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You have found a manufacturer that fits your offer. Who should receive the first message: the founder, an engineer or purchasing? The answer depends on the decision you need help with. Afield can continue researching the companies already in your shortlist, so the contact search and the eventual email use the same company context.
The result to aim for
Demo handoff. The following account, people and source notes are fictional. They show how to organize a result; they are not contacts discovered by Afield. The seller makes custom machined parts. The buyer is “Demo Packaging Machines.”
| Contact route | Why this route | Available evidence | Next action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex — mechanical engineering | Can discuss drawings, tolerances and component requirements. | Demo team-page note identifies the role. No individual email. | Keep the role match; research a public business contact route. |
| Supplier-qualification team | Can explain the process for approving a new supplier. | Demo contact-page note provides a shared purchasing mailbox, but no named owner. | Address the team and ask who owns qualification. |
| Sam — founder | Seniority alone does not show responsibility for component sourcing. | Demo company profile identifies the founder; no sourcing responsibility stated. | Lower priority until evidence connects this role to the decision. |
The best first route here is purchasing: it can answer the supplier-process question. Engineering becomes useful when there is a technical specification to discuss. A missing personal email does not make the shared team route unusable.
Run the search on your saved companies
- Open the original company-search conversation. Choose the companies to research; include their domains if names are ambiguous.
- State the offer and the decision you need to reach. “Supplier qualification for machined parts” is more specific than “find decision makers.”
- Ask for a small contact sample. Open the returned role and company sources, then refine the buying role before expanding the list.
Continue with these three companies from the saved shortlist. We supply
custom machined parts. Find the role responsible for supplier qualification
and a technical contact who could assess drawings. Return the company,
person or team, role, fit reason, public source, contact route and remaining
gap. Keep source-backed addresses separate from inferred email patterns.
Do not prepare a new company list.Interpret the email evidence
A public page can establish that an address was published. A domain check only establishes something about the domain; it does not prove that a named person's mailbox exists. Keep inferred patterns out of the contact-ready group. When the source identifies a shared mailbox, use a team greeting rather than borrowing a person's name from another row.
Turn the selected route into one useful question
Demo draft — shared purchasing mailbox
Hello Purchasing team,
We supply custom machined components for equipment builders. Could you point me to the person who reviews new machining suppliers, and let me know what information you need for an initial qualification review?
I can send a short capability sheet against your requirements.
Thank you,
[Name]
For a real message, add one relevant product-page reference from the company's research. If the role source is old or conflicts with a current page, keep both references and resolve that specific gap before using the person's name. The company record, contact research and draft should remain connected; a new search should not replace the original shortlist.
Build the company shortlist · Edit the individual message
Separate a published address from the right recipient
For the machining example, an engineering or purchasing route is relevant because the question is about drawings or supplier qualification. A public address alone does not establish that fit. Do not count the following routes as interchangeable:
| Route found | What it supports | Decision for supplier outreach |
|---|---|---|
| Purchasing or supplier-qualification team | A public route for the process in your question, when the company's page says so | Keep with the source; use a team greeting if no owner is named |
| General company mailbox | A published company contact route, not a verified buying role | Keep outside the role-confirmed group; consider one routing question if the company fits |
| Support, trust, privacy, careers or press | A route for a different job | Exclude from this sales batch unless an explicit source assigns the relevant responsibility |
| Guessed personal email pattern | An inference, not proof of publication or deliverability | Hold for verification; do not label it contact-ready |
Keep the contact source URL and the date you checked it. A current company page takes precedence over an old profile for today's role; retain conflicting evidence rather than silently choosing the more senior title. An address can be published yet unsuitable, and a suitable role can exist without a usable address.
Review the handoff before drafting a batch
Download the contact-review worksheet (CSV). It includes one explicitly fictional purchasing-team example and one blank row. Record company fit, the decision you are trying to reach, role evidence, contact source and the hold reason separately.
For this saved shortlist, show the exact proposed recipients before drafting.
For each, show company fit, buying-role evidence, the address source,
last checked date and any remaining gap. Separate research-only companies
from contact-ready rows. Exclude support, privacy, careers and press routes
from this sales batch. Do not guess a personal email. Do not send.The count should refer to the visible proposed recipients, not all companies in the pool. Inspect each draft against its company evidence and offer. A later send confirmation must show the final recipient list and messages; this worksheet does not authorize sending.