Insights
By Josh DeLucia, Principal at Elevare
Most agency outbound fails because it sounds like spam from a company the prospect has never heard of. There is a better way.
Because the outbound they have seen is terrible. Mass emails, generic LinkedIn messages, "just checking in" follow-ups that nobody asked for. Agency leaders look at that and rightly say: we are too good for this.
They are right. But the conclusion they draw — that outbound does not work for agencies — is wrong. What does not work is lazy, untargeted outbound. Disciplined outbound built on real research and a clear point of view works extremely well for expert service firms.
It starts with a tight ICP. Not "companies with revenue over $5M" — actual criteria about who you serve best, what problems you solve, what makes a client a great fit versus a mediocre one.
Then it requires real research. Understanding the prospect's business, their positioning, their likely challenges, and where your expertise intersects with their reality. This is not a mail merge. It is a disciplined process of figuring out who deserves your attention and why.
The outreach itself should read like it came from a senior person at the firm — because it did. It should reference something specific about the prospect's situation. It should offer a point of view, not a pitch.
The agencies that make outbound work treat it like a system, not an event. They have a weekly rhythm for review, a clear ownership model, and a set of criteria for what deserves follow-up and what gets parked. The output is better-fit conversations with the right people — not more volume for volume's sake.