# Every Tool We Use to Run a $400K/Month Outbound Agency

Source: https://coldiq.com/blog/every-tool-we-use-to-run-a-400kmonth-outbound-agency
Published: 2026-04-06 | Updated: 2026-10-15

> The complete breakdown of every tool behind ColdIQ's $7M ARR outbound agency. Organized by function: content (Taplio, Notion, Kleo, OpusClip), prospecting data (Sales Navigator, Prospeo, FullEnrich, LeadMagic, Apollo, Ocean.io, Evaboot), email outreach (Instantly, lemlist, HeyReach), intent signals

When we first shared our full tech stack on LinkedIn, we were at $400K MRR. That post hit 1,562 likes because people wanted the real list, not a "top 10 best tools" roundup.

We've since crossed $7M ARR and serve 70+ clients. The tools evolved, but the philosophy stayed the same: every tool earns its spot by solving one problem better than anything else. And every tool connects to the rest of the stack.

Here's the full breakdown, organized by function.

## 1. Content: The Channel That Feeds Everything Else

LinkedIn generates 100+ inbound leads per month for us. That's not an accident. It's a system.

*Scheduling and Ideation*

[Taplio](https://coldiq.com/tools/taplio) handles content scheduling across our team. Between Michel's 41K+ followers and the rest of the team at 170K+ combined, we're publishing multiple times per day. [Taplio](https://coldiq.com/tools/taplio) keeps that volume consistent without anyone dropping the ball.

[Notion](https://notion.so) runs our editorial calendar. Every post is planned, drafted, and tracked in one workspace.

*Research and Repurposing*

Kleo is a Chrome extension that surfaces top-performing posts from any LinkedIn creator. When we're planning content, we look at what's already resonating in our space instead of starting from scratch.

[OpusClip](https://www.opus.pro) chops long-form videos into short clips optimized for social. We're at 1,000+ YouTube subscribers now, and every video gets repurposed into LinkedIn content, shorts, and carousel source material.

[Canva](https://canva.com) and [Figma](https://figma.com) handle the visual side. Carousels, infographics, thumbnails. Clean visuals get more saves, and saves push reach.

## 2. Prospecting Data: Building the Right Lists

The list is the campaign. Wrong list, wrong results. We use a layered approach to sourcing and verifying contacts.

*Targeting*

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is where every campaign starts. We filter by title, seniority, company size, geography, recent job changes, and hiring signals. The data is fresher than any static database.

[Evaboot](https://evaboot.com) exports those Sales Navigator searches cleanly. No manual copy-paste, no broken formatting.

*Email Finding*

[Prospeo](https://coldiq.com/tools/prospeo) is our primary email finder. It plugs directly into Sales Navigator and runs waterfall enrichment across multiple providers to maximize hit rates.

[FullEnrich](https://coldiq.com/tools/fullenrich) aggregates additional email and phone providers into a single waterfall. It prioritizes the best mobile providers by geography, which matters when running campaigns across different regions.

[LeadMagic](https://coldiq.com/tools/leadmagic) handles email verification. Every address gets verified before it enters a sending sequence. Unverified emails tank your domain reputation fast.

*Databases*

[Apollo](https://apollo.io) free tier gives us a solid starting point for account-level research. [Ocean.io](https://ocean.io) categorizes companies bottom-up based on what they sell, not SIC codes. The lookalike feature lets us upload our best clients and find matching companies.

Need to find verified contacts at your target accounts right now? We built a free tool for that:

### *People Finder*

## 3. Email Outreach: Sending at Scale Without Burning Domains

Data means nothing if your emails land in spam. We run a disciplined infrastructure setup to protect deliverability.

*Primary Sending*

[Instantly](https://coldiq.com/tools/instantly) is our main email platform. It handles warmup, inbox rotation, and campaign analytics. We also use their done-for-you email infrastructure: secondary domains and 20+ mailboxes provisioned and managed by their team.

At peak, we're sending 900-1,000 emails per day across campaigns. That volume requires strict warmup discipline and clean lists.

*Multi-Channel*

[lemlist](https://coldiq.com/tools/lemlist) runs multi-channel sequences: email, LinkedIn, and phone in one flow. The LinkedIn voice note feature is underrated. A 15-second voice message gets attention in a way that text never will.

*LinkedIn Automation*

HeyReach handles LinkedIn outreach with flat pricing. Most LinkedIn tools charge per seat, which kills you when scaling across multiple accounts. HeyReach solves that with a flat rate regardless of connected profiles.

Before launching any campaign, check that your emails land in the inbox. We built a free tool for that:

### *Spam Checker*

## 4. Intent Signals: Knowing Who to Contact First

Cold outbound is a volume game. Signal-based outbound is a conversion game. We stack intent signals to prioritize every send.

*Website Visitors*

[RB2B](https://coldiq.com/tools/rb2b) identifies anonymous website visitors at the person level. Not company level. Person level. Name, company, job title, and which page they visited. US only for now.

We push [RB2B](https://coldiq.com/tools/rb2b) data into [Clay](https://coldiq.com/tools/clay) for enrichment, then trigger outbound automatically. Someone visits the pricing page? They're in a sequence within hours.

*Aggregated Signals*

[Common Room](https://coldiq.com/tools/common-room) pulls signals from everywhere: job changes, website visits, social mentions, news coverage, hiring activity. The Person 360 view gives full context on a prospect before outreach.

*LinkedIn Profile Viewers*

TeamFluence tracks who views your LinkedIn profile. Think of it as [RB2B](https://coldiq.com/tools/rb2b) for LinkedIn. Someone checks your profile after a post? TeamFluence surfaces them so you can follow up while you're top of mind.

Want to check what technology your prospects are running before you reach out? Try this:

### *Tech Stack Finder*

## 5. Website and Conversion: Capturing the Traffic

Traffic is a vanity metric unless you capture it. We run several tools to turn website visitors into pipeline.

*Smart Forms*

[Default](https://coldiq.com/tools/default) auto-enriches, qualifies, and routes leads the moment they fill out a form. No manual qualification step. The lead hits the right person on our team instantly.

*Newsletter*

[beehiiv](https://coldiq.com/tools/beehiiv) powers our newsletter. Consistent content keeps the audience warm between campaigns. When we launch a new offer or case study, the newsletter list sees it first.

*Nurture Sequences*

Customer.io handles behavior-based follow-up. Downloaded an e-book? Different sequence. Visited pricing twice? Different sequence. The triggers match the intent.

*VSL Page*

A video sales letter converts visitors who aren't ready for a live call but want to understand how we work. It runs 24/7 and qualifies while we sleep.

## 6. Meetings and Sales: Closing the Pipeline

Once a meeting is booked, these tools handle the rest.

*Call Intelligence*

[Attention](https://coldiq.com/tools/attention) records every sales call with AI transcription. The cross-conversation insights are the real value. It spots patterns across dozens of calls: recurring objections, winning talking points, where deals stall.

*Proposals*

[Qwilr](https://coldiq.com/tools/qwilr) creates interactive proposals that track engagement. We see which sections prospects spend time on, which tells us what matters to them before the follow-up call.

*CRM*

[Attio](https://coldiq.com/tools/attio) is our CRM. Lightweight, modern, connects to everything in this stack. We moved from HubSpot and never looked back. If your team is under 100 people, you don't need a $50,000/year CRM.

Need verified emails for your next campaign? Try this free:

### *Email Finder*

## 7. Operations: Keeping Everything Connected

Thirty-plus tools break down fast without solid ops infrastructure.

*Automation*

[n8n](https://coldiq.com/tools/n8n) is the glue. Lead comes in from [RB2B](https://coldiq.com/tools/rb2b)? [n8n](https://coldiq.com/tools/n8n) pushes it to [Clay](https://coldiq.com/tools/clay), enriches it, scores it, and routes it to [Instantly](https://coldiq.com/tools/instantly) or [Slack](https://slack.com). Every notification, alert, and workflow status update lands in Slack channels organized by function.

*Internal Ops*

[Airtable](https://coldiq.com/tools/airtable) runs project tracking, client onboarding checklists, and campaign status boards. The structured data that doesn't belong in a CRM lives here.

*Finance*

[Stripe](https://coldiq.com/tools/stripe) processes client payments. Ramp handles expense management and corporate cards. Clean financial ops are boring but essential when you're scaling past seven figures.

## 8. How the Stack Connects

The tools don't matter in isolation. The architecture does.

[Clay](https://coldiq.com/tools/clay) sits at the center. It pulls data from Sales Navigator, [Prospeo](https://coldiq.com/tools/prospeo), [FullEnrich](https://coldiq.com/tools/fullenrich), and [LeadMagic](https://coldiq.com/tools/leadmagic). It enriches, qualifies, and scores every lead. Then it pushes clean, personalized records to [Instantly](https://coldiq.com/tools/instantly) and [lemlist](https://coldiq.com/tools/lemlist) for outreach.

Intent signals from [RB2B](https://coldiq.com/tools/rb2b), [Common Room](https://coldiq.com/tools/common-room), and TeamFluence feed into [Clay](https://coldiq.com/tools/clay) to prioritize who gets contacted first.

[n8n](https://coldiq.com/tools/n8n) connects every system. Leads flow from forms to CRM to enrichment to outreach without anyone touching a spreadsheet.

[Attio](https://coldiq.com/tools/attio) tracks the pipeline. [Attention](https://coldiq.com/tools/attention) records the calls. [Qwilr](https://coldiq.com/tools/qwilr) sends the proposals. [Stripe](https://coldiq.com/tools/stripe) collects the payment.

Every layer feeds the next. That's the system behind $7M ARR and 70+ active clients.

## 9. Conclusion

We didn't build this stack in a week. It took three years of testing, swapping, and connecting tools until every piece served a clear purpose.

The takeaway isn't to copy this list tool-for-tool. It's to think in systems. Each tool solves one problem. The connections between them create the leverage.

If you're starting out, pick one tool per function. Get the data right first. Then layer in automation, intent signals, and multi-channel as you scale.

The stack got us from $0 to $7M ARR. But the architecture is what made the tools work.

---

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