Leadership changes
A new managing director, a new head of procurement, a change on the board. People new in a role often review suppliers and processes in their first months.
Lead generation
B2B lead generation in Switzerland: companies with a trigger, not bought lists
HeySali flags companies where something has just changed. Your team gets the trigger, the source and the person who decides.
Founder and Managing DirectorUpdated September 2026
In short
Signal-based B2B lead generation means contacting Swiss companies because something documented has just happened: a leadership change, a tender on simap, a new site in the commercial register. Glatt Digital sets up HeySali around your ideal customer profile; your team receives ongoing lead briefings with decision-maker, date and source. Fixed price, quoted after the first call. Leads stay in HeySali and are deleted within 30 days of the project ending.
What counts as a buying signal in B2B lead generation
A signal is a dated event with a source. Afterwards, a company is more likely than usual to consider an offer like yours.
Open roles
A company is hiring three service technicians or a head of finance. That points to growth, a gap, or a project the team lacks capacity for.
Public tenders
Swiss public bodies publish their tenders on simap.ch. Hearing about one early leaves time for clarifying questions and a well-prepared bid.
Commercial register
New companies, capital increases and new sites appear in Zefix and the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SHAB). After a capital increase there is often budget, and a plan for it.
Buying intent
Bombora Buyer Intent shows which companies are researching topics like yours with unusual intensity. It adds to the other triggers rather than replacing them.
Verified decision-makers
Each company comes with the person who decides, with contact details verified via Cognism. Your message reaches a person rather than a general inbox. A verified number, however, is not yet permission for a marketing call.
How the project runs, and what a lead briefing contains
This is how a project runs. The pace depends mostly on how quickly your team gives feedback.
1. Ideal customer profile
Together we define which companies fit: industry, size, region and the decision-maker's role, plus exclusions such as your existing customers. You receive the profile as a document (Terms, clause 9.1).
2. Search profile in HeySali
We translate the profile into search criteria and choose the signals that matter for your offer. A software house watches for different triggers than a building services firm.
3. Lead briefings
Each briefing has six parts: the trigger with date and source, key company data, the decision-maker with verified contact details, the right timing, the link to your offer, and an opening line.
4. Feedback
For each lead, your team notes briefly whether it fitted, and if not, why. We use that to sharpen the search profile until the hits are right.
Outreach
In this project your team contacts the leads one at a time, with the trigger in the first sentence. Openers built from the lead briefing show how that sounds. Nobody has to work down a list from top to bottom any more.
Fixed price and duration
We quote the fixed price after the first call. It depends mainly on your target market and the period of use. Your own HeySali workspace is included for that period.
Cold outreach in Switzerland: what the law requires
If your team prospects into Switzerland from abroad, know these rules before the first call. For orientation only, not legal advice.
Phone: the asterisk and unlisted numbers
An asterisk (*) next to a Swiss directory entry means: no advertising from senders without a business relationship (Art. 3 para. 1 let. u UCA). Since 1 January 2021, unlisted numbers are equally protected. Calls remain permitted with an existing customer relationship or consent (SECO). Prevailing legal opinion applies this to companies too, not just private individuals (sic! 11/2021).
Verified does not mean permitted
Without a business relationship or consent, the only numbers open to marketing calls are those listed without an asterisk. That applies to a direct line or mobile number verified via Cognism as well. Check the listing before every call.
Caller ID and call centres
Marketing calls must display a listed number you are entitled to use (let. v). Using information obtained through unlawful calls is itself unfair (let. w). Companies that commission a call centre, including one abroad, must therefore make sure it follows the rules (Steiger Legal, sic! 11/2021). Intentional breaches are a criminal offence if a complaint is filed (Art. 23 UCA).
Email: consent for mass advertising
Mass advertising by email or text message requires prior consent, a correct sender and notice of an easy, free way to opt out (let. o). The exception: customers whose details you obtained in a transaction with them, for similar offers of your own, provided you pointed out the opt-out at the time.
Automated or by hand
The Schweizerische Lauterkeitskommission (SLK), the Swiss advertising industry's self-regulatory body, looks at automation, not volume. Even a few automatically sent emails can be mass advertising, including automatically personalised ones. Individually written emails are not (decision 172/20, March 2021). This is a recommendation, not a court ruling. For sequencing tools and mail merges, that means consent first.
Duty to inform under the FADP
Since 1 September 2023, the Federal Act on Data Protection has covered only natural persons. Company data is not covered; a decision-maker's name and contact details are. If they come from a third-party source, inform the person within one month, including who is responsible, for what purpose and which data (Art. 19 FADP). Art. 20 sets out exceptions.
How we work
Briefings are built for individual outreach, not mail merges. When we handle outreach ourselves within a retainer, we only call numbers with an asterisk or without a listing if your company already has a business relationship with that contact. You decide on channels and cadence and remain responsible for them (Terms, clause 8.4).
Data: what stays and what is deleted
Leads from HeySali are platform data. They stay in the workspace, during the project and when it ends.
No export, no lists
In the project, leads, signals and briefings stay in HeySali. There is no export, no file and no transfer to your CRM (Terms, clause 8.6). The weekly summary by email is not a transfer; its content remains platform data.
Into the CRM only after a reply
Once someone replies or a meeting is booked, you record that contact individually and by hand in your CRM, using only details from the exchange itself (Terms, clause 8.7). Those records are yours.
Deletion at the end
When the period of use set out in the quote ends, we lock the workspace and delete it, leads included, within 30 days at the latest (Terms, clauses 1.2 and 8.8). You keep the profile document and your CRM records.
Swiss data centres
HeySali's servers and language models run in Swiss data centres. Each company works in a separate workspace. For the outreach itself, you are the controller under data protection law (Terms, clause 8.6).
When this project is the wrong fit
Signal-based lead generation does not suit every situation. We would rather say so before the project than after it.
No clear ideal customer profile
If it is still open what you offer and to whom, even the best signal has no addressee. A retainer is then the better start: the ideal customer profile and pricing logic are part of its onboarding.
Nobody to follow up
A trigger has a window. If nobody on your team can contact leads within days, outreach including first contact as part of the retainer is the better fit.
Pure volume targets
If you want as many addresses as possible each month, we are the wrong choice. We do not commit to a fixed number of leads; volume depends on your market and its triggers.
No address lists, no lead agency
We do not buy address lists and do not charge per lead. Pricing per lead rewards volume. A fixed price keeps the focus on fit.
No tele-sales, no mass mailings
We run no call centre and no sequencing tools with mail merges. In Switzerland, both soon run into the asterisk rule and the consent requirement.
Software only
If you would rather run HeySali yourself, try it free for 14 days on heysali.ch, no payment details needed. The project fits when you want the profile, search set-up and briefings done for you.
Frequently asked questions
Are cold calls to businesses allowed in Switzerland?
Yes, within limits. Marketing calls to numbers with an asterisk in the directory, or not listed at all, are unfair without a business relationship or consent (Art. 3 para. 1 let. u UCA, SECO). Prevailing legal opinion applies this to company numbers too (sic! 11/2021). A listed caller number must be displayed (let. v). For orientation only, not legal advice.
Can we email Swiss companies without their consent?
According to the self-regulator SLK, an individually written email does not fall under the Swiss spam rule (decision 172/20, March 2021). Automatically sent advertising needs prior consent, even for a handful of emails (Art. 3 para. 1 let. o UCA). That includes sequencing tools. The FADP duty to inform applies either way. For orientation only, not legal advice.
Do we get the leads as a list or straight into our CRM?
Neither. In the project, leads, signals and briefings stay in HeySali, with no export, file or CRM transfer (Terms, clause 8.6). Like every user, you receive the weekly summary by email. Only once someone replies or a meeting is booked do you record that contact by hand in your CRM, using details from the exchange itself (Terms, clause 8.7).
How many leads per month does the project deliver?
We do not commit to a fixed number; it depends on your market. A few hundred suitable companies produce fewer triggers than several thousand. New leads appear in HeySali as they arise and in the weekly summary. In the first call, we give you a rough estimate of what your market is likely to produce.
Who contacts the leads: our team or Glatt Digital?
In the lead generation project, your team contacts the leads, working from the briefings. If you want Glatt Digital to handle outreach including first contact, the retainer is the right framework: fractional sales leadership from CHF 2,990 a month for a weekly block of 7 hours, excl. VAT, minimum three months. We then work under your company's domain.
What happens to the data when the project ends?
When the period of use in the quote ends, we lock and delete the workspace, with leads, signals and search profile, within 30 days (Terms, clauses 1.2 and 8.8). Nothing is exported. You keep the profile document and every contact recorded in your CRM after a real exchange. Your own HeySali subscription would start with an empty workspace.
Sources
- Federal Act against Unfair Competition (UCA), SR 241
- SECO: Unsolicited advertising calls (in German)
- Steiger Legal: Telephone marketing in Switzerland from 2021 (in German)
- Walder Wyss: Unfair competition aspects of the revised telemarketing rules (in German)
- Härting: Swiss Commission for Fairness on the spam ban (in German)
- MLL News: Commission for Fairness decision on the spam rule (in German)
- datenrecht.ch: Commission for Fairness decision no. 172/20 on the spam ban
- Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP), SR 235.1
- Swiss SME Portal: The new Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP)
- HeySali, sales intelligence platform
Does signal-based outreach fit your market?
In the first call we look at your ideal customer profile and the triggers your Swiss market produces. 30 minutes, free and without obligation.
Book a first call