We built an internal lead list builder that auto-generates:

- Apollo search links
- SalesNav links

Based on each client's offer and targeting preferences.

Here's how it works: 1) Onboarding form

It starts at the onboarding form.

We have 5 questions the client must answer in detail about what I just mentioned.

It gives us (and the automation) the necessary info to build the lead list.

Here's where it gets fun:

You can sign 2-3 clients per month in just 20 minutes per day on LinkedIn.

This is the least saturated outreach method I've seen in a long time.

Here's the 3-step playbook: 1) Optimize Your Profile

Boring stuff first. Make sure your:

- Headshot is clear
- Banner has your value-prop
- About section is filled out

You just need to look presentable and legit.

My agency sends 1,000,000 cold emails per month for over 150 clients.

Every single lead list we scrape follows the exact same process.

Here's how we get targeted lists of our ICP (and reach out to people who rarely get cold emailed):

(thread) 1) Ocean

This is the easiest way to get lists of accounts similar to ones you want to reach out to.

If you have the perfect account (existing client, for example), you can use it to find a ton of others just like it.

This feels like a targeting hack.

I get to see the best and worst cold email campaigns across 150+ offers every week.

If you want to book more meetings with cold email starting today, start prioritizing these 3 things: 1) A/B Test Email 1

Email 1 is the most crucial in the sequence.

- Draft 4-5 versions of it
- Use Smartlead's A/B test feature
- Give winner 60% of volume and others 40%

The best part of running a lead gen agency is how easy the tech makes it to scale.

We scaled from 0-150 clients in 2-3 years.

Here's our tool stack: 1) Account List Building - Ocean

Strongly recommend if you're willing to pay. It's such an easy way to get similar accounts to existing ones.

3 years ago, we sent 0 emails for 0 clients.

Today, we send 1,000,000 cold emails per month for over 120 clients.

Here are 13 cold email mistakes I made in that time so you don't have to: 1) Taking way too long to reply to leads.

2) Prioritizing email copy instead of the offer itself

3) Not adding ALL unsubscribes to my DNC

4) Letting bounce rate go above 2% and not doing anything.

My agency safely sends over 1,000,000 cold emails per month.

This thread has 7 tips, backed by our own campaign data, will help you stay out of the spam folder:

(like + bookmark if you want more of this) 1) Scale Volume Horizontally.

This one automation has made us more money than I'm willing to share.

It automatically pulls leads from Apollo for specific search criteria, cleans it, and inputs it into a Smartlead campaign.

We call them "Refresh Campaigns".

Here's how they work: 1) Build Out Search Criteria

We have five or six campaigns where we always want to be reaching out to more leads.

There's also new leads within those parameters each month.

So for each, we set up search criteria we can rely on for a long time.

Then...

If you play your cards right, you could become your own boss for under $250.

Smartlead - $65
ExportLists - $25
MillionVerifier - $37
10 domains - ~$120
Landing page (Carrd) - $20

Here's the step-by-step: 1) Learn and master a skill. Ideally something you can sell online (video editing, thumbnail design, etc)

2) Buy 10 domains, setup 2 inboxes each, setup DNS.

3) Set up a landing page with a benefit-driven headline, ideally a VSL, and a link to your calendar.

Anyone with some experience can land a job in their field in under 60 days.

But 99% of people use Easy Apply and get discouraged.

Here's how you can use cold email to land your dream job in under 60 days for less than $350:

(I'm doing this for my girlfriend) 1) Scrape LinkedIn Jobs and Apollo

- Go to LinkedIn jobs
- Search your role + location
- Copy URL into ExportLists LinkedIn scraper
- Upload CSV to Apollo to find decision-maker emails
- Download CSV with emails and run it through MillionVerifier

Now...

Cold email is changing.

I booked thousands of meetings sending 10,000,000+ cold emails in 2023.

I"m telling you, it's changing for good.

Some are happening right now.

Here are the top 4 changes you need to be aware of to keep booking meetings in 2024 and beyond: 1) Metrics Priority

I think people are finally waking up to the fact that open rates and reply rates are useless. Pure vanity metrics.

We have so many prospects ask us for those KPIs (we don't even track them).

The metrics that do matter:

If you know cold email basics and are still not booking calls, you have 1 of 2 issues:

1) An offer problem
2) A social proof problem

Here's how to fix both: 1) Offer Problem

→ Start promising an end-result
→ Strengthen your risk-reversal

This means you offer to work:

→ For free
→ On performance
→ With the promise of a full refund if needed

If you have a social proof problem...

Big trend in lead gen that's going to get a lot of people in trouble:

SMTP Server Testing.

You might try them to make scaling volume easier...

But you aren't aware of the glaring issue that can shut down your cold email system altogether.

Here's what you need to know: When it comes to email providers, most people just use Google and Microsoft.

You and I both know, they're extremely easy to manage.

But there's also providers setting up their own email servers.

They're much cheaper, and let you automate inbox creation, SPF/DKIM setup, etc..

If mainstream celebrities sold brutally honest info products:

(A thread) Leonardo DiCaprio:

My team conducts 150-200 demos per month.

In them, prospects usually say the same 3 pain points from working with other lead gen vendors.

Here's what they say (required reading for lead gen agency owners): 1) Unrealistic Expectations

Agencies promise whatever it takes to get the deal done, but can't deliver.

To solve for it:

- Set expectations at onboarding
- Teach the client results are offer-dependent

Next:

95%+ of people scale cold email volume the wrong way.

This leads to:

- Wasted leads
- Burned domains
- A lack of meetings

Truth is, there's a few things you need to do before scaling volume.

Here's a 3-minute volume-scaling masterclass (that's beginner-friendly): Before scaling volume, you need to do everything you can to get email-to-lead ratio as low as possible.

Ideally in batches of 1,500 leads test:

- Offers
- Angles for the offer

Until you don't see email-to-lead ratio getting any lower.

Basically...

Cold email success is so much easier to measure than most will admit.

I've sent 10,000,000+ cold emails for over 175 clients.

You only need to measure 3 things to tell if you're doing cold email right:

(It's not total meetings booked or open/reply rates) 1. Email-to-lead Ratio

How many total emails does it take to book a lead from the campaign?

1) Send a campaign (1,500 leads minimum)
2) Track email-to-lead ratio
3) Track new campaigns with the same offer against it moving forward

The next one's even easier:

Productized services can change your life.

Here's how I'd build one to $10,000/month in 2024:

(starting from zero, in under 90 days) Disclaimer:

The following thread assumes you have a skill, or are willing to learn one.

You can sell productized:

- Animations
- Copywriting
- Video editing
- Graphic design
- Website design

The list goes on.

Learn one, and then do this:

I can almost guarantee this Tweet won't do well.

Ops-related Tweets never do,

But anyone serious about their agency for the next 5-10 years will definitely pay attention.

Here are 3 job post tips we're using right now that are landing us great talent: 1. Put Expectations In the JD

Doing this makes people think twice before applying.

For example, our CSM job postings say you need to be able to manage 50 clients.

It then asks if they've handled 20+ at one time.

This is like a pre-qualifier.

The next point's just as crucial:

The cold email tip anyone can use to book 15-20% more meetings

(without hyper-personalizing each email)

The Obvious Yes Method: This method is best explained with a story.

We have a client in the corporate gifting industry.

They were struggling to book meetings, but couldn't figure out why.

We took a look at their offer, targeting, and messaging — and one thing became extremely clear:

The easy (but risky) method to get a list of prospects ready to buy from you: 1. Go to your competitors' LinkedIn company pages
2. Scrape followers
3. Pull domain names
4. Get contacts with Export Apollo
5. Verify + validate w/MillionVerifier and Scrubby
6. Personalize w/Quicklines

And now...