How to sell to Heads of Sales at SaaS companies in Canada
Heads of Sales at SaaS companies in Canada are primarily measured on their monthly recurring revenue (MRR). They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their sales cycle challenges, particularly around lead conversion rates and churn. Highlighting specific strategies that can directly impact these metrics will capture their interest.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 559 saas company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- low lead conversion rates
- high customer churn
- ineffective sales training
- inconsistent sales forecasting
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding announcements
Filter for SaaS companies in Canada that have recently announced funding rounds. Use platforms like Crunchbase or PitchBook to gather this information. These companies are likely to be scaling their sales efforts and may be more open to solutions that can help them grow.
- 02
Highlight lead conversion struggles
Craft your outreach to address the common pain point of low lead conversion rates. Mention how your insights or solutions can help optimize their sales processes. Use specific language that resonates with their current challenges, such as improving demo-to-close ratios.
- 03
Mention churn reduction
In your messaging, reference strategies that specifically target reducing customer churn. This is a critical focus for Heads of Sales, as high churn can directly impact MRR. Share insights on how to enhance customer engagement and retention strategies.
- 04
Follow up after key industry events
Set a reminder to follow up with your prospects after major SaaS industry events or conferences in Canada. These events often trigger a reevaluation of sales strategies, making it an opportune time to introduce your solutions.
- 05
Leverage referrals from industry peers
Ask for introductions from mutual connections within the SaaS industry. A referral from a trusted industry peer can significantly increase your chances of securing a meeting. Ensure you communicate how your offering aligns with their specific sales objectives.
Can saas companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 559 saas 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: 16.7% of 1–10-person companies against 80.9% of the largest — 64 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
- Improve your lead conversion
- Tackle customer churn effectively
- Boost your sales team's performance
Questions
- Why do Heads of Sales in SaaS ignore outreach?
- Heads of Sales in SaaS often ignore outreach because they receive numerous unsolicited messages that do not address their specific pain points. They prioritize solutions that can directly impact their MRR and may not engage with generic sales pitches that lack relevance.
- What challenges do Heads of Sales face in scaling?
- Heads of Sales face challenges such as maintaining sales team motivation, managing lead quality, and adapting to market changes. They need to ensure their sales processes are efficient and effective, which can be difficult in a rapidly changing SaaS landscape.
- How can outreach be more effective with this role?
- Outreach can be more effective by demonstrating a clear understanding of their sales metrics and challenges. Personalizing messages to address specific issues like lead conversion and churn reduction will resonate more than generic sales pitches.
- What metrics do Heads of Sales prioritize?
- Heads of Sales prioritize metrics such as monthly recurring revenue (MRR), lead conversion rates, and customer retention rates. These metrics are critical for assessing the health of their sales efforts and making informed strategic decisions.
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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