If you run a flexible packaging company, you know the problem - your sales team spends weeks hunting for the right contact at a brand or CPG company, only to get ghosted or passed to someone who doesn't have budget authority. Your product is solid. Your pricing is competitive. But your pipeline stays thin because decision makers are buried and gatekeepers are good at their job.
Cold email works for flexible packaging companies, but not the way you've probably tried it. Generic templates about "innovative packaging solutions" won't move the needle. You need an approach built around how these buyers actually make decisions and what they actually care about.
Who You're Actually Targeting
The mistake most packaging companies make is emailing the procurement department first. Procurement doesn't approve new vendors without a champion inside. You need to start with operations or supply chain leadership - the people who own the vendor relationship and have real pain points.
Target titles: VP of Operations, Director of Supply Chain, Packaging Manager, Operations Manager. At smaller brands (under 50M revenue), sometimes the founder or Chief Operating Officer owns this. At larger CPG companies, you're looking at mid-to-senior operations leadership who report up to a VP.
The key distinction - avoid generic "decision maker" hunting. These companies have operational problems first: lead times are too long, current suppliers can't handle custom sizes, quality inconsistency is costing them SKU recalls, or they're locked into contracts with vendors who won't negotiate. Find evidence of one of these problems before you email.
Building Your List the Right Way
You need 200-300 qualified targets minimum to run a proper campaign. Here's how to build it without wasting time on companies that can't use you.
Filter for fit first: You only want companies that actively use flexible packaging - think snack brands, supplement companies, CPG manufacturers, beverage brands with pouch formats, personal care companies. Don't waste time on companies using rigid packaging only or those without an active supply chain.
Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator or Apollo with these filters: Company size (usually 25M-500M revenue is your sweet spot), industry (Consumer Goods, Food & Beverage, Health & Beauty, Nutraceuticals), and keyword searches for "operations," "supply chain," or "packaging." Your goal is 100-150 companies, then find 2-3 people per company (the operations lead plus maybe a sourcing manager).
Research signal: Before you build your email list, do a lightweight qualification pass. Visit their website, check if they mention any packaging challenges or recent growth (both create urgency). Look at their LinkedIn company page for recent hires in operations or supply chain - new hires often have budget to fix problems the previous person left behind.
The Email Structure That Works
Your subject line needs to signal relevance without being cutesy. These buyers get dozens of vendor emails monthly. You need to show you understand their specific constraint.
Subject: [Company name] + custom pouch minimums
That's it. No hype, no emojis. It signals you know something specific about them - they either need custom sizes or they're constrained by minimums.
For the opening line, reference something real about their business or their current situation. Don't make it up.
Hi [Name] - saw [Brand Name] just launched [Product Category] in flexible pouches last quarter, and most suppliers have 8-12 week lead times for custom formats. We typically run 4-5 weeks for [similar product type].
This works because:
- You've done basic homework (they launched something)
- You've identified a real constraint (lead times)
- You've shown what you can actually do (faster turnaround)
- It's not about you - it's about their problem
The body of your email should be 2-3 sentences max. One sentence about their situation, one about what you offer that matters, one soft close. Don't pitch features. Pitch the outcome.
We work with brands that need faster turnarounds or custom sizing that their current supplier won't touch. Happy to do a quick 15-min call if that's relevant. Otherwise, no worries - just wanted to flag it.
Notice the close - "if that's relevant" gives them an out. That paradoxically increases reply rates because they don't feel trapped. You're not desperate.
What Actually Converts to Meetings
Your open rate should land around 35-45% (higher than SaaS because you're sending to operations people, not sales). Reply rate should be 8-12% across a 5-email sequence if you're targeting the right people and your research is solid.
But replies don't equal meetings. You need a system for response handling. When someone replies - even with "not right now" - you respond the same day with a specific question about their packaging operations. Don't ask generic stuff like "When is a good time?" Instead:
If they say "not interested": "Got it - just curious, what are your biggest packaging headaches right now? Sometimes there's something we can help with that vendors don't typically offer."
If they say "our current supplier is fine": "Makes sense. One quick question - if you needed to scale production 3x in the next 6 months, could they handle custom sizes in that timeframe?"
These aren't trick questions. You're finding the actual friction point. When they answer (and people do when you ask specific questions), you either have a real conversation or you have a reason to stay in touch for 6 months until their situation changes.
Timing and Sequencing
Send 5 emails over 18-21 days. Space them out - day 1, day 4, day 9, day 15, day 21. Don't send more than one email per day to the same person. Most of your meetings will come from email 3 or 4 (days 9 and 15), not email 1.
Each follow-up should reference the previous email and add new information. Don't repeat the same pitch.
Email 2: "wanted to follow up on the lead time issue I mentioned"
Email 3: Share a specific case study of a brand that had the same constraint you identified
Email 4: New angle - maybe a regulatory or sustainability question relevant to their industry
Email 5: Final soft close with an out
The Gap Between Knowing This and Actually Running It
I know what you're thinking - this is clear, but it requires finding the right contacts, researching each one, writing customized emails, tracking replies, responding quickly, and nurturing the people who aren't ready yet. That's not a one-person job if you're trying to run sales and operations simultaneously.
Most flexible packaging companies either skip cold email entirely because it seems like too much work, or they try it with templated, impersonal campaigns that get 1-2% reply rates and then abandon it. The thing is - when this works, it works. We've seen packaging companies sign 2-3 new distribution partners per month using exactly this framework. But it requires someone to own the full funnel: list building, research, copy, reply handling, and meeting prep. If you'd rather have someone else handle all of that while you focus on operations and delivery, that's what we do at BEC Growth.