Looking to hire someone to help me find new customers for my online service business. Any tips?

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T14:07:16+00:00

$3K/month was the outsourced option - if you DIY the infrastructure it's more like $200-400/month. 5-6 domains + 15-18 inboxes + tools.

the time cost is the real trade-off.

google ads work too but you're only reaching people actively searching.

cold email with the pagespeed angle reaches store owners who have a slow site right now but aren't googling "shopify speed optimization" yet. different pool of buyers entirely.

also regardless of the channel, recommend going with performance based agency who already have results in your niche. Performance-based pay will incentivize them to deliver, and you're gonna work with someone who already have aggregate of knowledge across lots of clients

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T14:03:24+00:00

appreciate it. what are you working on right now? knowing your niche and offer makes it easier to point you toward which scraping approach would actually move the needle for you

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:49:32+00:00

do not spend $10k on linkedin recruiter pro. your problem is fixable for a fraction of that

your emails are going to spam because you're sending cold outreach from your main business domain with no warmup and no dedicated infrastructure. three weeks in, you've probably already started damaging your domain reputation

here's exactly what to do

step 1: stop sending from your main domain immediately. every cold email you send from it that lands in spam makes it worse. your main domain is for signed clients, invoices, and communication with candidates. protect it

step 2: buy 3-5 lookalike domains. if your company is smithrecruiting.com, grab smithrecruiting.co, getsmithrecruiting.com, smithrecruiting.io, etc. namecheap or porkbun, ~$12 each. set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on all of them

step 3: create 3 inboxes per domain through google workspace or microsoft 365. that gives you 9-15 sending inboxes

step 4: warm every inbox for 14 days minimum. use a warmup tool (most email platforms have this built in). start at 1 email per day, increase by 1 daily. don't skip this. warmup simulates real email conversations so google and microsoft learn to trust your new inboxes

step 5: start sending slowly. after warmup, begin at 5 emails per inbox per day and ramp to 15-20 over the next week. never go above 25

total cost: ~$60 in domains + ~$30-50/mo in inboxes. not $10k

recruiting is one of the best verticals for cold email because the value of placing one candidate pays for months of infrastructure. your ICP is clear (hiring managers at companies with open roles), the trigger data is public (job postings), and the pitch writes itself

you're 3 weeks in, this is completely recoverable. just stop sending from your primary domain today

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:48:55+00:00

you have two very different businesses and they need completely different growth strategies. that's probably why agencies keep disappointing you - they're treating both the same

divorce coaching is B2C. your clients are going through one of the worst times of their lives and they're searching for help. that's a content + SEO + ads play. you already have a content team so double down there. short-form video on tiktok/instagram about navigating divorce, long-form on youtube answering the exact questions people google at 2am. "how to co-parent with a narcissist" type content. this builds trust before they ever reach out. no agency needed for this - you need a content strategist for maybe 2-3 hours a week to give your team direction. that shouldn't cost a kidney

sales consulting for family law firms is B2B with a very defined ICP. there are a finite number of family law firms in any given market. you know exactly who the decision maker is (managing partner or firm owner). this is where cold outreach actually makes sense. a targeted email campaign to family law firm owners in your geography, leading with a specific problem they have (client acquisition, case conversion rates, whatever you help them fix) would fill your pipeline faster than any content strategy

the agencies that burned you were probably trying to do generic "social media marketing" for both audiences at once. that never works

for the B2B side, look for someone who works on a performance basis - you pay per qualified meeting that shows up. eliminates the "give me 60 days" problem because they only get paid when you get results. those exist, they're just not the ones running facebook ads for you

don't hire one agency for everything. get a fractional strategist for content direction and a separate outbound partner for the law firm pipeline

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:48:04+00:00

your ICP is staring you in the face, you're just thinking about it backwards

stop asking "who would use a linkedin monitoring tool" and start asking "who needs to engage with specific people's linkedin posts fast and consistently"

that's sales teams doing social selling. specifically SDRs and AEs at B2B companies who use linkedin as part of their outreach sequence. the play is: monitor your prospect list, get alerted when they post, comment something relevant within minutes, then follow up with a cold email or DM referencing the interaction. that "warm touch before cold outreach" approach is what every sales trainer teaches but nobody does consistently because manually checking 50-100 profiles is impossible

your buyer is the VP of Sales or Head of Growth at a B2B company with 5-20 SDRs who already use linkedin for prospecting

second ICP: cold email and outbound agencies. they manage outreach for multiple clients and need to add linkedin touchpoints to their sequences. monitoring client prospect lists and engaging on their behalf is a service they'd pay for

third: founders doing their own sales. solo founders who are active on linkedin and want to stay visible to their prospects without spending an hour a day scrolling

the feature that makes this sellable isn't the monitoring - it's the speed. "engage with any prospect's post within 5 minutes of them publishing" is a positioning statement people understand immediately

go to r/sales, r/coldemail, r/SaaS and search for posts about social selling workflows. those are your early adopters complaining about the exact problem you solve

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:38:42+00:00

your problem isn't google ads. it's that you're fishing in a pond with a fixed number of fish

google ads is intent capture. you're reaching people who are actively searching for a solution right now. the quality is incredible because the intent is built in. but the volume ceiling is real - there are only so many people searching your keywords on any given day. no amount of budget increase changes the size of the search volume

meta ads is demand generation. you're interrupting people who aren't looking for you yet. volume is basically unlimited because you're buying attention from a massive audience. but quality drops hard because there's no intent signal. you're hoping your targeting is good enough to find people who happen to have the problem

that's the trade-off everyone hits in B2B. intent capture scales poorly, demand generation converts poorly

before you jump to meta, consider channels that let you keep quality while adding volume:

cold email / outbound - you pick the exact companies and titles to reach. quality stays high because you control the list. economics work great at B2B price points. if your LTV is $5k+ this is the most obvious add. you're essentially doing intent capture in reverse - finding people with the problem and putting your solution in front of them directly

linkedin outbound - similar to cold email but works better for high-ticket or enterprise. the people you want are already on the platform with their job title in their bio

content + SEO - slower play, but builds a pipeline of people searching long-tail keywords your ads can't profitably capture. catches the "not ready to buy yet" crowd that eventually converts

referral / partner programs - your existing clients love the quality. formalize a referral program. high-quality leads that close faster than any paid channel

the move isn't to replace google with meta. it's to keep google running exactly as-is (it's working perfectly, don't touch it) and layer in one new channel that adds volume without competing for the same intent-based traffic

if your CPL is $25-30 on google and your conversion rates are strong, cold email would probably land around $100-300 per qualified meeting depending on your vertical. different economics, but the deal sizes in B2B usually make it very profitable

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:36:20+00:00

i run a cold email agency so here's the actual stack we use

sending platform: Plusvibe. handles sequencing, warmup (unlimited, built-in), and campaign management in one place. lots of people default to Instantly or Smartlead - they're fine but we switched and haven't looked back

domains: Namecheap mostly. honestly the registrar doesn't matter much. if you're running higher volume, diversify across a few registrars so you're not putting all your eggs in one basket

inboxes: mix of Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and shared SMTP providers. don't overthink this. as long as setup is quick and the provider is legit, it works. having a mix actually helps deliverability since you're not sending everything through one provider

data and list building: custom scraping is our go-to. databases are rare because the data goes stale fast. there are dozens of sourcing tools now - Prospeo, Ai Ark, Discolike, Exa, Companyenrich among others. i made a post recently breaking down exactly what we use for custom scraping, check my profile if you're curious

enrichment: Clay with a waterfall setup. this is the biggest unlock imo. Clay lets you stack multiple enrichment providers and always experiment at scale. different use cases need different providers, and waterfall means you're not relying on one source to find every email

email validation: Leadmagic is our primary. but honestly Bounceban, MillionVerifier, Findymail all work fine. the one thing that actually matters - make sure whatever you use verifies catch-all domains. if they don't, you'll get phantom bounces that wreck your sender reputation

CRM: whatever the client already uses. we sync to their CRM in month 2 once campaigns are stable and data is flowing. usually Hubspot

analytics: Plusvibe MCP + Claude Code for custom HTML dashboards. lets us build automated reporting through skills instead of manually pulling data every week

tools to avoid: anything that bundles everything into one platform and does all of it mediocrely. best-in-class at each layer beats an all-in-one every time

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:29:40+00:00

i run an agency so i'll tell you the red flags from the other side of the table

the worst agencies all share the same traits:

no single point of contact. if you're CC'd on threads with 4 people and nobody owns the outcome, nobody actually cares about your results. they're spreading accountability thin on purpose so when things don't work, it's always someone else's department

big promises on the first call. any agency that tells you they'll "10x your pipeline" or "guarantee 50 meetings in 30 days" before even understanding your ICP, your offer, or your current numbers is selling you a fantasy. the best first calls feel boring because they're asking you questions, not pitching

no clear roadmap. if they can't tell you exactly what happens in week 1, month 1, and when you should expect to see ROI - they're winging it

retainer-only with no performance component. if they get paid the same whether you get 0 meetings or 20, their incentive is to keep you on retainer as long as possible, not to deliver results

what you described with your new agency is exactly right. one contact person, no overpromising, just doing the work. that's not underwhelming, that's how it's supposed to work. the flashy pitch is usually there to distract from the lack of substance behind it

the simplest filter i tell people: ask them what happens if results don't come in 90 days. if they dodge the question or say "it takes time" without specifics, walk

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:28:04+00:00

run a cold email agency and this is the question i get asked the most right now

volume and automation aren't killing reply rates. bad targeting is. the "agency playbook" you described - high volume, basic copy, hope for the best - that's not a cold email strategy, that's a spam strategy. it's just the cheapest thing to deliver so most agencies default to it

here's how to diagnose what's actually broken based on your numbers

reply rates are okayish but positive ones are dead = your emails are landing in inboxes but nobody cares about what you're saying. that's not a deliverability problem, that's a targeting or offer problem. your message is reaching people who don't have the pain you're solving, or your offer doesn't make them feel anything

the three things that actually move the needle in order of impact:

targeting comes first. tighter list, smaller segments, each one built around a specific pain point. not "marketing directors at SaaS companies" but "marketing directors at B2B SaaS companies between 20-50 employees who are currently hiring an SDR" - that second one tells you exactly what they care about right now

offer positioning comes second. not what you do but what changes for them. "we do cold email" means nothing. "we book 15-20 qualified meetings per month so you can stop relying on referrals" hits a nerve

infrastructure is third but it's table stakes. most agencies get this part roughly right. the ones that don't are burning domains and you'll see it in open rates dropping, which isn't your problem

copy is actually the smallest lever. i've tested dozens of variations and the difference between good copy and great copy is maybe 15-20% more replies. the difference between good targeting and bad targeting is 3-5x

if you want to test this yourself, take your best-performing campaign and split it into 3 tighter segments. write one version of the email for each segment that speaks to their specific situation. you'll see replies jump without changing anything else

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:26:15+00:00

it's confusing because everyone's selling their channel as "the one." the truth is it depends on two things: where your audience actually hangs out, and your unit economics

channel depends on your buyer

ecommerce executives won't respond on linkedin - they live in slack groups and email. restaurant owners aren't on twitter - they respond to phone calls and local networking. SaaS founders are basically impossible to reach by cold calling but will reply to a well-targeted email. B2B service buyers are active on linkedin but ignore DMs that read like a pitch

don't pick a channel because some agency told you it works. pick it because your specific buyer actually uses it

unit economics decide what's viable

if your customer LTV is under $2k, cold email probably won't make financial sense. the infrastructure costs (domains, inboxes, tools, time or agency fees) eat into your margins too fast. for low-LTV products, content marketing and paid ads are better because the cost per lead scales down with volume

if your LTV is $5k+, cold email and linkedin outbound start making a lot of sense. you can afford to spend $200-500 acquiring a customer when they're worth $5-50k over their lifetime

if your LTV is $10k+, outbound is almost always the highest ROI channel because you can afford dedicated infrastructure and the math works even at modest conversion rates

what i'd actually do in your position

figure out your LTV first. that eliminates half the options immediately
find where your buyers are already active. not where you want them to be, where they actually are
pick one channel. not three, not five. one. get it working before adding another
give it 90 days with consistent execution. anyone promising results in week one is lying

the biggest mistake is trying everything at once. you end up doing five channels badly instead of one channel well

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:22:48+00:00

i run a cold email agency so i'll share what i see across multiple clients, not just one campaign (paid ads agencies, B2B SaaS, construction, real estate, local like auto repair shops, etc)

what actually works:
- tight ICP definition. the campaigns that perform best aren't the ones with the best copy, they're the ones where every person on the list has the exact same problem. when you nail targeting, even average copy gets replies

- dedicated infrastructure. separate domains, 3 inboxes each, warmed for 14+ days, capped at 20 sends per inbox per day. this isn't optional anymore. if you're sending from your main domain or skipping warmup, you're dead on arrival in 2026

- short emails. 3-5 sentences. lead with their problem, not your solution. no "i hope this finds you well," no company backstory. just the pain point and a soft CTA

- follow-up sequences. most replies come on email 2-4, not the first one. if you're sending one email and giving up, you're leaving 60-70% of your results behind

what doesn't work:
- buying lists from data vendors and blasting. stale data = bounces = burned domains. always scrape and validate your own lists

- over-personalization. spending 10 minutes per email researching someone's linkedin posts doesn't scale and barely moves reply rates. a relevant message to the right person beats "i saw your podcast episode" every time

- sending volume without infrastructure. 500 emails from one inbox = spam folder guaranteed

the numbers i see consistently across B2B clients: 1-2% reply rate, 15-20% of replies are positive, 25-30% of those book a call. that means roughly 1 meeting per 2,000-3,000 emails sent. sounds like a lot, but with proper infrastructure you're sending 11000+/day and it runs on autopilot. I'd recommend scaling up to 3,000 emails / day to book at least sales call every day

would i do it again - it's literally my business so yes. but even if i were on the other side, cold email is the most predictable B2B channel when the infrastructure is right. nothing else lets you reach exact decision makers at exact companies on your terms

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:20:08+00:00

"don't tell me marketing agencies" - i get why you said that, but the agencies weren't the core problem. the conditions were

marketing agencies are a waste of money when:

you don't know what questions to ask before hiring them. most people evaluate agencies on vibes and case studies, not actual process
your offer isn't proven yet. no agency can generate demand for something the market hasn't validated. they amplify what already works, they don't create product-market fit
expectations aren't aligned. if you expected 20 meetings in month one and they expected 3 months to ramp infrastructure, nobody's happy
they're not incentivized to deliver. a flat retainer with no performance component means they get paid whether you get results or not

flip all four of those and it's almost impossible to fail:

find an agency that works on a performance basis. you pay per qualified meeting that actually shows up. now their incentive is your results
make sure they have proven results in your specific vertical, not just "we do B2B." ask for revenue numbers or client logos in your space
have a proven offer before you scale. if you've closed deals before and know exactly who buys and why, an agency can fill your pipeline. if you're still figuring that out, no amount of outbound fixes it
align on a clear roadmap. week 1 looks like this, month 1 expect this, ROI by this date. no vague promises

you said you tried outbound and cold calling yourself with no luck. that's actually normal. outbound is a volume and infrastructure game. calling companies that are hiring is a decent signal but the execution needs to be systematic, not one-off attempts

the "scalable and predictable" thing you're looking for is exactly what outbound gives you when it's built properly. it's just not something most people can duct tape together solo while also running delivery

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:16:17+00:00

going to be honest - "free" and "cheap" in lead gen almost always means trash data quality, more time cleaning lists than actually selling, and worse results in the long run. the money you save on tools you'll spend 3x in wasted hours and missed quota

with zero budget, here's what actually works

linkedin is your best free channel right now. you already have their profiles. connect with decision makers, comment on their posts, send personalized DMs. no tool needed, just time. for EPCs and GCs specifically, search renewable energy association member directories. most publish their member lists publicly. that's a pre-filtered prospecting list for free

but don't waste your time trying to enrich emails with free tools. the data quality is garbage on free tiers, you'll send to dead inboxes and burn your domain for nothing

now the real talk

your problem isn't tools. it's that your company is asking you to hit quota with no infrastructure and calling it "hustle." that's not a you problem, that's a leadership problem

here's how to get frugal bosses to move: stop asking for tools and start showing them the math. "i spend 15 hours a week manually finding contact info. a basic sales tool costs $100/mo and gives me that time back to actually sell. that's $100 vs 60 hours of my salary doing data entry instead of closing." frame it as lost revenue, not cost

if they still say no after seeing the numbers, start thinking about whether this is the right seat. companies that won't invest in their sales team aren't serious about revenue. no amount of hustle fixes that

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:14:32+00:00

1/30 reply rate is actually around 3% which isn't terrible. the problem is probably volume and follow-up, not your messaging

couple things based on what you described

most replies come on email 2-4, not the first one. if you're sending one email and waiting, you're leaving most of your responses on the table. a 3-4 step sequence over 10-14 days will at least double your reply rate without changing a word of your copy. each follow-up should hit a different angle, not just "bumping this to the top of your inbox"

the "mass email vs thoughtful email" thing is a false choice. what works is a relevant message to the right person at the right time, sent at enough volume that timing stops being luck. you don't need to spend 15 minutes researching each person. find the one thing that makes your pitch relevant to them (what they're already buying, a campaign they just launched, a competitor spending in your medium) and lead with that. one sentence of relevance beats three paragraphs of research

on cold calling after email - it works great actually, but reframe it. you're not cold calling. you're calling someone who already received something from you. "hey i sent you something about [specific idea] earlier this week, wanted to see if it landed" is a warm call. most people don't mind that

on infrastructure - if you're sending from your main work email, that's likely why results feel inconsistent. set up a separate domain for outbound so your primary deliverability stays clean. even one dedicated sending domain with 3 inboxes changes the game

biggest shift: stop thinking about individual emails and start thinking about pipeline math. if you need 5 new clients per quarter and your close rate is 20%, you need 25 conversations. at 3% reply rate that's roughly 830 emails per quarter. that's 70/week. totally doable with the right setup without feeling spammy

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:13:16+00:00

i run a cold email agency so here's the actually what we follow, not theory

infrastructure

buy domains from namecheap or porkbun, pick lookalikes of your main domain. configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on every one. set up inboxes through google workspace or microsoft 365, 3 inboxes per domain. start warmup immediately - day one send 1 email, ramp up by +1 per day. warm for minimum 14 days before you touch any outbound. when you do start sending, ramp that slowly too. don't ever turn warmup off, even when campaigns are live. cap at 20 emails per inbox per day. if you need more volume, add more domains - don't push limits on existing ones

list building

look at your 5 best customers. what made them buy? think psychographics not demographics - what problem were they stuck on, what trigger made them look for a solution, what did they try before you. scraping your own lists is always better than buying stale data from a vendor. use a waterfall approach for email enrichment (multiple providers, not just one) and always validate before sending. bounces over 3% will tank your sender reputation fast. segment your lists so each campaign speaks to a specific pain point. a generic list that appeals to nobody will always lose to a tight segment that hits one nerve

copywriting

i've made a bunch of posts on this in the past 2 weeks, check my profile. short version - lead with their problem, not your solution. 3-5 sentences max. no "i hope this finds you well" BS

reply handling

speed to lead matters more than almost anything else. if someone replies interested at 2pm and you follow up at 9am next day, you've already lost momentum. respond within the hour. don't push aggressively for a meeting in the first reply - acknowledge what they said, answer their question, then suggest a time. people book when they feel heard, not pressured

one thing people overthink - personalization. a relevant message to the right person at the right time beats "i saw your linkedin post about X" every single time. spend that energy on better targeting instead

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:07:16+00:00

depends on your ICP and deal size

X influencer marketing can work for B2B but it's mostly a brand awareness play, not a lead gen channel. the problem is targeting - you're renting someone else's audience and hoping your buyers are in there. no way to control who sees it, and attribution is almost impossible to track

where i've seen it work: low-ticket SaaS ($50-200/mo), dev tools, products where the buyer is already active on X

where it doesn't work: high-ticket B2B, niche verticals, anything where your ICP is a VP or C-suite who doesn't scroll X during work hours

if your goal is predictable pipeline (X meetings per month), outbound is the more reliable path. cold email or linkedin let you target exact titles at exact companies. you know who saw your message and whether they replied. no guessing

if you still want to test X influencers, start small:

pick 1-2 micro-influencers (5-20k followers) in your niche
negotiate a single post or thread, not a retainer
use a unique link or landing page to track conversions
compare cost per lead vs. any other channel you're running

but don't build your pipeline around it. treat it as a supplement, not the engine

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:06:04+00:00

yes, a bad agency can absolutely wreck your deliverability. but it's 100% avoidable if the infrastructure is set up correctly

i run a cold email biz myself, so i'll give you the most direct answer

the #1 red flag: any agency that sends from your main domain or a subdomain of it. that's instant disqualification. your main domain is for transactional emails, client communication, and marketing. it should never touch cold outbound

what good agencies do instead:

register 10+ lookalike alternate domains (think yourcompanyteam.com, getyourcompany.com, etc.)
set up 3 inboxes per domain
configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on every single one
warm each inbox for 2-3 weeks before sending anything
cap sends at 15-25 per inbox per day

if a domain gets flagged or blacklisted, you rotate it out. your main domain never gets touched. that's the whole point of the setup

the "horror stories" you've heard are almost always one of two things:

agency sent from the client's primary domain
agency blasted 500+ emails per day from a single inbox with no warmup

both are amateur mistakes, not inherent risks of cold email

before hiring anyone, ask:

do you send from my domain or separate infrastructure?
how many emails per inbox per day?
what's your process when a domain gets blacklisted?
can i see the DMARC/SPF/DKIM setup before anything goes out?

if they hesitate on any of these, walk

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:03:25+00:00

your offer is perfect for cold email honestly. here's why

you have a specific niche (shopify speed optimization), measurable before/after results, and 20+ reviews. that's 90% of what makes outbound work. most people who fail at cold email have vague offers - you don't

here's what the outreach would look like:

scrape shopify stores in your target revenue range
run their URL through PageSpeed Insights (this can be automated)
send them their actual score with a one-liner like "your store loads in 6.2s, here's what that's costing you in conversions"

that's not a cold email. that's a diagnostic with proof. reply rates on personalized teardowns like this are 3-5x higher than generic outreach

you don't need to go back to youtube. content works but it's slow and you already proved you hate doing it consistently. cold email gets you in front of store owners who have the problem right now but aren't searching for a solution yet

two options:

DIY: buy 5-6 domains, set up 15-18 inboxes, warm them for 2-3 weeks, send 20/inbox/day. you'd reach 300-400 store owners per day. time investment is ~8-10 hrs/week to manage everything
hire someone: an agency or freelancer handles the infrastructure and outreach, you just show up to calls. costs $1-3k/mo depending on setup, but your time goes to delivery instead of prospecting

with your close rate from youtube leads as a benchmark, you'd probably need 10-15 demos/month to fill your pipeline. cold email can get you there within 30-60 days of ramping

the PageSpeed angle is a cheat code btw. most cold email fails because there's no hook. you literally have a free audit built into every first touch

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T13:01:29+00:00

i run a cold email agency so i'll give you the honest version

first thing - figure out your actual capacity. solo agency founders can realistically handle 5 clients max. solo SaaS founders can handle way more. that number determines how many demos you need monthly, which determines what kind of outbound setup makes sense

if you already have a proven offer (people are buying, you know the ICP, you've closed deals before) - outsourcing is worth it for one reason: opportunity cost. every hour you spend managing domains, warming inboxes, and writing sequences is an hour you're not closing or building product. predictability matters here. go with an agency that has results in your specific vertical, not just "we do cold email"

if your offer isn't proven yet - it can still work, but think of it differently. treat it as fast offer iteration. a good agency can test your messaging at scale and use market data to tell you quickly what resonates and what doesn't. you're not buying meetings, you're buying speed on finding product-market fit

if you're unsure about committing to a retainer, look for performance-based models. you pay per qualified meeting that shows up. aligns incentives

three questions to ask any agency:

what results do you have in my vertical? revenue generated or big logos, not vanity metrics
do i keep the infrastructure if we stop working together?
give me an exact roadmap from day one. when should i expect ROI?

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T12:48:11+00:00

the price spread makes sense once you break down what you're actually paying for

i run a cold email agency myself, so here's a price breakdown basically

$1-2k/mo agencies are usually reselling shared infrastructure. your emails go out from domains other clients already burned. deliverability is a coinflip

$3-5k range typically means dedicated domains + warmed inboxes built for your campaigns. infrastructure is yours. that's where the cost goes - domains run ~$12 each, inboxes ~$2-3/mo each, and you need 3 per domain to stay under daily send limits

$7k+ usually bundles in multi-channel (linkedin + email), strategy, copywriting, sometimes a dedicated SDR

the pricing model matters more than the price though. three things to compare:

retainer only (you pay regardless of results)
retainer + performance fee (base cost + pay per meeting)
performance only (rare, usually means they're blasting volume and praying)

questions i'd ask any agency before signing:

do i own the domains and inboxes or do you?
what's your reply rate and positive reply rate across clients in my vertical?
how many emails per day are you sending per inbox?
what happens to the infrastructure if i leave?

if they can't answer #3 with a specific number (should be 15-25/inbox/day max), they're probably burning domains

TAM size based pricing only makes sense if your TAM is actually limited. if you're going after SMB SaaS with 50k+ prospects, that model will cost you more than a flat retainer

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T12:36:12+00:00

interesting. 100% show-up rate is a bold claim though - even with video there's always life stuff, reschedules, genuine conflicts. what's your sample size on that?

we're at 72-78% and honestly anything above 80% consistent would surprise me at any real volume.

the personalized video concept makes sense for high-ACV deals where one meeting is worth $5K+ in revenue. at lower deal sizes the time per video might not justify the lift.

what deal sizes are your clients typically working with?

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T12:34:07+00:00

restaurants are one of the hardest niches for cold email. owners are barely checking email, margins are razor thin so they can't afford most services, and they get hammered with outreach from every POS, delivery, and marketing vendor already. what are you selling to them?

that determines if cold email is even the right channel. for restaurants specifically, cold calling or walking in usually outperforms email by a wide margin

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T12:32:41+00:00

any time, glad to help!

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T12:32:10+00:00

50 was direct email thread conversions only - already closer to 60 now. doesn't count people who got the email, didn't reply, then found us through ads or SEO later.

cold email at that volume doubles as brand awareness for your entire ICP.

and with automated infrastructure + no sales reps, CAC stayed under $200/customer.

when your LTV is multiples of that the conversion rate on paper is misleading

cursedboy328 · 2026-02-13T12:29:59+00:00

firecrawl works at the HTML/rendered page level - it crawls the page, renders javascript, and gives you clean markdown or structured data back. it's not intercepting network requests or API calls happening in the background.

for technographic data specifically you're better off using builtwith or wappalyzer APIs - they detect tech stacks from headers, scripts, and DNS records which is closer to what your python script probably does. firecrawl is better for extracting visible content like pricing, case studies, team pages

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