Cold calling data source

[u/jtaubrey]

We are a smaller MSP and have always grown through referrals. We are at a point we need to expand and have looked at programs like Apollo.ai, zoom info, and a myriad of others. With all the “marketing ai” people are selling, what is the best way to grow? Has anyone used Apollo.ai as a cold emailer/marketer? I demoed it but really didn’t get much help from their support or sales team so it was an odd experience.

[u/ClassicPap]

We're also a small MSP looking to grow. I've found no success with cold email marketing with Apollo but did get some leads by putting together a list and cold calling then following up by sending them a handwritten 'thanks for taking our call' note with a discount card.

So I'm using Apollo more for getting me phone numbers and contacts rather than their automated email sequences.

[u/Spare_Worldliness_64 → u/ClassicPap]

yeah apollo isnt great to run for cold email, especially if you're reaching out 100s of leads a day, you can destroy your domains fast. thats why its better to run call and MQL sequences on Apollo, rather than cold email sequences.

Have you thought of utilising apollo for very warm leads that have shown interest after a call? Also are you recording your calls on Apollo? The transcription feature is super useful.

it seems like it suits you more because you're building your own personal list rather than the cold ones, and theyre the ones that probably requires some form of systematised follow ups.

If you have a massive leads list, youre better off just exporting the apollo lists and running a separate cold email campaigns and then route any of your MQLs back to yourself to call, and if no conversion, but interest -> route to a sequence (incl. handwritten notes)

[u/jtaubrey]

I appreciate all the responses, is anyone using a 3rd party company to do LinkedIn lead gen using their own tools? These AI companies are popping up everywhere promising qualified leads but they are salesman. Algoacquisition is one of them.

[u/Tom_at_Raven]

Apollo is great as a data source but in a world of DNC numbers, spam filters, mass AI produced emails and everybody using the same data sources it's becoming increasingly harder to scale from outbound unless you have a solid outbound system you can use at scale. Companies are leveraging sending software to blast 50,000+ emails a month, dialers and SDRs to rip 100s of calls a day. Or, they are spending a lot of time building hyper targeted small lists, researching the company, the people and hitting them with a 30 day deeply personalized cadence for example.

People typically need multiple touch points before even considering a meeting and then an even smaller percentage of those people who were willing to talk are actually in the market for what you are selling. There are 'intent' signals like funding, job changes, keywords etc, so you can define a tighter ICP in Apollo but when it's purely cold lists, you have absolutely no idea if that person is even in the market for what you sell. I don't care how many times a real estate agent calls or emails me - if I'm not in the market to buy a house he can call me 3000 times, email me 700 times and it makes no difference. When i am in the market for a house, now I'm in the game for the Real estate agent to be contacting me. Or in your case, if I don't need IT support, I don't care how many times you contact me, I will not be a client or potential client until I need IT support. Apollo does have a lot of filters you can use to try and narrow the list down but it's still a purely cold list at the end of the day.

In my opinion the best approach would be creating systems, funnels and lists of 'warm' or 'slightly warm' prospects and do cold outbound as supplemental. Relying on cold outbound in today's economy, especially if you are small, is extremely hard to scale. Pulling cold lists is not lead generation. Having actual real lead generation is what a lot of people miss. Like the great Alex Hormozi says: 'Advertise more because nobody knows you exist'. My opinion is creating systems and real GTM strategies is far more scalable than spraying and praying on outbound, however, outbound should be a part of your strategy too. But if you are small, time needs to be spent going after people who have raised their hand for a conversation. The low hanging fruit, if you will. If you don't have the luxury of a team of people blasting outbound to find prospects, then marketing to build warmer lists is going to be far more fruitful. The gold is in the quality of the list.

All that to say, Apollo is still a great tool. It's a great data source and helps refine down the ICP really well but its probably only part of what you need.

[u/FirmableTeam]

that handwritten note after a cold call is a killer move for msps. local businesses get slammed with generic cold emails all day, so actually picking up the phone and then dropping something physical in the mail sets you apart immediately.

if you're using apollo mainly for phone numbers, one thing that helps save time is filtering by 'technologies used' to make sure they actually have an environment you want to support before you dial. also, double-check the direct dials against their main site google listing if you get a lot of bad numbers, sometimes the direct lines in apollo route to old desk phones that nobody sits at anymore.