1. Deliverability fundamentals

If your email lands in Promotions or Spam, none of the rest matters. Most "my outreach doesn't work" problems are actually deliverability problems.

1.1 The four DNS records you must have

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework) — tells receivers which servers may send for your domain.
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) — cryptographic signature; proves the email wasn't tampered with.
• DMARC — policy that tells receivers what to do if SPF/DKIM fail. Start with p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com, monitor for 2 weeks, then move to p=quarantine.
• BIMI (optional) — shows your logo next to the email in Gmail. Requires DMARC p=quarantine or stricter and a VMC certificate (~$1k/yr). Only worth it once you're sending high volumes.

1.2 Warm-up

A brand-new mailbox cannot send 50 cold emails on day one. It will tank. Use the auto-warmup feature in Smartlead, Instantly, or Mailreach for at least 3 weeks before you start cold sending. The tool will exchange ~20 emails per day with other warmed inboxes, "open," "reply," and "mark as important" — building your reputation.

2. The "1 main + 5 sending domains" stack

Never send cold from your main domain. If you get marked as spam, your customer-facing email (the one you send proposals from) gets blocked too.

Standard setup:

• 1 main domain — youragency.com. Used for proposals, replies after a meeting is booked, your website.
• 3–5 cold-sending domains — variations like get-youragency.com, youragency.io, youragency-team.com. Each has 2–3 mailboxes.
• Limit per mailbox: 30–40 sends/day. Five domains × 3 mailboxes × 35/day = ~525 cold sends/day. That's enough to book 5+ calls per week.

3. Tools at three budget tiers

Volume	Stack	Cost
~500 sends/week	Apollo (free) + Mailmeteor or one Smartlead seat	$0–$50/mo
~3,000 sends/week	Smartlead.ai + 5 Google Workspace inboxes + Apollo + NeverBounce	~$200/mo
~15,000 sends/week	Salesforge or Smartlead Enterprise + 15 inboxes + Clay + paid Apollo + Aircall + Twilio	~$1.5k/mo

4. The 7-touch sequence that actually works

Most replies happen between touches 3 and 5. Don't quit after 2.

Day	Channel	Goal
0	Email — soft personalized intro	Open + curiosity
2	Email — value drop (loom, screenshot)	Reply
5	LinkedIn connection (optional)	Familiarity
9	Cold call	Live conversation or voicemail
14	SMS (only if compliant — see Lesson 8)	Reply
21	Email — case study	Reply / book
30	Email — breakup	Reply or close

5. Email templates

The non-negotiable rules: keep it under 90 words, one ask, no marketing speak, write like a person. Variables in {{}}.

Template 5.1 — Day 0 — soft intro

Subject: quick note about {{ company }}

Hi {{ first_name }},

{{ ai_personalization }}.

I run a small agency that helps {{ niche }} in {{ city }} 
fix this stuff fast. Open to a 10-min call next week to 
show you what we're seeing on your site?

— {{ your_name }}

Template 5.2 — Day 2 — value drop

Subject: re: quick note about {{ company }}

{{ first_name }} — recorded a 90-second walkthrough of the 
3 things I'd fix on {{ company_url }}:

{{ loom_link }}

If any of it is useful, happy to do the same as a one-pager. 
If not, no worries.

— {{ your_name }}

Template 5.3 — Day 9 — voicemail script

"Hey {{ first_name }}, this is {{ your_name }} — sent you a 
note about {{ company }}'s site last week. No urgency, just 
wanted to make sure my email didn't go to spam. I'll send 
one more and then leave you alone. Have a good one."

Template 5.4 — Day 21 — case study

Subject: another {{ niche }} we just helped

{{ first_name }} — wanted to share a quick result before I 
move on:

We rebuilt {{ similar_company }}'s site + ran SEO for 90 
days. They went from 12 leads/mo to 47.

Same playbook would work for {{ company }}. Worth a 10-min 
call?

— {{ your_name }}

Template 5.5 — Day 30 — breakup

Subject: should I close your file?

{{ first_name }} — haven't heard back, totally fine. I'll 
close your file unless you reply with one of:

  1. Yes, send a calendar link.
  2. Wrong timing — try me in 90 days.
  3. Not interested, stop.

Whichever's true.

— {{ your_name }}

Seven more variants (different angles: review-driven, ad-spend, competitor-benchmark, GBP-based, SEO-audit, "your site is down," post-event) ship as part of the agency starter pack.

6. SMS, LinkedIn, and voicemail drops

6.1 SMS

Under U.S. TCPA rules, B2B SMS to a published business landline is generally allowed but must include the company name, an opt-out instruction, and not be sent before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time. Personal cell numbers require prior express consent.

Tool: Salesmsg or Twilio + a sequencer that hits a CRM webhook.

Sample SMS: "Hey [first name], [your name] from [agency] — sent you a note last week about [company]'s site. Mind if I send a 1-pager? Reply STOP to opt out."

6.2 LinkedIn

Send a connection request with a 1-line note ("saw your post on X"). Don't pitch in the request. After they accept, wait 2 days, then send a soft message — same energy as the email Day 0.

6.3 Voicemail drops

"Ringless voicemail" tools like SlyDial or Drop Cowboy can leave a voicemail without ringing the phone. Effective but in a regulatory gray area; the FCC has fined operators that drop ringless voicemails to consumer numbers. For B2B landlines/published numbers it's generally fine. Read the FCC guidance, or just call manually — it's the higher-converting option anyway.

7. The cold call script

Cold calls work for local-business outreach because owners answer their own phones. Three parts:

7.1 Pattern interrupt (10 sec)

"Hi {{ first_name }}, this is {{ your_name }} — quick 
question, did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Yes" → "No worries — when's better?" Book a callback.
"No" → continue.

7.2 Reason for the call (20 sec)

"I run a small agency that works with {{ niche }} in 
{{ city }}. I was looking at {{ company }}'s site and 
noticed {{ ai_personalization }}. I figured you'd want 
to know before I closed the tab."

7.3 CTA (10 sec)

"Worth jumping on a 10-minute call later this week so I 
can walk you through what we'd actually do? Or send a 
written one-pager — your call."

If they object: "Totally — send the one-pager?" If yes, get the email and end the call.

8. Compliance — the real rules in one page

Region	Email	SMS	Calls
U.S.	CAN-SPAM: real address, working unsubscribe, no deceptive headers. B2B cold email is legal.	TCPA: prior express written consent for autodialed/automated SMS to cell numbers. B2B landlines OK with opt-out.	National DNC list applies to consumers; B2B is exempt. Local time-of-day windows still apply.
Canada	CASL: opt-in or implied consent (existing business relationship within 2 yrs). Required identification & unsubscribe.	Same as email — CASL covers SMS.	CRTC unsolicited-call rules; DNC applies to most consumers.
UK / EU	GDPR + PECR: legitimate-interest can support B2B email to corporate addresses; consumer addresses (gmail, etc.) require consent. Always include unsubscribe and identification.	Soft opt-in or explicit consent.	TPS (UK) / national DNC equivalents.
Australia	Spam Act: consent (express or inferred), identify, unsubscribe.	Same.	Do Not Call Register applies to consumers.

9. Iterating on data

Track these per template, weekly:

• Open rate (only meaningful with prefetching disabled — Apple Mail will inflate it)
• Reply rate
• Positive reply rate
• Calls booked
• Closed-won

Kill any template that's been sent > 200 times with < 1.5% reply rate. Replace it. Test one variable at a time (subject line vs. opening line vs. CTA). Most "improvements" come from changing the personalization, not the body.

What to do this week

1. Buy 3 sending domains and connect 2 mailboxes each in Google Workspace.
2. Set SPF, DKIM, DMARC on all of them. Start warmup.
3. Wait 3 weeks. Use the time to finish Course 03 and 04 so you have something to sell.
4. Load the top-100 leads from Course 01 into Smartlead. Use Templates 5.1 → 5.5.
5. Ship 100 emails/day for 14 days. Track the metrics in Lesson 9.