The Cold Email Playbook That Built a $6M Agency

Remember when cold email actually worked?

Back in 2018, you could send 50 emails with a coffee mug image and book 5 meetings. Anything below 10% reply rate meant you sucked. I know because I wrote this thesis 5+ years ago when outbound was fun.

Those days are gone.

But Michel from ColdIQ figured out what still works—and built a $6M ARR agency proving it. I sat down with him to break down exactly how.

The Big Takeaway

Your offer matters more than your copy.

Mich started with a Facebook ads agency. His cold emails were booking meetings left and right. But he couldn't close a single deal.

The problem wasn't his outreach. It was what he was selling.

The moment he pivoted to offering the thing that was actually working (cold email services), everything changed.

What We Cover

🚫 Industries to avoid — Mich won't touch recruitment, cybersecurity, design agencies, or marketing agencies. The common thread? Zero barrier to entry means maximum inbox competition.

🎁 The lead magnet that actually converts — Stop offering "free audits." Instead, do the first step of your service before they say yes. Build the lead list. Write the first email. Prove you're different.

🔧 The tool debate — Should you consolidate to 5 tools or run 25? Mich's take: "It's easier to cut a tool than to cut a human." In the AI era, more tools = more leverage per person.

📈 What's coming next — Mich is embedding mini-tools directly into blog posts. Free email finders. Cold email graders. Spam word checkers. Content that does something instead of just explaining.

One Quote That Stuck

We go deep on the exact email that Full Enrich sent Mich (and why it worked), how to prove your product works inside the email itself, and the programmatic SEO play that's driving hundreds of thousands of visits for GTM companies.

P.S. If your outbound is a mess of manual work, underused tools, and emails hitting spam - we can fix that in 4 weeks.

We build GTM systems (Clay workflows, email infrastructure, sequences, CRM routing, the whole thing) and hand you the documentation to run it yourself.