Welcome to Outbound Wizards. Issue 21.
Solid week.
We’re hard at work on the Agentic Mode.
It’s crazy how far AI has come.
I just read a post from a leading lead gen influencer, and he mentioned how he is now able to run an AI agent that basically does the work of his agency without involving any humans.
Here’s the post: |
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And it kind of corroborates what we are seeing as well. We have one lead gen agency from the UK that's using SalesRobot via our newly released MCP, and he actually was able to cut down his headcount spend by nearly 50%. He has much more margin to play around with now.
So interesting, we're in for some interesting times. There's definitely going to be turbulence, and there's definitely going to be job loss, but at the same time I think there's going to be new kinds of jobs that emerge and sort of replace the old ones. |
That's what always happened with technology.
By the way, I know some of you read my newsletter just for pictures of my kids.
I'm going to be posting a lot more of them on my Instagram, so you can follow me there.
I'm trying to post more on Insta (I just made my profile public) |
Here it is: https://www.instagram.com/sauravgupta.ai/ |
Anyway, off to LinkedIn automation news.
In this issue: |
Milestones: Key metrics on our path to 10,000 users (currently at 5582, slight growth!)
LinkedIn Message Roast: We find the worst performing LinkedIn Messages from real SalesRobot users and show you how we'd save the campaign (after making fun of them of course lol)
Outbound Wizard of the Week: I talk to Orestas from A-Sales on running ABM campaigns for Google that booked meetings with McDonald's and Bank of America, and a field service management campaign that landed 600 appointments in 8 months by cold calling US plumbers and HVAC companies with Clay-enriched technician counts.
We explore his $5K/month OpenAI spend creating real-time AI spintax within fixed email structures to crack Outlook deliverability, combined with 10+ year aged domains where other agencies land in spam.
Orestas shares his journey from 100% commission early days to VP of Accounts after sending 5M+ emails, explaining why local business cold calling beats email every time (plumbers pick up because it might be a customer) and why tracking downstream close rates matters more than meetings-booked vanity metrics.
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Milestones |
MRR: $83,120 (down 🙁) |
Where we stand: |
[GOOD NEWS] Sales demos done (from 7 Jul 2026 - 14 Jul 2026): 9 (demo numbers continue to be low, but average revenue per demo has gone up massively)
[GOOD NEWS] Free Trials Started (from 7 Jul 2026 - 14 Jul 2026): 105 (averaging ~15 signups per day, up)
[GOOD NEWS] New subscription revenue: $1000 in new + upgrade revenue from 21 users (significant increase)
[BAD NEWS] Downgraded subscription revenue: $3100 in downgrades and churn since I sent the last newsletter
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LinkedIn Message Roast |
Now, let’s dive into the LinkedIn message a SalesRobot user sent to 177 people on LinkedIn and got a whopping 0% response rate
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The Message Copy (some parts [REDACTED] to hide the identity of the user): |
LinkedIn Outreach Sequence: [REDACTED]'s Payment Token Solution Campaign |
Performance Overview |
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Step 1: Send Connection Request |
Timing: Initial outreach |
Message: [Standard connection request - no custom message shown] |
Result: 19.89% acceptance rate (34/176) |
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Step 2: First Message (Failed Card Renewals Pain Point) |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 1] |
Message: |
Hi [firstName], |
[I saw that [profile observation]] |
Out of curiosity - are failed card renewals sneaking into your MRR? |
Small teams like yours often lose 10-15% to token glitches across Stripe/Paddle, plus the weekend recovery emails suck. |
[REDACTED] gives one token that hits all your PSPs without code changes – just plug and approve more payments. |
Happy to discuss further if relevant to [companyName | default: "your company"]! |
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Step 3: Follow-up Message ([REDACTED] Lock-in Angle) |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 2] |
Message: |
[firstName], |
Still curious if security gaps or PSP lock-in slow down testing cheaper options? |
Many small SaaS leaders we work with faced constant decline recoveries plus the hassle of mismatched tokens across gateways. |
A single token routes securely to any PSP, freeing you from lock-in and manual fixes. |
Let me know if it's worth showing you how it's done. |
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Step 4: Follow-up Message (Social Proof + Timeline Options) |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 3] |
Message: |
[firstName], |
A lot of other [jobTitle] could effortlessly tackle PSP lock-in, boosted approvals 15%, and eased security burdens with one flexible token setup. |
If declines, compliance, or multi-PSP issues ring true at [companyName | default: "your company"], happy to discuss further. |
Time for a quick chat in the next few days, or perhaps in Q1? |
Cheers,
[REDACTED] |
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I know we've roasted something similar before, but this was so bad it deserved a rewrite. |
"Out of curiosity - are failed card renewals sneaking into your MRR?"
(Nobody wakes up thinking "I wonder if token glitches are sneaking into my MRR" - this is YOUR obsession, not theirs!)
"Small teams like yours often lose 10-15% to token glitches"
(Calling someone's company "small" in a sales pitch is like telling someone on a first date "you're shorter than I expected")
"plus the weekend recovery emails suck."
(Going from technical jargon to "suck" is the tonal equivalent of wearing a tuxedo with flip flops!)
"[REDACTED] gives one token that hits all your PSPs without code changes"
(PSPs? Tokens? Code changes? This reads like a developer's Slack message, not a sales pitch!)
"just plug and approve more payments."
(Making payment infrastructure sound as simple as plugging in a toaster - very trustworthy!)
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This is what they should have done instead: |
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Step 1 - Connection Request (With actual message): |
Hi [firstName], |
I noticed [companyName] processes payments through [observedProvider] based on your checkout page. |
I help SaaS companies recover revenue lost to failed payments and would value connecting. |
Best, |
[fullName] |
Payment Recovery Specialist |
PCI Proxy |
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Step 2 - Message (After acceptance): |
Thanks for connecting, [firstName]! |
Quick question - what happens at [companyName] when a customer's credit card fails on renewal day? |
Most SaaS companies we audit lose 8-12% of MRR to involuntary churn because their retry logic is either nonexistent or poorly timed. |
We helped [similarCompany] recover $47K in annual MRR by implementing one specific change: retrying failed weekend transactions on Monday mornings when bank approval rates are 23% higher. |
Would a 15-minute call make sense to show you their exact recovery workflow? |
Best, |
[fullName} |
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Step 3 - Follow-up (New angle): |
Hi [firstName], |
Different question - is [companyName] locked into [paymentProvider], or have you considered testing alternatives? |
Most SaaS companies want to A/B test processors because approval rates vary 15-20% by geography, but switching means re-tokenizing every stored card. |
We helped [similarCompany] test 3 processors simultaneously without migrating any customer data. Discovered [provider] had 12% better EU approval rates - saved them $89K annually just by routing intelligently. |
Would a breakdown of your potential approval rate improvements be useful? |
Best, |
[fullName] |
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Step 4 - Final attempt (Free value): |
Hi [firstName], |
Last message - I ran a quick health check on [companyDomain]'s payment setup: |
- Current retry logic: [observation] |
- Estimated monthly failed payments: $[estimate] |
- Recovery opportunity: $[annual estimate] |
No obligation - just thought you'd want to see the numbers. |
Want the full breakdown? |
Best, |
[fullName] |
[phone] |
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GTM Engineer of the Week: Orestas Nariunas of A-Sales, Europe’s #1 lead gen partner |
1. What kind of clients do you work with? |
Orestas is VP of Accounts at A-Sales, Europe's #1 lead gen partner. He's sent 5M+ cold emails and booked 3,000+ sales meetings across his career, with 200+ hours in Clay.
Client Profile: SaaS companies, startups, and local businesses across all industries globally.
Sweet spot: SaaS companies selling digitally (location-agnostic, mappable ICP, large lead pool). Minimum 20K leads in the TAM, otherwise they shift to account-based marketing with full-stack LinkedIn + cold call + email + CRM nurturing.
Notable Clients: Google, Jotform, plus many under NDA. Booked meetings with McDonald's, Bank of America, and other Fortune 5000 companies through ABM campaigns.
The Feedback Loop: "We ask every week: how are the calls we're bringing you? Sure, you might hit your meetings-booked target, but if they're not closing, it's hard to justify keeping us. A lead gen agency that doesn't track downstream quality is just burning money for the client." |
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2. What is the most creative campaign you have run? |
Google ABM Campaign: Given a set list of accounts. Enriched with direct mobile numbers and all data points via Clay. Ran full-stack: LinkedIn posts, LinkedIn webinars, cold calling, cold email, all hitting the same account list.
Booked meetings with McDonald's, Bank of America, and other Fortune 5000 companies. "To land an appointment here, you can't just call some random person and say 'we do XYZ.' It's a bit more than that."
Field Service Management SaaS (Local Biz): Targeting plumbing, HVAC, electrician companies in the US. 600 appointments in 8 months via cold call + cold email (no LinkedIn cause "local biz aren't really on LinkedIn").
Used Clay to estimate number of service technicians per company, then mentioned it on calls. "Before the client speaks to that lead, they already have a bunch of context. We had a lot of qualification steps, not random one-man companies. Pretty established HVAC and plumbing firms."
Outlook Deliverability Hack: Spending $5K/month on OpenAI API credits through Clay. Every email has AI-generated variables within a fixed structure, acts like "real-time spintax that changes more regularly." Subject line different every time. No email signature. No spam words. 1-2 personalized sentences. Combined with aged domains (10+ years) for consistent Outlook inboxing where other agencies struggle.
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3. How did you get into this space? |
Started in sales doing cold calling, cold email, and LinkedIn outreach for 2-3 years in the trenches. Stumbled across Dennis (CEO of A-Sales), saw an opportunity, joined.
"I've been here when we were working with a super small clientele, almost on 100% commission. In the early days, how you had to do it to get the first clients." Scaled by stacking case studies, recording customer interviews, publishing detailed write-ups on the website.
Learning Method: "A lot of trial and error, to be honest. I spent years in it. You launch a campaign, it doesn't work because of XYZ—maybe the offer, the lead list, the Clay table. YouTube is a good friend. AI for market research, persona targeting, finding lead sources other agencies aren't looking at. And the guides on SmartLead, Instantly, Clay—they're super helpful for beginners."
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4. Where do you see this whole space going? |
GTM Engineering as Career:
"Clay's valued at billions. Job opportunities on LinkedIn paying quite solid salary compared to other sales jobs. It's a super valuable skill set to learn. It's never going to die because outbound's always there. If one channel gets harder, you move to another—you already have the skills."
Competitive Health:
"Tools coming out almost every day. Everyone's trying to one-up someone. Super competitive, but super healthy. You're always competing against someone else, always hustling."
Deliverability as Differentiator:
Predicts 2025-2026 rewards teams who treat deliverability like product quality control. Aged domains, AI-varied copy, zero spam words, no signatures—the agencies who crack Outlook inboxing will pull ahead while others struggle.
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5. What advice would he have for somebody starting as a GTM Engineer today? |
Match channel to industry: "Local business: cold calling smashes out of the park every time. Plumbers, electricians, construction—they're out on job sites, won't check email, but they'll pick up because it might be a customer inquiry. Digital/SaaS companies: cold email + LinkedIn works best, especially tied together."
Track downstream quality, not just meetings: "Even if you're on results basis, if the client books 100 meetings and closes none, they can't justify keeping you. Ask every week: how are the leads, what objections are coming up, can we handle those before the sales call to make closing easier?"
Build social proof relentlessly: "If you're not posting on LinkedIn, post 3-4 times a week. You'll never have the perfect post—just do it. When someone gets a good outbound email, they Google your domain, check your website, check case studies, check your LinkedIn. That digital footprint sells for you before you ever get on a call."
Invest in aged domains: "Worth paying premium over fresh .com domains from Porkbun or GoDaddy. 10+ year old domains inbox into Outlook reliably where others struggle. Campaigns run longer. Pays off in the long run."
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Connect with Orestas: |
LinkedIn: Orestas Nariunas Company: A-Sales (Europe's #1 Lead Gen Partner) SmartLead Certified Partner
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Listen to the episode: |
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That’s it for Issue #21 of Outbound Wizards
If you found this helpful, share it with a friend. Got feedback? Shoot me a reply—I read every one of them. |
Thanks for following along.
Saurav G.
Founder, SalesRobot 2.0
Follow me on LI |
