/ The method
How it works.
This is the whole method, start to finish. No pitch, no jargon. Just how a vin/tr campaign takes your wines from the cellar to the inboxes of importers who fit, and what happens at every step in between.
Your only real job runs through all of it: reply when a buyer raises a hand, and close. The database, the infrastructure, the writing, the sending, the deliverability, we run all of that for you. Read on and you will know exactly what we do, why each step exists, and what we will ask of you.
/ The principle
Importers will not find you. You go to them.
Wine export is a relationship business, not a transactional one. The buyers who matter already have full books. They are not searching for one more producer to add. Reaching them takes two things, and only two: knowing exactly who they are, and showing up in their inbox consistently, deliverably, over months rather than days.
vin/tr is built around those two assets. A mapped database of verified importers, and a sending operation engineered to actually land and to keep landing. Everything below is how we turn those two assets into real conversations with real buyers.
/ The process
Nine steps, from brief to signed importer.
It runs in order. Each step exists for a reason, and most of the work happens before a single prospecting email is ever sent.
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01
Onboarding and targeting brief
You fill out a short onboarding. You tell us your target markets, your ideal importer (positioning, price band, the channels you want to be in, on-trade or off-trade, any specialties), and anyone to exclude: importers you already work with, a relationship that ended badly, names you would rather we skip.
Why it mattersA campaign is only as good as its aim, and the brief is where we set it. The more precise you are about the buyer you want, the closer the list we build will sit to it.
vin/tr handles
Turning your brief into targeting rules.
You handle
The brief, once, at the start.
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02
Building your importer list
We pull your contact list from our own importer database, built over years from a working network across more than 60 markets, and kept current because we are still in the trade ourselves. We segment by region, portfolio focus, and volume, then match it against the brief you set, so the campaign reaches the importers most likely to fit your wines.
Why it mattersMost cold outreach fails on the list, not the message. A verified, well-segmented list is the difference between landing in front of a buyer who fits and burning a domain on addresses that bounce. See where we have coverage.
vin/tr handles
Sourcing, verifying, and segmenting.
You handle
Telling us if a contact should come off.
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03
Domain and inbox infrastructure
We register a dedicated sending domain for your campaign and set up separate inboxes on it, configured from the start to deliverability best practice. Your real email address is never used to send. It only ever receives the replies of interested importers.
Why it mattersA new domain and fresh inboxes outperform aged accounts for cold prospecting. No history to manage, no reputation to repair. And keeping your main address out of the sending entirely protects it. If anything ever goes wrong with a sending domain, your real inbox is untouched.
vin/tr handles
The domain, the inboxes, the technical setup.
You handle
Nothing here.
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04
Warmup
Before a single prospecting email goes out, each inbox spends about 30 days in warmup, sending small volumes of ordinary email that ramp up gradually.
Why it mattersA brand-new address that immediately starts cold emailing looks suspect to mailbox providers. No history, no reputation, straight to spam. Warmup is what makes the inboxes read as established and legitimate. Skipping it is the single most common reason cold campaigns fail.
vin/tr handles
The full 30 days, quietly in the background.
You handle
Patience. The slow part is doing the most work.
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05
Copywriting and the sequence
We write the outreach in your voice, then build it into a sequence: an opening message and several follow-ups, spaced out over weeks. You review and approve before anything sends.
Why it mattersImporters rarely reply to a first email. They are busy and the inbox is crowded. Some of the most promising conversations only start after the second or third follow-up. The sequence is what turns a single cold email into a patient, repeated, human approach.
vin/tr handles
The writing and the sequencing.
You handle
A review, and what makes your wines worth a reply.
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06
Launch and sending cadence
Campaigns go live and run in parallel across your markets. Volume stays deliberately low per inbox, around 30 sends a day, paced and timed (including how weekends are handled) to keep the domains healthy. Depending on your plan, that is roughly 1,300 to 2,600 importers contacted a month.
Why it mattersSlow and steady keeps you out of spam. Blasting volume is how domains get burned. The cadence is engineered for the long game, which export prospecting always is.
vin/tr handles
Sending, pacing, and monitoring.
You handle
Nothing here either.
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07
Replies and the handoff
When an importer shows interest, the reply lands in your real inbox and we step back. From that point, the conversation is yours.
Why it mattersThis is deliberate. The relationship with a buyer should belong to the producer. Nobody knows your wines, your terroir, and your story the way you do. We open the door. You walk through it.
vin/tr handles
Getting the reply in front of you.
You handle
The conversation, the relationship, the deal.
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08
Reporting and adaptive billing
On the first of every month you get a report on how the campaign is performing. And if you sign an importer in one of your markets, you tell us, and we pull that market out of your outreach immediately and shorten your subscription to match.
Why it mattersYou should never pay to keep prospecting a market you have already won. Adaptive billing means the service shrinks as your distribution grows. You never pay past the deal.
vin/tr handles
The report and the adjustments.
You handle
Telling us when you have signed someone.
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09
End of campaign and ownership
At the end, everything belongs to you. The sequences, the replies, the data the campaign generated. The sending domain and inboxes can be transferred to you if you want to keep prospecting on your own. Or you start a fresh campaign on new markets with a renewed list.
Why it mattersThere is no lock-in on the assets. What the campaign built is yours to keep.
vin/tr handles
The handover.
You handle
Choosing what comes next.
/ What to expect, and when
It builds over time. That is the point.
Export prospecting compounds. The first weeks look quiet on the surface and do the most important work underneath.
Day 0
Onboarding and brief. You set the markets and the ideal importer. We get to work.
Weeks 1 to 4
Infrastructure and warmup. Domain, inboxes, list, and the 30-day warmup. Quiet on the surface, essential underneath.
Week 5
First replies typically start landing as the opening messages reach a meaningful volume of importers.
Month 2
Momentum. The follow-ups have caught up, the contact volume is real, and the most significant exchanges tend to begin here.
Month 6 to 12
A realistic read on how your wines land in each market, and the stretch where replies turn into real distribution. The full picture takes the better part of a year.
On a well-targeted campaign in this trade, three to five percent of importers reply. One reply for every twenty to thirty emails is already a good result, and more than twenty positive replies in a month puts you among the strongest campaigns. Export prospecting is a relationship business, not an ad campaign. The results compound.
/ The division of labor
We run the machine. You make the wine.
The whole model is built so the work that needs a specialist stays with us, and the work only you can do stays with you.
vin/tr handles
- The importer database and targeting
- The dedicated domain and inboxes
- Deliverability and the 30-day warmup
- The copywriting and the sequences
- The sending, pacing, and monitoring
- The monthly performance report
- Adaptive billing as you sign deals
You handle
- The onboarding brief, once
- A review of the messages before they send
- Replying when an importer is interested
- Closing the deal and owning the relationship
/ Common questions
The questions wineries ask first.
Can I run several markets at once?
Yes. You pick your markets at onboarding, we build a contact list on each, and the campaigns run in parallel. More markets means more chances to meet the right importer.
What do I actually have to do once it is live?
Very little. Approve the sequence, then reply when an importer is interested. You also receive a report on the first of each month.
Why a dedicated domain instead of my own?
A fresh domain and dedicated inboxes perform better for cold outreach, and they keep your real address out of the sending entirely. Your main inbox only ever receives interested replies.
Why 30 days of warmup?
A brand-new address that starts cold emailing immediately is treated as suspect and lands in spam. Warmup builds the reputation that gets you to the inbox.
What happens if I find an importer mid-campaign?
Tell us and we remove them from the sequence at once. If you sign an exclusive in a market, we can pause prospecting there entirely.
How long until I see real results?
The sequence runs over weeks, importers rarely reply the first time, and the best conversations often start on the second or third follow-up. First replies usually land around week five and momentum builds from month two. Getting a real read on each market, and turning replies into distribution, takes the better part of a year. It is a longer game by design. See the full FAQ.
/ Next
When you are ready, we map your markets.
This page was the explanation, not the pitch. If the method lines up with how you want to grow your export, the next step is a short onboarding: you tell us your markets and your ideal importer, and we take it from there.
Or see where we already have coverage. Every major wine market, mapped →