Five emails, one reply

I'm not a robotics distributor. I'm an AI consultant who has spent months watching with curiosity what happens when artificial intelligence stops living only inside a screen and ends up inside a mechanical arm. I wanted to understand whether there was room in Italy to act as a bridge between Asian manufacturers and Italian businesses starting to wonder whether automation makes sense for them.

I wrote honest emails, without inventing a company or a revenue figure I don't have: I introduced myself for exactly what I am, an independent AI consultant interested in exploring a collaboration. Five recipients, all Chinese robotics manufacturers with an international presence. For a month, almost total silence.

Then, on August 25, a reply. From Estun Robotics Europe, the European subsidiary of Estun Automation, one of China's leading industrial robot manufacturers.

The call with Estun Robotics Europe

The person who replied was the Sales Director of Estun Robotics Europe AG. Not an automated reply, not a contact form bounced to some generic sales inbox: a direct willingness to talk, to understand up close what I had in mind and whether there was common ground.

It's the kind of reply that, when it comes, reminds you why it's worth sending cold emails even knowing most will fall into the void. It only takes one right person on the other end to turn an attempt into a real conversation.

The invitation to the Shanghai fair

During the exchange, an industry trade fair scheduled in Shanghai for October also came up, where Estun will be present — and an informal invitation to consider being there too, to see the products up close and continue the conversation in person.

I haven't decided yet whether to go: the exact dates and the trip logistics are still to be worked out, and it's not something to decide lightly. But it's still a good sign — the kind of openness that usually only comes when there's genuine interest on the other side, not just courtesy.

What I'm taking away from this, regardless of Shanghai

  • An honest, no-frills email still works — even when 4 out of 5 don't reply
  • The Chinese industrial robotics sector is actively looking for partners in Europe, not just distributors with a warehouse: there's room even for someone who brings expertise and a network of contacts
  • Robotics and artificial intelligence are converging faster than it looks from the outside — worth keeping on the same radar, even for someone like me who does AI consulting "from a desk"

For now the story stops here: one call made, one invitation on the table, one decision still to make. I'll update it when there's something concrete to report — whether that's a plane ticket or just the next exchange with them.

B2B networking is never the first email that lands something. It's the fifth, written with the same care as the first, that finds the right person on the other side.