Welcome to Outbound Wizards. Issue 19.
Well, it's time to call Outbound Wizards an occasional and not a weekly newsletter, given the last one was May 25.
We officially wrapped up May, and I realized I didn't even tell you guys the numbers.
First of all, good news: revenue is up 8.5%, and with this, we've officially crossed the $1M/year mark.
It took a lot to get here.
This isn't your typical get-rich-quick AI software story.
I wrote the first line of code by hand in June of 2020.
Got the first paying customer in October of 2020.
And lots of ups and downs in the middle.
We're finally reaching $1M/year exactly 6 years later.
This is not just an accomplishment of the SalesRobot team. I would like to thank you, the reader, and everybody in the SalesRobot ecosystem for believing in us and looking at our innovations in this field: the AI appointment setter, the AI voice note, and AI video capabilities - all of which help you in increasing reply rates and getting you better results from LinkedIn outreach.
And a huge thanks to Sam Altman and Dario Amodei for making amazing AI models that make our job easier.
And this milestone comes just in time for the twins to turn 1 year old (time is flying indeed!) |
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I just can't believe how tall they've gotten. And they have so much hair!
They were so tiny and bald just yesterday!
Anyway, back to LinkedIn automation news.
In this issue: |
Milestones: Key metrics on our path to 10,000 users (currently at 5521, 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 Louis from EraB2B on industrializing referrals to book 70 meetings in one week from 800 contacts by extracting champion networks with permission and outbounding under their name.
We explore his influencer-outbound hybrid that hits 6-8% meeting rates (versus the 0.5% baseline) and his Traction campaign generating 180 meetings from 4,000 entrepreneurs at 20-25% reply rates via email alone.
Louis shares his decade-long journey from teenage black-hat SEO to building custom LinkedIn scripts before any automation tools existed, beta-testing LinkedIn Helper and turning down Lemlist twice, explaining why full AI personalization looks artificial and every email should pass the shame test: if you can't say it face-to-face, rewrite it.
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Milestones |
MRR: $83,120 (up!) |
Where we stand: |
[GOOD NEWS] Sales demos done (from 25 May 2026 - 15 Jun 2026): 28 (demo numbers continue to be low, but average revenue per demo has gone up massively)
[GOOD NEWS] Free Trials Started (from 25 May 2026 - 15 Jun 2026): 315 (averaging ~15 signups per day, up)
[GOOD NEWS] New subscription revenue: $8200 in new + upgrade revenue from 52 users (significant increase)
[BAD NEWS] Downgraded subscription revenue: $1200 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 1833 people on LinkedIn and got a whopping 1.1% response rate |
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The Message Copy (some parts [REDACTED] to hide the identity of the user): |
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LinkedIn Outreach Sequence: Leadership Engagement & Keynote Speaker Campaign |
Step 1: View Profile |
Timing: Initial action |
Action: View the prospect's LinkedIn profile |
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Step 2: Follow Profile |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 1] |
Action: Follow the prospect's profile |
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Step 3: Like Post |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 2] |
Action: Engage with prospect's latest LinkedIn post |
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Step 4: Send Connection Request |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 3] |
Message: |
Hi [firstName], |
Great to connect. I help leaders boost team engagement and drive results. |
I'd love to connect and share ideas. |
Regards,
[REDACTED] |
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Step 5: View Profile |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 4] |
Action: View the prospect's profile again |
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Step 6: First Message (Client Name-Drop + Video) |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 5] |
Message: |
Thanks for connecting, [firstName]. |
I've worked with brands like Toyota, Westpac, and Thermomix, helping leaders tackle challenges in engagement, change, and growth. |
Many see lasting improvements after my sessions. I have attached a short personal video message that I think you will get great value from. |
[REDACTED] |
Regards,
[REDACTED] |
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Step 7: View Profile |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 6] |
Action: View the prospect's profile again |
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Step 8: Follow-up Message (Showreel + CTA) |
Timing: [Set days/hours after Step 7] |
Message: |
Hi [firstName], |
I hope you enjoyed the video I sent. Love to get your thoughts. |
Here's a short showreel that highlights my work with global organizations and the results I help teams achieve: |
[REDACTED] |
If you're interested, I'd be happy to discuss how this could benefit your team. |
Regards,
[REDACTED] |
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First of all, the sequence is damn long, but there are some things I like in here and some things I dislike. |
What I like: |
There are a lot of non-salesy notifications. Steps 1-3 are literally profile views, follows, and likes, which I love.
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After that, you get the connection request. Now what I don’t like about the messaging copy, let's get into that. |
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This is what they should have done instead:
Step 4 - Connection Request: |
Hi [firstName], |
I noticed [companyName] recently [specificLeadershipChallenge] - leadership engagement during that type of transition is critical. |
I'm a keynote speaker specializing in team engagement for [industry] and would value connecting. |
Best, |
[fullName] |
Step 6 - Message (After acceptance, NO unsolicited videos): |
Thanks for connecting, [firstName]! |
I saw [companyName] is [specificSituation] - most leadership teams struggle with employee engagement during that phase. |
I recently delivered a keynote at [similarCompany]'s leadership summit where their engagement scores jumped 23 points in the quarter following the event. |
Their CEO said the biggest shift was reframing how middle managers communicate change to frontline teams. |
Does [companyName] have any upcoming leadership events or team offsites where this might be relevant? |
Best, |
[fullName] |
Leadership Keynote Speaker |
[website with testimonials] |
Step 8 - Follow-up (Only if no response, NEW value): |
Hi [firstName], |
Different angle - I published a short article last week on why employee engagement programs fail during [relevantSituation]. |
The counterintuitive finding: companies that focus on manager confidence (not employee satisfaction) see 3x better engagement outcomes. |
Thought you might find it useful given what [companyName] is going through: [article link] |
If you're planning any leadership events this year, happy to discuss if a keynote on this topic would be relevant. |
Best, |
[fullName] |
Step 9 - Final attempt (Direct speaking ask): |
Hi [firstName], |
Last message - does [companyName] host annual leadership conferences or team summits? |
I'm building my 2026 speaking calendar and currently have availability for Q2-Q3. |
Recent engagements include: |
- [Company1] Leadership Summit (800 attendees) |
- [Company2] Annual Conference (keynote + workshop) |
- [Company3] Executive Retreat (team engagement focus) |
Client testimonial page with video clips: [website] |
If you're not the right person, would you mind pointing me to whoever handles speaker selection? |
Best, |
[fullName] |
[phone] |
Template variables by observable signals: |
Restructuring: "announced reorganization" = engagement crisis Growth: "doubled headcount" = culture/engagement challenges Leadership changes: "new CEO/VP" = alignment needs Remote/hybrid shift: "announced return-to-office" = engagement friction Low Glassdoor scores: Public employee satisfaction data
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GTM Engineer of the Week: Louis Deslus of EraB2B (A leading French lead gen agency) |
1. What kind of clients do you work with? |
Louis runs EraB2B, a full outbound agency operating across email, LinkedIn, Instagram, cold calling, and WhatsApp. His team handles strategy, infrastructure, targeting, extraction, data organization, CRM synchronization, and has SDRs who manage replies, qualify prospects, and send meetings to client calendars. |
Client Base: B2B companies across SaaS, industrial, and services. Strong focus on the French market ("If a company wants to target France, it's a specific market"), plus international clients. |
Louis segments new clients into two buckets before starting. Companies with validated product-market fit get direct outbound. Companies who think they have PMF but grew through word-of-mouth alone get a different treatment: "That is not a perfect product-market fit because you never did outbound. You need a research period. I'm going to help you find your product-market fit and have as many discussions as possible. I don't search for ROI. I search for product-market fit."
"Many competitors promise ROI. But if you don't have product-market fit, it's complicated." |
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2. What is the most creative campaign you have run? |
Industrialized Referral Campaigns (70 meetings in one week):
Louis identifies a client's champion: the best client who loves the product. With the champion's agreement, he extracts their first-degree LinkedIn network and writes copy using the champion's name.
Example: "Hello [first name], [champion name] recommended I contact you because we obtained [result]."
He shows the copy to the champion for approval, then sends at scale.
Results: 70 meetings in one week from 800 people. "More than 10% because the campaign runs longer than one week. I think it's 90% of meetings booked."
Influencer x Outbound Hybrid:
Some clients pay influencers, extract their first-degree network with permission, then outbound to those connections. "We mix influence and outbound. Boom. Not 90% meetings, but 6-8%. Normal percentage is 0.5%. 1% is a good campaign."
Traction Business Group Campaign:
Working with Traction (an entrepreneur group), organized 180 meetings from 4,000 contacts. 20-25% reply rate via email only, no LinkedIn. Worked because the copy focused on the entrepreneur as a person, not the company. "We talk about this guy, the prospect, and not about the company."
The Personalization Philosophy:
"We personalize a part of the email, not the full email. Full personalization looks artificial. People talk about 'full personalization AI, it's the future.' No. You need to talk like you talk in real life."
The Shame Test:
"If you can't say that email to your prospect in real life, if you are ashamed to say it, it's not good copywriting." He makes clients imagine crossing paths with the prospect at an event: "You know their title, you know they're at this event. What message would you send? What would you say face-to-face?"
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3. How did you get into this space? |
Black Hat SEO Origins (10+ years ago):
Built a PBN (private blog network) as a teenager, scraping and translating content to create websites. Sold it before a Google update wiped it. "I said: I'm lucky."
Pre-Tool Era LinkedIn Automation (8-9 years ago):
At his company, no LinkedIn automation tools existed. "Before MailChimp and everything, we used email marketing tools for prospecting because cold email tools didn't exist 9 years ago."
Hired a software engineer to build a custom LinkedIn automation script. "A bad script. Every three days it crashed. But it worked. I could automate 1,000 invitations a day per profile." Created an army of profiles, generated so much business he couldn't manage all the replies.
Beta Tester for LinkedIn Helper:
"LinkedIn Helper is the first LinkedIn automation tool in the world. I was in the beta. I showed my code to their team and we had a good relationship." Also beta-tested Prospectin (French founder). Lemlist tried to hire him twice. He stayed put.
The Career Arc:
Head of Growth at software companies (NeoDeal, Neostaff). Then launched EraB2B two years ago because "software doesn't make the magic. You can use software and do bad things with bad results. I want to put a good image on prospecting."
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4. Where do you see this whole space going? |
Destruction Incoming:
"In two or three years, we're going to destroy the image of prospecting. Google and LinkedIn will increase the limits because 95% of companies don't know automation is possible. Imagine when 10% more start automating and doing bad things. Lots of emails, lots of LinkedIn messages, lots of everything."
Anti-Network Effects:
"Prospecting is the opposite of Uber. If more people use it, effectiveness drops. More noise in every buyer's inbox. They lose faith in cold outreach, won't read your email or LinkedIn message."
Two Priorities Will Survive: Targeting and infrastructure.
Infrastructure is getting easier (tools like Mailpool, Mailreach handle the technical side). But targeting will get harder. "I don't know any tool who can do targeting well for a beginner. Strategy and targeting: who can I target, how can I extract them. That is the most difficult thing."
Back to Basics:
"Don't automate things if you don't know how to do them well manually. Do it well manually first. Say: 'Okay, that works. How can I automate with the same level of quality?' And if you don't know how, work with experts."
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5. What advice would he have for somebody starting as a GTM Engineer today? |
Do it well manually first:
"Don't automate things if you don't know how to do them. Do it well manually. Say 'okay, that works manually, how can I automate now, but with the same quality.' If you don't know how to industrialize, don't industrialize because you're going to destroy your brand."
Use the shame test on every email:
"If you can't say that email to your prospect face-to-face without feeling ashamed, it's not good copywriting." Record yourself reading the email aloud. If it sounds like something a person would say, ship it. If not, rewrite.
Don't personalize the full email:
"Full personalization of a full email looks artificial. Personalize a part. The specific parts should not be a full commercialization. You need to talk like you talk in real life."
Industrialize referrals:
Find your champion. Get their agreement. Extract their network. Write copy using the champion's name. Show them the copy. Then send at scale. "70 meetings in one week from 800 people. The best way to get clients is recommendation. How to industrialize the recommendation? That is the question."
Search for product-market fit before ROI:
"If a company raises money and doesn't have product-market fit, I help find the product-market fit first. I want as many discussions as possible. I don't search for ROI. I search for product-market fit. Many competitors promise ROI, but without product-market fit, it's complicated."
Cold calling still works:
"I love automation. I love AI. We do lots of automation. But cold calling is still good. You meet somebody, you talk to them. It's a natural thing."
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Connect with Louis: |
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Listen to the episode: |
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That’s it for Issue #19 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 |
