year. Most of that value sits with estate agents, property management companies, and institutional investors—and they're not finding you through content. They're being found by the teams that show up first with a genuine understanding of their business.

This is how you build that campaign.

Who actually buys proptech in the UK

Before you send a single message, you need to know who decides.

In property management companies (50+ staff), the buyer is typically the Operations Director or VP of Technology—not the CEO. They care about integration complexity, implementation timelines, and whether your software actually saves them time on lettings or portfolio management.

In estate agency groups, you're talking to the Branch Manager or Technology Lead. They're drowning in leads but equally drowning in manual data entry. Your pitch matters only if it speaks to their real workflow.

In property investment firms and institutional buyers, the CFO and Deal Manager both need to agree. They want to know if your software improves deal velocity or risk assessment.

The mistake most proptech teams make: they build ICP profiles that are too broad. "Any company with property portfolios" isn't an ICP—it's everyone. Your real ICP has three components:

Company size (usually 50-500 staff in facilities/property management)

Specific pain point (asset management, tenant communication, regulatory compliance)

Budget threshold (£50k-£150k annual spend for enterprise solutions)

If your target doesn't hit all three, you're wasting sends.

Building your UK proptech campaign

Step 1: Source the right list

This is where most campaigns fail before they start.

Don't buy a generic "UK property companies" list. Those vendors sell the same contact database to 40 competitors simultaneously. Your open rates will be 2-3% at best.

Instead, build a three-layer target list:

Tier 1: Top 20 property management groups by AUM (Grainger, Countrywide, Foxtons, JLL). These are research-based, decision-stage targets.

Tier 2: Regional property management firms (500-2000 staff) in high-growth sectors like BTR (Build to Rent) and co-living. Find them through Companies House filings and LinkedIn search filters.

Tier 3: Niche buyers—property investment syndicates, build-to-rent operators, modular housing firms—sourced through industry events and fractional databases.

Once you have names, verify every email and mobile before sending. Use tools like Hunter or RocketReach to validate, then run a phone-based verification on top. A list of 500 verified contacts beats 5,000 unverified ones every time.

Step 2: Build your opening message

In my experience, the difference between a 5% and 12% reply rate is usually one thing: proof that you've done your homework on their specific business.

Your first touch should reference something real:

A recent funding round or M&A activity

A new property acquisition or portfolio expansion

A recent regulatory change that affects their business (e.g., EPC ratings, tenant protection rules)

An operational metric they're likely struggling with (e.g., "Most BTR operators we speak to see 20-30 hours per week in manual tenant communication—does that track for you?")

Here's what doesn't work: "I noticed you're in property management. We have a solution." That's not a message; that's noise.

Step 3: Multi-channel sequencing

Email alone won't cut it. You need phone calls, LinkedIn, and possibly text to create enough touchpoints that replies happen.

A solid sequence looks like this:

Day 1: Email with homework (specific reference to their business)

Day 3: Phone call (keep it to 90 seconds, ask one question)

Day 5: LinkedIn connection + message

Day 7: Second email with a different angle or social proof

Day 10: Phone follow-up or SMS if you have mobiles

Most teams give up after two attempts. The firms that see 8-12% reply rates are on attempt 4-5 before a prospect says yes or no.

Metrics that matter

Track these or your campaign is flying blind:

Connection rate (how many pick up or respond): 12-18% is solid for UK property tech

Conversation rate (calls completed divided by attempts): 25-40% typically

Opportunity rate (qualified conversations divided by all conversations): 30-50%

Meeting rate (meetings booked divided by qualified conversations): 40-60%

If your connection rate is below 8%, your list or opening message is the problem. If you're getting conversations but no meetings, your value prop isn't landing.

Common mistakes proptech teams make

Buying intent data and calling it targeting. Intent tools are useful, but they're not magic. Three proptech firms all researching "property management software" doesn't mean they're all ready to buy from you.

Premature product demo. Nobody wants a 30-minute demo on the first call. They want to know if you understand their business. Build curiosity first.

Same message for everyone. The regional estate agency group doesn't have the same workflow as the institutional BTR operator. Customize your angle.

Firing and forgetting. Outbound campaign success hinges on velocity and consistency. One campaign of 500 sends rarely works. Rolling campaigns of 50-100 sends per week, every week, will compound results over months.

How Nurturance runs this for proptech teams

Here's the honest reality: most proptech teams should be doing outbound, but most don't have the in-house capacity or the sales expertise to make it work at scale.

We built Glencoco to solve this. It's a vetted marketplace of real cold calling teams who specialize in B2B outbound across fintech, insurtech, and now proptech.

Instead of hiring a BDR, training them for six weeks, and hoping they stick around, you work with experienced teams who are paid for meetings booked—not hours worked. You control the ICP, the messaging, and the budget. They handle the calls.

We've run campaigns for proptech firms raising Series A, scaling mid-market products, and expanding into new verticals. The teams we work with typically see:

10-14% connection rates

35-45% qualified conversation rates

4-8 meetings per week from a 500-contact campaign

Want to run a test campaign for your proptech? Pick a specific buyer persona, define your ICP, and we'll match you with a team that's done this before. You pay per meeting—nothing happens until deals land on your calendar.

[Book a call](https://cal.com/nurturance) to discuss your proptech outbound strategy.