# Cold outbound > Apollo for the leads, Clay for the enrichment + per-row LLM, Smartlead to send at deliverability scale, Claude to write the copy, HubSpot to catch the meetings. Source: https://aistack.sh/stack/cold-outbound Category: Sales · Outbound Level: Intermediate Last verified by a human: 2026-05-05 ## The tools ### Apollo — Lead source - Pricing: Free · $49/seat/mo Basic · $79/seat/mo Professional (annual billing) - Site: https://apollo.io - Why this one: 275M contacts. Filter by ICP, export to Clay. - Swap in instead: Clay - More: https://aistack.sh/tool/apollo ### Clay — Enrichment + per-row LLM - Pricing: $185/mo Launch · $495/mo Growth - Site: https://clay.com - Why this one: Trigger-based personalization at scale. The competitive moat of modern outbound. - More: https://aistack.sh/tool/clay ### Claude — Copy - Pricing: Free · $20/mo Pro · $100/mo Max 5x · $200/mo Max 20x · Sonnet API $2/$10 per M tokens (input/output) - Site: https://claude.ai - Why this one: Tighter, less salesy hooks than the alternatives. 4-line emails out-perform 8-line. - Swap in instead: ChatGPT - More: https://aistack.sh/tool/claude ### Smartlead — Send infra - Pricing: $39/mo Basic · $94/mo Pro - Site: https://smartlead.ai - Why this one: Unlimited inboxes + warmup. The reason your sequences land in inbox not spam. - More: https://aistack.sh/tool/smartlead ### HubSpot — CRM - Pricing: Free · $20/mo/seat Starter - Site: https://hubspot.com - Why this one: Free tier covers small teams. Sequences + meetings on the same record. - More: https://aistack.sh/tool/hubspot ## Monthly cost ### $108/mo — Solo, 500 sends/mo (small) - Apollo: $49 - Clay: $0 trial - Claude: $20 - Smartlead: $39 - HubSpot: Free ### $342/mo — 2 SDRs, 5k sends/mo (medium) - Apollo: $79 - Clay: $149 - Claude: $20 - Smartlead: $94 - HubSpot: Free ### $1,148/mo — 5 SDRs, 30k sends/mo (heavy) - Apollo: $390 - Clay: $349 - Claude: $80 API - Smartlead: $179 - HubSpot: $150 Starter ## Workflow ### 1. Define ICP (Apollo) Apollo: filter to your tightest ICP. Export 1k contacts. ### 2. Enrich (Clay) Clay: pull tech stack, headcount changes, recent funding. One LLM call per row to write the hook. **Prompt: Per-row personalization (Clay LLM column)** ``` You are writing a 1-line opener for a cold email. ONE specific reference, not two. Company: {{company_name}} Role of recipient: {{title}} Recent trigger (pick the strongest of these): {{recent_funding}} | {{headcount_change}} | {{tech_change}} | {{news_event}} Output ONE sentence (max 22 words) that: - references exactly one trigger by name - lands a small, accurate observation about what it means for them - does not flatter, does not say "I noticed", does not say "congrats" - ends in a period, not a question Output only the sentence. ``` ### 3. Write copy (Claude) Claude writes the 4-line email per persona. Test 3 hooks per ICP. **Prompt: 4-line cold email by persona** ``` Write a 4-line cold email. Persona: {{title}} at {{company_size}} {{vertical}} companies. Pain we solve: {{1-line pain}}. Proof: {{1 specific outcome with a number}}. Soft CTA: {{e.g. "open to a 12-min look next week?"}}. Constraints: - Subject line: 3 to 5 words, lowercase, no clickbait. Output 3 options. - Body: exactly 4 lines (line 1 hook, line 2 pain, line 3 proof, line 4 CTA). - Total under 80 words. - No "I hope this finds you well", no "I'd love to", no "quick question". - One CTA only. No P.S. Output: subject options, then the email body. ``` **Prompt: 3 hook variants for A/B test** ``` Generate 3 distinct hooks for the email above. Each hook should test a different angle: 1. Trigger-based (recent change at their company) 2. Peer-based (a similar company already does this) 3. Status-quo cost (what doing nothing costs them) Each hook is 1 line under 18 words. Output as a numbered list, no commentary. ``` ### 4. Send (Smartlead) Smartlead, 30 sends/inbox/day, 6 inboxes per persona. Warmup always on. ### 5. Catch (HubSpot) HubSpot sequences hand off to AE. Meetings booked = stop the sequence. ## What it produced **B2B SaaS, $25k ACV** 1.4% reply rate, 0.6% meeting rate at 4k sends/month. 5 closed-won in Q3 from outbound alone, $130k ACV pipeline. ## Pitfalls - **Inbox burn** — Send from inboxes you don't care about. One sequence's bad luck kills your real domain. - **Over-personalized = creepy** — Reference one trigger, never two. Two reads as stalking. - **No follow-up = no replies** — 60% of replies come from email 3 or 4. Sequence ≥ 5. ## Recent changes affecting this stack - **Clay integrates with Webflow to enable scalable website personalization** (2026-09-07, feature) — Clay now integrates with Webflow, allowing GTM teams to build and manage personalized website experiences at scale directly within their GTM workflow tools. Source: https://www.clay.com/changelog - **Clay releases new open-weight models for Claygent** (2026-09-07, release) — New open-weight models are now available for Claygent, expanding the model options developers can choose for AI-powered prospecting and research. This gives teams more flexibility in selecting which LLMs power their automated workflows. Source: https://www.clay.com/changelog - **Claygent adds open-weight models** (2026-09-07, release) — Clay released new open-weight models for Claygent, expanding model options for AI-powered research and automation. This gives developers alternative model choices beyond proprietary options, potentially improving cost and latency for their workflows. Source: https://www.clay.com/changelog - **Clay integrates with Salesforce Pardot for bi-directional prospect sync** (2026-09-01, feature) — New Pardot integration enables Clay users to sync prospects and list membership between Clay and Salesforce Account Engagement, bridging data between platforms. Source: https://www.clay.com/changelog - **Pardot integration enables bidirectional sync with Salesforce Account Engagement** (2026-08-31, feature) — New integration connects Clay to Salesforce Account Engagement (Pardot) for syncing prospects and list membership. Developers can now build pipelines that combine Clay enrichment with Salesforce marketing automation. Source: https://www.clay.com/changelog ## Other ways to do this - [Cold outbound (solo)](https://aistack.sh/stack/cold-outbound-lite): Solo founder: skip Clay, Smartlead, HubSpot. — $75/mo --- Curated by alex-w on aistack.sh. Last updated 2026-05-05.