Building Outreach That Actually Connects

Ashmita’s path to B Futurist wasn’t one she had mapped out, but it was a path that made sense. With a background in SaaS, she had always leaned toward analytical thinking, operational improvements, and growth-oriented work. When she moved to the Netherlands and came across B Futurist, the shift to wholesale might have seemed like a pivot. But for her, it was another way to build and optimize systems, just in a different context.

From SaaS to Wholesale

When Ashmita first joined B Futurist, the pace hit her. “It was like jumping on a moving train,” she says. The company was growing fast, and there wasn’t a formal structure in place for the outreach team she was entering.

Her previous experience in SaaS gave her a grounding in how to build systems and think long-term. But wholesale distribution brought new challenges. “SaaS is more stable. Wholesale is more opportunistic and very margin driven,” she explains.

Ashmita was hired to focus on the African market. There wasn’t much data, structure, or prior outreach in that region, but she didn’t mind starting from scratch. “There was no roadmap, but that also meant I had the freedom to figure out what works,” she says.

Building Outreach in Untapped Markets

One of her first major responsibilities was to develop outreach for Nigeria and South Africa. “There wasn’t a clear strategy for these markets,” she says, “and we didn’t have existing clients there.” That made it a different kind of challenge: there was no handover, no leads, and no playbook.

She had to be patient. Many of the companies she reached out to didn’t immediately convert. “Some replied months later,” she recalls. “But I kept following up because I saw the potential.”

This early work laid the foundation for why the outreach team exists today. It’s not just about warm leads or transactional sales. It’s about creating new pipelines in places where the company hasn’t yet built a presence. “I think that was the first time we saw the value of long-term outreach in cold markets,” Ashmita says.

Rethinking Sales From Transactional to Strategic

One of Ashmita’s key insights was that wholesale sales at B Futurist were too focused on transactions. “We were just sending out price lists and waiting for people to order,” she says. “But I felt like we could be more than that.”

Instead of pushing products, she began asking clients about their goals and needs. She’d adapt the pitch to their market and help them think through product selection. “I really try to make sure that they don’t just receive a price list but that they’re able to build a business with us.”

This shift from transactional to strategic wasn’t just better for clients. It helped B Futurist grow its accounts more sustainably. “The clients I brought in this way tend to come back. They see the value in the relationship,” she says.

Not everyone understood the approach at first. “There was a bit of resistance,” she admits. “People would say: why are you spending so much time on someone who hasn’t ordered yet?” But for Ashmita, the long game was worth it.

The Evolution of Outreach Through Tools, Tech, and Tactics

To support a more strategic sales approach, Ashmita started looking into tech tools that could help the team work smarter. She wasn’t just focused on writing better emails. She began researching AI automation platforms that could run entire cold outreach sequences, from generating emails to scheduling follow-ups.

“Some of these tools can help you write the emails too, but the bigger value is in the automation,” she says. “If we want to scale properly, we can’t do everything manually.”

Still, she was careful about how much to automate. “It still needs to sound human. You’re talking to someone who might become your long-term partner,” she explains.

She also brought more structure to the process. That meant creating templates, setting up clearer workflows, and segmenting leads by client type. Distributors, retailers, and salons were each put on different paths, with messages and timing tailored to their needs.

“A big retailer doesn’t want the same message as a small salon,” she says. “When people feel like you understand their business, they’re more likely to respond.”

Challenges in Driving a New Sales Culture

Shifting how a team sells, and how a company thinks about sales, takes time. “There’s still a tendency to chase the quick win,” Ashmita says. “But if you want to build a pipeline, you need to plant seeds and give them time.”

She worked to document processes, align with marketing, and push for better CRM usage. But change management is slow. “Some salespeople still prefer to send a price list and move on,” she says.

There’s also a culture shift required: from focusing on what’s urgent to investing in what’s important. “If we only prioritize the buyers who are ready to purchase today, we’ll never grow our base,” she says.

Still, she sees progress. “I think more people are starting to understand the value of outreach, and we’re starting to see the results.”

What Ashmita Is Building Now

Today, Ashmita is focused on turning outreach into a repeatable, scalable function. “We need a platform-first mindset,” she says. “The tools should support the strategy, not the other way around.”

She’s working on a new structure that separates lead generation, qualification, and conversion, allowing different people to specialize and become more efficient. “I want to make it easier for people to succeed in outreach, even if they’re new.”

She’s also looking to strengthen alignment between sales and marketing, and to better track the full client journey. “We need visibility. If someone clicks an email, shows interest, and then gets ignored, that’s a missed opportunity.”

For Ashmita, it’s not just about building systems. It’s about building a team that thinks differently. “Outreach isn’t just a task,” she says. “It’s how we grow the business.”

Looking Ahead

Ashmita’s role at B Futurist may have started with a focus on a single market, but it has evolved into something broader and more foundational. She’s helping the company rethink how it connects with future clients, how it sells, and how it grows. Her mindset is clear: long-term value over short-term wins, strategy over noise.

And in a fast-moving industry, that kind of clarity might be exactly what the company needs next.