Cold calling in North Holland: from Amsterdam to Alkmaar, Hilversum and Hoorn

B2B calling in North Holland means one dense metropolitan market and a ring of very different towns around it. The province had 533,190 business establishments on 1 January 2026 (CBS, provisional), and 302,040 of them were in the Greater Amsterdam area. The economy is rich: Eurostat puts GDP per inhabitant at 81,500 euro in 2024, against 62,400 for the Netherlands as a whole. That means many buyers with budget, and many sellers calling them.

The economy of North Holland

North Holland is the Dutch capital of business services. In the Eurostat count of local units for 2024, professional, scientific and technical services lead by far with 135,205 units, almost twice as many as trade (69,230). Health and social care (55,682), construction (55,493), arts and recreation (43,021) and information and communication (41,557) follow. Agriculture is not in that dataset. CBS calculates that business services make up 23.0% of the province's value added, against 16.6% nationally, with financial services at 9.1% and information and communication at 8.8%. The economy grew 1.8% in 2025, in line with the country.

Four clusters shape the market:

• Finance, tech and creative services in Amsterdam. The Zuidas business district, the canal belt and the docklands in the north and east of the city house banks, law firms, software companies, agencies and international head offices.
• Schiphol and Haarlemmermeer. Schiphol handled 68.8 million passengers in 2025, 88% of all air passengers in the country. Around it, Hoofddorp and the business parks of Haarlemmermeer hold logistics firms, airlines, distribution centres and European offices.
• The port along the North Sea Canal. The port of Amsterdam handled 62.1 million tonnes in 2025, stable on the year before. IJmuiden, Velsen and Zaanstad add steel, food processing and port services.
• Horticulture and seeds in the north. CBS counts 1,018 hectares of greenhouses and 330 greenhouse farms in the province in 2025, mostly in the Kop van Noord-Holland and West-Friesland, where plant breeding companies also cluster.

Where the companies are

• Amsterdam (941,927 inhabitants on 1 January 2026). Financial and legal services, software and SaaS, marketing and media, hospitality and a large share of the country's international companies.
• Haarlem (168,898). Professional services, healthcare, retail and many small agencies and consultancies working for Amsterdam clients.
• Haarlemmermeer (166,978). Schiphol, Hoofddorp and Nieuw-Vennep: aviation, logistics, distribution and European service centres.
• Zaanstad (165,201). Food and cocoa processing, production and port-related companies along the Zaan.
• Alkmaar (113,196) and Hoorn (76,202). Regional centres for trade, healthcare, construction and installation companies serving the north.
• Hilversum (94,595). Media Park and the broadcasting and production companies around it, plus the Gooi region's consultancies.

A list for Amsterdam and a list for Alkmaar need different scripts. In the city, you compete with dozens of callers per week. In the north, a local reference and a calm, personal tone carry more weight.

Who to call and what to ask

The mix is broad, so pick the role per segment:

• Founder or managing director at agencies, consultancies, software firms and small professional practices.
• Head of operations or office manager at scale-ups and international offices, where the decision maker for facilities, IT or HR services often sits locally while the budget sits abroad.
• Logistics or site manager at Schiphol, the port and the distribution parks.
• Owner at builders, installers and family businesses in the north of the province.

Discovery questions that fit North Holland:

1. Is the decision for this taken here in the Netherlands, or at your head office abroad?
2. How many people work from this office now, and how has that changed in the past year?
3. Who are you working with today, and what made you choose them?
4. Do you work mainly for clients in the Amsterdam area, or across the country?
5. What would have to change for you to look at a different supplier this year?

Our guide to the ideal customer profile helps you decide which of these segments to call first.

Calling in North Holland

• Language. Business is done in Dutch. In Amsterdam many teams are international and use English. Open in Dutch and switch when the other person prefers English.
• Gatekeepers. Larger Amsterdam offices route calls through reception desks and shared numbers. Ask for a name and a direct line, and write both down for the next attempt.
• Opening line. Prospects in the city hear many pitches. A short, specific reason for the call works better than a long introduction; see our opening lines guide.
• Where owners meet. VNO-NCW West has regional networks for Amsterdam and Noordwest-Holland, the KVK runs events and advice sessions, and ROM InWest works with start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs in the province. They are good places to learn what is going on locally.
• Rules. You may call companies with legal personality, such as a BV or NV. Since 1 July 2026, sales calls to sole traders and partnerships such as a vof need prior consent. Respect objections and handle personal data with care. This is general information, not legal advice; read cold calling rules in Belgium and the Netherlands for the basics.

A first week of calling in North Holland

1. Day 1: split the list. Amsterdam, Haarlemmermeer and Schiphol, and the rest of the province. Remove one-person businesses and partnerships: since 1 July 2026 they need to have given prior consent for a sales call.
2. Day 2: write two scripts. One for international offices, with the question where the decision is taken, and one for owner-led firms in the north.
3. Days 3 and 4: call in blocks. Mornings work well for owners, and late morning for office managers after their first meetings.
4. Day 5: follow up. Send what you promised the same day and plan the next call for everyone who asked you to call back.

Want to see how such a week looks in one calling screen? Try the demo.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. CBS StatLine: Vestigingen van bedrijven; bedrijfstak, regio (table 81578NED), 1 January 2026
2. CBS StatLine: Bevolking op 1 januari; geslacht, leeftijd en regio (table 03759ned), 1 January 2026
3. Eurostat: Enterprises by NUTS 2 region and NACE Rev. 2 activity (sbs_r_nuts2021), 2024
4. Eurostat: Gross domestic product by NUTS 2 region (nama_10r_2gdp), 2024
5. CBS: De regionale economie 2025, chapter 2 Economische groei
6. CBS: Over 78 million air passengers in 2025
7. Port of Amsterdam: Annual Report 2025, Steadfast and in motion
8. CBS StatLine: Landbouw; gewassen, dieren en grondgebruik naar gemeente (table 80781ned), 2025

• Ideal customer profile for outbound: how to define it and test it with campaigns
• Cold call opening lines: what the research actually shows