Custom merchandise & employee gifts · upmerch.com ↗
From Cold Email That Wasn’t Working To 58 Meetings In One Week.
UpMerch booked so many meetings they hired another account executive. Here’s the gift-guide offer we used to get conversations started.
Kevin Alsterda · Founder & CEO, UpMerch Hear it in Kevin’s own words.
Before Closing Clients
After Closing Clients
BeforeCold email wasn’t bringing in the meetings they needed.
AfterA record 58 meetings in one week. Their 3 account executives now have full calendars.
BeforeKevin was running cold email himself.
AfterA trained operator runs the campaigns and inbox, so Kevin doesn’t have to.
BeforeThey needed more meetings for the sales team.
AfterThey hired another account executive to handle the number of meetings.
The Strategy
Give Them A Reason To Reply Before Asking Them To Buy.
UpMerch sells branded merchandise. We offered buyers a free guide showing what gifts for their own employees could look like.
- 1
Contact the people who buy employee gifts.
The campaigns included HR teams and office managers.
- 2
Offer a gift guide with their company’s branding.
A concrete thing to look at, with gift ideas for their team. They only had to reply “Yes”.
- 3
Have a sales rep send the guide and offer a call.
Now there’s something specific to discuss: the gifts they like and what they want for their team.
This is one offer from UpMerch’s wider campaign programme. The 58-meeting record is their overall result, not a claim about this email alone.
An Actual Campaign Email
A Simple Offer. A Simple Reply.
Hi [First name],
Have you ever considered sending new hire gifts?
I’d like to send you a free [Company name] branded new hire gift guide.
Interested?
Just reply “Yes” and I’ll send it within 1-business day.
Best,
Kevin Alsterda
CEO | UpMerch
From UpMerch’s Employee Gift Guide campaign. Merge fields shown as placeholders; signature footer omitted.
What The Offer Looks Like
Something They Can Picture Giving Their Team.
From A Real Email Conversation
They Said Yes. Then We Introduced The Sales Rep.
A later gift-mock-up campaign shows how the same approach moved from a reply to a sales handover.
The offer
“I would love to send you a complimentary, custom-designed [Company] Employee Gift Mock-Up so you can see what your gifts could look like.”
The prospect’s reply
“Hi Kevin, Yes - that would be great. Thank you!”
Kevin’s reply
“Confirmed - we will send the custom mockup within 1 business day. It will be a digital version sent to your email.”
He copied in the account executive who would send the guide, and included her calendar link.
Excerpts from an April 2026 conversation. Prospect details removed. This shows a positive reply and sales handover, not a confirmed booking or sale.
That’s The “Sneak Peek”.
Show someone what you can do for their business before asking them to buy. For UpMerch, it was their logo on gifts for their team. For your business, we’d work out what your buyers would want to see.
Your Business
What Would Get Your Buyers To Reply?
Book a call. We’ll put together a client acquisition strategy for your business and walk you through it on the call.
- Who we’d contactThe companies and people we’d target.
- What we’d offer themA specific guide, preview or example worth replying for.
- How we’d get them onto a callWhat we’d send first and how we’d follow up.
A plan for your offer and your market. Not a copy of UpMerch’s gift guide.