Trigger-Event Opener
Open outreach with a recent, specific change at the account so the timing feels obvious rather than random.
A trigger event is a recent, observable change that creates a reason to buy now: a funding round, a new VP, a product launch, a move into a new market, a hiring spree. Opening with one turns a cold interruption into a relevant, well-timed message. “Saw you just opened a second warehouse in Rotterdam, congratulations. Most operations teams hit the same tracking headache right after that second site goes live, so I wanted to reach out.” The buyer can see why you are calling today and not last year.
Use it in cold email and calls, built from something you can actually verify (news, LinkedIn, their own site). It works because the event supplies both relevance and urgency without you manufacturing either. It backfires if the trigger is stale, generic, or clearly scraped, which signals mass automation rather than attention.
The idea is developed by Craig Elias and Tibor Shanto in Trigger Event Selling / SHiFT Selling (2010).