Market choice
The campaign we talked ourselves out of
We built a complete outbound campaign for office landlords in Brussels. Then we did the maths on the market. Why the reply rate would have been the wrong number.
In September we designed a campaign for our own pipeline. The idea was strong. Owners of office buildings in Brussels with empty floors can't see which nearby companies are heading towards an office decision. We can, from public data. The plan was to show each owner five of those companies for free, before asking for anything.
The copy was written and the data model already existed. Then we checked one number.
The number
Agency reports on the first half of 2026 counted 91 office leasing transactions in Brussels (Colliers) or 74 (Cushman & Wakefield), depending on how they count. Over a full year, that is roughly 150 to 180 deals for the entire city.
Our own list-building showed that 300 to 600 Belgian firms are involved in leasing office space. Divide the deals by the number of firms, and the average firm closes well under one Brussels office deal a year.
That changes everything about the offer. A paid list has to influence a deal that might not happen for another 18 months, at a firm that does one a year at most. The buyer knows that, and no subject line fixes it.
The relationship problem was real, but it came second
We had expected the "this market runs on relationships" objection, and it holds:
- Tenants get representation. Tenants are usually represented by an agent.
- The landlord pays the commission. That puts the agent network in every deal.
- Everyone knows everyone. In a market of a few hundred professionals, news travels fast.
In a market this small, your reputation after 300 cold emails is permanent. One wrong claim about a company that is supposedly moving travels faster than the campaign.
But the maths was the bigger problem. You can earn your way past a wall of relationships. You can't email your way past a market with too few transactions.
The reply rate would have misled us
This is the part we think applies well beyond real estate. The campaign could have hit a healthy positive reply rate and still sold nothing, because the buyer's annual deal count couldn't support the price.
In this market, the useful first number wasn't the number of replies. It was whether a single firm would pay for anything after seeing a free list.
What we changed
We didn't throw the work away. We changed who it's for.
Flexible offices. Coworking and business centre operators sign dozens of contracts a year with companies of 5 to 50 people. Those companies rarely use an agent, decisions take weeks rather than months, and the same signals are usable. There, the maths does add up.
Anyone who sells to offices. The underlying data, which companies are growing or moving in which buildings, is also useful for businesses in office fit-out, facility services, IT, furniture and cleaning. Those markets have far more transactions and no agent standing in between.
The question for every campaign
How many buying decisions happen in this market each year, and how many sellers are chasing them?
If the answer is close to one decision per seller, outbound isn't a volume game. It is a reputation game, and you have to target and price accordingly.
Looking for the signal in your market?
Tell us what you sell and to whom. After the intro call you'll know whether we can help.