Case Study

How this AI consultancy cracked the German Mittelstand and generated €1.3M pipeline in just 3 months.

Overview

Industry: IT Consulting / AI Consultancy

Location: Munich, Germany

Company Size: 11–20 employees

Timeline: 3 months

This company is a European AI consulting and solutions firm that helps organizations accelerate their adoption of artificial intelligence and transform business outcomes with practical, impactful AI applications.

They already had:

Pivoted to AI consulting
Needed to gain traction in mid market

What they lacked was a systematic way to reach and convert the German Mittelstand (mid-market) without relying on manual outreach.

The Challenge

Manual outreach failing to crack the German Mittelstand.

Highly manual outreach from working students
2-3 calls per week max, often unqualified
Question: "How do we finally crack the German Mittelstand (midmarket)?"
No systematic approach to mid-market outbound
Unclear which ICPs and messaging angles work

After pivoting to AI consulting, the team needed a scalable system to reach German mid-market companies systematically.

The Goal

Build a systematic outbound system that:

Cracks the German Mittelstand (mid-market)
Generates qualified meetings consistently
Tests multiple ICPs to find winning angles
Reaches companies like "Sonntag", "Stahlbau Nägele", "Starz Metallbau"
Generates significant pipeline value

The Solution

Mittelstand-Focused Outbound System for AI Consulting

We built a systematic outbound system specifically designed to reach German mid-market companies:

Inside the System

How the Workflow Works (High-Level)

1. Multi-ICP Testing & Validation

Tested 4 different ICPs to identify winning angles:

Manufacturing companies (Stahlbau, Metallbau)
Traditional Mittelstand businesses
Companies with digital transformation needs
Industries with process optimization opportunities

2. Mittelstand-Specific Messaging

Developed messaging tailored for German mid-market:

German-language outreach
Practical AI use cases (not theory)
ROI-focused value propositions
Quick wins and rapid prototyping angles
Local business context and examples

3. Target Account Research

Built comprehensive Mittelstand account database:

Company size filters (11-200 employees)
Industry-specific targeting
Technographic signals (legacy systems, digital readiness)
Hiring and growth signals
Decision-maker identification (owners, operations leads)

4. Multi-Touch Sequences

Created German-language sequences:

6-touch email sequences in German
LinkedIn outreach integration
Case study and use case sharing
Workshop and capability building angles
Rapid prototyping and quick win messaging

5. Qualification & Meeting Management

Established qualification process:

Mittelstand-specific qualification criteria
Meeting routing and follow-up
Pipeline tracking and management
Conversion optimization

The Result

Immediate Impact

22 qualified meetings in September alone
Companies like "Sonntag", "Stahlbau Nägele", "Starz Metallbau"
1.308.013€ Pipeline generated
Tested 4 ICPs and identified 3 winning angles

Before vs. After

Before

Pivoted to AI consulting
Highly manual outreach from working students
2-3 calls per week max, often unqualified
Question: "How do we finally crack the German Mittelstand?"

After

22 qualified meetings in September alone
1.308.013€ Pipeline generated
Tested 4 ICPs and identified 3 winning angles
Systematic approach to Mittelstand outbound

One-Line Transformation

Before: Manual outreach failing to crack the German Mittelstand with only 2-3 unqualified calls per week.

After: A systematic outbound system generating 22 qualified meetings in one month and €1.3M pipeline by cracking the German Mittelstand.

Who This Is For

Teams who:

AI consultancies targeting German mid-market
Teams struggling to reach the Mittelstand
Companies needing to test multiple ICPs quickly
Consultancies wanting systematic, scalable outbound