I asked a Chief Sustainability Officer at a large financial services firm what she thought of the vendor outreach hitting her inbox.

Nine out of ten of them, she said, hadn't done any research on her or her organization before reaching out. The pitches were generic. They told her what they thought she needed. Her ask was simple: learn where I am in my journey. Be human. Ask questions instead of selling.

Nine out of ten. That's not a problem you can fix with a bigger list. It's a reading problem. And the BD teams winning in sustainability right now are the ones doing the reading before they hit send.

What her public signals actually say

Let's stay with the CSO for a minute. Imagine her LinkedIn, her firm's latest sustainability report, their last earnings call. What does a seller see?

She's been in her role for three years. Her firm has validated science-based targets, third-party assurance on their disclosures, and a public commitment to net zero across their financed emissions. They've made new hires this year in climate risk and supplier engagement. There's a recent partnership with a sector initiative and she's had speaking slots at two industry conferences.

Most sellers see that profile and think: big buyer, well-resourced, ready to spend. They lead with their best feature pitch and hit send.

What they're missing is that the combination of those signals is telling them about where the company actually is in their sustainability journey. They're not figuring out whether sustainability matters. They're not looking for quick wins. She's not trying to convince her CFO this is worth doing. She has assurance, validated targets, dedicated headcount, and a seat at the table. Her problem is scale, integration, and staying ahead of the curve.

When a vendor pitches her on "getting started with carbon accounting" or "building your first ESG report," she's not annoyed because the pitch is poorly written. She's annoyed because it's three years behind where she is. They've told her what they think she needs without checking to determine that she needs it.

That's the nine-out-of-ten move.

What the same signals would mean somewhere else

Now picture a different company. Mid-market manufacturer. First sustainability report came out last year — mostly qualitative, a few targets, no assurance. They just posted a job for a Sustainability Manager reporting into Operations. Their last earnings call mentioned a major customer asking for emissions data on key product lines.

A net zero pledge from this company means something completely different than the same pledge from the CSO's firm. A new sustainability hire here is a foundational hire. There it's a specialist filling out a deep bench. The customer pressure showing up on the earnings call is the dominant signal — they're being pulled into action before they're ready, and they need help figuring out what to do first without overcommitting.

Same category of signals. Completely different read. Completely different conversation.

A seller who walks into the CSO's inbox with "let me help you get started" reads as out of touch. A seller who pops into the manufacturer's inbox with "let me help you scale your assurance program" reads as out of touch in the other direction. Both miss for the same underlying reason: they didn't read where the buyer actually is.

What this looks like in practice

Two practical shifts when you start working this way.

Your list gets smaller and strategic. Instead of fifty accounts that look big enough to matter, you have fifteen where what they're showing you in public lines up with what you actually sell. The CSO's firm goes on the list for a seller offering assurance infrastructure or supplier data integration. It comes off the list for a seller offering ESG 101 services. The manufacturer is the reverse. Both are real buyers. Neither is a buyer for both vendors.

Your outreach stops being a pitch and starts being a read. You're not selling features. You're showing the person on the other end that you understood their situation before you reached out. You referenced the specific hire, the specific customer pressure, the specific gap their last report didn't address. You're demonstrating that you did the work they wished the other nine had done.

The sustainability market is getting more crowded every quarter. More vendors, more noise, more CSOs deleting outreach before they finish the first sentence. The teams that win from here are the ones whose emails make the buyer pause and think: this one actually read me.