How to sell to Procurement leads at Developer tools companies
Procurement leads in developer tools are primarily measured on cost savings achieved through vendor negotiations. They respond positively to outreach that highlights specific efficiencies or savings in software procurement processes. Demonstrating an understanding of their need for streamlined vendor management and reduced spend can significantly enhance your chances of engagement.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 587 developer tools company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- overlapping tool subscriptions
- vendor negotiation fatigue
- budget constraints
- integration challenges
The playbook
- 01
Identify teams using multiple CI/CD tools
Use tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to filter for companies that have recently expanded their CI/CD toolset. Look for teams that may be using multiple solutions, indicating potential inefficiencies. Targeting these teams can lead to conversations about optimizing their vendor mix.
- 02
Research recent procurement challenges
Check industry news and forums for mentions of procurement challenges faced by developer tools companies, such as budget cuts or supply chain issues. Use this information to tailor your outreach, addressing how your solution can alleviate these specific pain points.
- 03
Connect with decision-makers after budget reviews
Timing is crucial; reach out shortly after budget review periods, which often occur quarterly. This is when procurement leads are reassessing vendor relationships and looking for cost-saving opportunities. Highlight your understanding of their budget constraints in your messaging.
- 04
Address concerns about vendor lock-in
Be prepared to discuss vendor lock-in, a common objection for procurement leads. Provide insights on how your offering allows for flexibility and integration with existing tools, mitigating fears about being tied to a single vendor.
- 05
Follow up on initial outreach with value insights
If your first outreach doesn't get a response, follow up with a brief email that includes insights on market trends in developer tools procurement. Show how your solution aligns with these trends and can help them stay competitive.
Can developer tools companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 587 developer tools 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: 27.4% of 1–10-person companies against 94.9% of the largest — 68 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
- Streamline your vendor management
- Reduce tool costs effectively
- Optimize your procurement strategy
Questions
- Why do procurement leads in developer tools ignore cold outreach?
- Procurement leads often receive numerous cold outreach messages that fail to address their specific pain points, such as cost savings or vendor management efficiency. If your message does not quickly demonstrate an understanding of their challenges, it risks being overlooked.
- What factors influence procurement decisions in developer tools?
- Key factors include total cost of ownership, integration capabilities with existing systems, and the vendor's reputation for support. Procurement leads prioritize solutions that provide measurable ROI and can seamlessly fit into their current tech stack.
- How can I effectively demonstrate value to procurement leads?
- Focus on presenting clear, quantifiable benefits such as potential cost reductions or efficiency gains. Use case studies or examples from similar companies to illustrate how your solution has helped others achieve their procurement goals.
- What common objections do procurement leads have?
- Common objections include concerns about vendor lock-in, the complexity of integration with existing tools, and skepticism about promised savings. Addressing these objections directly in your outreach can help build trust and open the door for further discussion.
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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