Started cold mailing few months ago. I have $0 to spend so started working for free.
Posting this mostly so i have some accountability, and so there's a record of what actually worked (or didn't) by the time i'm done.
Where i'm at right now: still $0/month from this offer. I do sell b2b email and phone leads on the side, so that's keeping some money coming in while i get this going. I've 10+ years in email marketing overall, but only about 8 months specifically doing b2b.
This is the model im running – I manage everything for the client start to end. Infra, dns setup, mailboxes, the sequencing, the copy itself, management – all of it. The client just covers all the costs, things like domains, mailboxes, leads, usually comes out to around $800 total. I don't charge anything until their first client actually closes from the campaign. May take 2-3 months. Once that happens, my retainer kicks in, starting at $3k/mo. Plan is to raise that in tiers as i build more proof, probably $5k, then eventually $10k for later clients.
For tools, i'm using instantly for sequencing, zapmail for the google mailboxes, and i've also got my own custom smtp setup running alongside that. For extracting leads I am using a few tools myself so leads are extracted inhouse by myself.
I've worked with 6 clients total so far, but only 3 are still active. The other 3 left or stopped working with me. Might as well be honest, those first 3 were the ones i took on with basically no criteria lol, and it just didn't work out. Some of that was on me being newer to this, some of it was just not vetting who i worked with.
Since then i put together an actual standard for who i take on:
– Doing at least $2m/yr in revenue
– Already has a real sales team and sales process in place
– Has an offer that's proven to work, since i'm not trying to validate anyone's business, just scale outreach for something that already sells
– Their product or service needs to sell for at least $3k, otherwise the economics don't make sense for either of us
My plan is to add 3 more clients so im actively hunting them. My goal is to work with 25 clients and EVEN if then I dont get a paid client then I'd call it quits and do something else entirely.
I'll keep updating this thread as things work, or don't. If anyone here has run something similar, a free trial until it actually works, i'd love to hear how it worked for you and if you have any tips for me.
Lets gooo!!!!
Source: r/EntrepreneurRideAlong · by /u/et-nad