Hey there, it’s Isaac from Leads to Earnings.

Welcome to the newsletter. (est. 4 minute read)

Today I will be going over:

• The exact setup we use in Smartlead to book 30+ calls per month

• Reduce decision fatigue with this one simple trick

• I will also share a few cold email links and tips.

Hopefully you enjoy it.

Actionable Cold Email Tip

I’ve been getting dms asking about the best way to setup Smartlead to get results with cold email.

I created this SOP for my team to setup our campaigns and want to share it with you.

If you don’t have to think about the proper settings to get into the inbox, that frees up your time to focus on high leverage cold email activities like crafting better offers, building better lists and response handling your interested leads.

With that, here’s the guide - hope it saves you some time.

Smartlead Step By Step Setup Guide: 

1. Navigate to the relevant Campaign inside Smartlead. 

2. Select “Edit Campaign” in the top right corner of the SL dashboard

3. Import your finalized lead list file into the campaign. 

4. Ensure the correct number of leads are actually imported into SL.

5. Now import campaign copy. Confirm all merge fields and custom columns are correctly imported by reviewing the final list against the campaign copy. 

6. If there are merge fields inside the campaign copy that do not have a respective column in the leads list, make sure you’re using the most updated lead list.

7. Advance to Sequences in the campaign setup wizard

8. Then use the approved campaign copy. 

9. Confirm sequence is accurate.

10. Confirm all merge fields are correctly mapped and pull through to message

11. Advance to Setup 

12. Schedule campaign:

    1. Time in between Email steps:

       1. Email 1

       2. Email 2: wait 3 days

       3. Email 3: wait 4 days

       4. Email 4: wait 5 days

    2. Schedule campaign settings

       1. Monday-Friday sending

       2. 7:55 to 18:00

       3. Max number of leads per day: 1,000 (if more than 7k leads in campaign, then max 2k leads per day)

       4. Schedule campaign launch: same day as setup unless otherwise instructed

13. Include relevant email accounts for sending

    1. Ideally you have a 50/50 mix of Google and Outlook inboxes

    2. If you don’t have an even mix, attempt to diversify as much as you can.

14. Review the campaign and make sure that all emails read correctly and have accurate merge fields 

15. General Campaign Settings (gear icon in top right corner of page)

    1. 90% new lead prioritization

    2. Don’t track email opens, Don’t track link clicks

    3. Select the checkbox for “Optimise Email Deliverability” by sending emails in plain text.

    4. Intelli-categorize replies: Interested, Not Interested, Do Not Contact, Information Request, Out of Office

    5. Ignore the auto-categorized OOO reply from the reply %

    6. Re-activate auto-categorized OOO lead after a delay

    7. Ignore Auto-categorized from reply rate & reactivate auto-categorized OOO after a delay

16. Do not include an unsubscribe button because we will include it in the campaign copy text

17. Once setup is completed, move the campaign status to 60-Smartlead Tech QA in the OS

Final Campaign Checklist

• Subject lines are correctly pulling through for all angles

• All merge fields are correctly pulling through for all angles

• Make sure spintax is pulling properly (there should be no open brackets “{ text….” or “text…}” - every email should read in plain English

• There are no links included in the email

• We have a manual unsubscribe button at the end of the email

Simple enough.

If you want to see how to build a cold email from scratch, I put together live training breaking it down. This is the same strategy we use to book 30+ meetings every single month for our agency and clients.

Check it out here (link).

Useful Bits

• Tweet of the week (link)

• Case study: Adding a 240k/ARR Client for a Marketing Agency (link)

• Quote of the week: “Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom.” — Sam Walton

• Quick bite-sized pointer: Ever sit down at your desk first thing in the morning and wonder, “what do I do first…” I’ve been there, but have started planning my day the night before by writing down my top 5 priorities for the next day. This reduces any friction in the morning trying to figure out what I should do next. Try it out for yourself and let me know if you find it reduces your decision making load.

How I Can Help You

If you like this newsletter and want to work with me, there are a few ways we can do so:

1. I have a ton of free content that will help you get more clients on my YouTube channel. I post insights from operating high converting cold email campaigns for dozens of B2B companies that have added hundreds of thousands in recurring revenue.

2. If you are looking to improve your cold outbound skills but don’t want to hire anyone, I have a free 71-page course that teaches everything you need to know about cold email.

3. If you want a custom cold email campaign specifically designed for your business & ideal target audience, I have a few slots available to show you how it works. Book in here and on the call I will deliver a full 5-angle cold email campaign for you to use to bring on more high paying clients.

4. If you’d like to hear about how I can help you and your company grow, you can book a call with me here. I might be able to help you grow faster, or I might be able to refer you to someone who can.

Share this with 3 people and get a free training showing you how to convert more cold prospects into warm leads with cold email.

I hope you enjoyed this brief email.

Talk later,

Isaac