How to sell to CTOs at Agencies companies in Germany
CTOs at agencies in Germany are primarily measured on technology integration speed, impacting project delivery timelines. They respond positively to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their tech stack challenges, particularly around ensuring seamless collaboration between creative teams and technical resources. Highlighting specific solutions that streamline operations is key to gaining their attention.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 558 agencies company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- slow project delivery
- inefficient team collaboration
- outdated technology stack
- high operational costs
The playbook
- 01
Identify agencies with recent tech upgrades
Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to filter for agencies in Germany that have recently announced technology upgrades or new project launches. Look for posts or news articles that mention these changes, as they indicate a readiness to explore new solutions.
- 02
Map tech stack pain points
Research common tech stack components used by marketing agencies, such as CRM or project management tools. Identify gaps or inefficiencies in these systems that your outreach can address, focusing on how to enhance collaboration between creative and technical teams.
- 03
Craft outreach around project delivery
When drafting your email, reference specific challenges in project delivery timelines that agencies face due to tech limitations. Use insights from industry reports or case studies that highlight the impact of technology on agency efficiency to make your case compelling.
- 04
Follow up on engagement with tech blogs
After your initial email, check if the CTO has engaged with any tech-related content on platforms like Medium or LinkedIn. Use this as a reason to follow up, mentioning the specific article and how it relates to their agency's tech challenges.
- 05
Request a call after a relevant event
If there’s a tech conference or webinar relevant to agencies coming up, use it as a hook in your follow-up. Suggest a brief call to discuss insights from the event and how they relate to the CTO's current tech initiatives.
Can agencies companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 558 agencies companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 16.8% of 1–10-person companies against 55.4% of the largest — 39 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Improving project delivery speed
- Tech solutions for creative agencies
- Streamlining team collaboration
Questions
- Why do CTOs at agencies ignore outreach about tech solutions?
- CTOs at agencies often receive numerous outreach messages that fail to address their specific pain points. If the outreach does not clearly demonstrate understanding of their unique challenges, particularly around project management and team collaboration, it is likely to be overlooked.
- What technology challenges do agency CTOs face?
- Agency CTOs frequently deal with challenges such as integrating new tools into existing workflows, ensuring cross-functional team collaboration, and managing the tech budget effectively. These challenges can hinder project delivery and impact client satisfaction.
- How can I get a response from a CTO at an agency?
- To elicit a response from a CTO, tailor your outreach to address their specific technology pain points. Highlight how your solution can directly impact their project delivery timelines or improve collaboration between teams, making it relevant to their day-to-day operations.
- What is the best time to reach out to agency CTOs?
- The best time to reach out to agency CTOs is typically early in the week, specifically on Tuesday or Wednesday mornings. Avoid Fridays and Mondays, as they are often busy with project wrap-ups or planning. Timing your outreach for when they are more receptive can increase your chances of a response.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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