How to sell to Heads of Sales at Marketplaces companies
Heads of Sales at marketplaces are primarily measured on revenue growth from both sides of the platform. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of the unique challenges of balancing vendor and consumer needs, such as optimizing sales strategies for diverse user bases and improving conversion rates across the platform.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 179 marketplaces company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- vendor relationship management
- consumer retention issues
- sales team alignment
- conversion rate optimization
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding rounds
Search for marketplaces that have recently closed funding rounds using platforms like Crunchbase. These companies are likely looking to expand their sales efforts and may be more receptive to new sales strategies or tools that can help them achieve rapid growth.
- 02
Highlight marketplace-specific growth challenges
Craft your message to address common pain points in two-sided marketplaces, such as managing vendor relationships while ensuring consumer satisfaction. Use specific examples of how your solution can help streamline operations and improve sales effectiveness.
- 03
Leverage industry events participation
Target companies whose Heads of Sales are speaking at or attending relevant industry events. Mention these events in your outreach to create a connection and demonstrate your awareness of their industry engagements, which can open doors for discussions.
- 04
Reference competitor movements
Research recent competitive shifts in their marketplace, such as new entrants or partnerships. Reference these in your outreach to show that you understand the landscape and can provide insights or solutions that help them stay ahead.
- 05
Set a specific follow-up timeline
If you don’t get a response within a week, follow up with a message that includes a specific date for a potential call. This creates urgency and makes it easier for them to respond, as they can see you're serious about scheduling a conversation.
Can marketplaces companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 179 marketplaces 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.
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
- Boosting your marketplace sales
- Navigating vendor challenges
- Strategies for two-sided growth
Questions
- Why do Heads of Sales in marketplaces ignore outreach about generic sales tools?
- Heads of Sales in marketplaces often receive numerous outreach messages that do not address their unique challenges. They prioritize solutions that specifically cater to the complexities of managing sales across two different user bases, which generic tools typically do not address.
- What sales metrics are most important to Heads of Sales at marketplaces?
- Heads of Sales at marketplaces focus on metrics such as revenue growth from both vendors and consumers, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction scores. These metrics help them gauge the effectiveness of their sales strategies in a dual-sided environment.
- How can I engage with Heads of Sales in marketplaces effectively?
- Engaging effectively requires showing a deep understanding of their unique marketplace dynamics. Tailoring your outreach to highlight specific pain points, such as vendor management or consumer engagement, can significantly increase your chances of a response.
- What are common objections from Heads of Sales in marketplaces?
- Common objections include concerns about the fit of solutions for their specific marketplace model, budget constraints, and skepticism about the promised ROI. Addressing these objections upfront in your outreach can help build trust and facilitate a conversation.
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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