Sales Playbook
Signal-Based Prospecting Pipeline
Research → Clay → SmartLead → Close — fully automated
Overview
How It Works
Every day at 10 AM, our AI sales agent researches 3-8 companies showing strong outreach signals — fresh funding, new CMO hires, product launches, content team hiring. Each prospect is scored against our ICP, formatted with a custom signal reason, and pushed to Clay for enrichment.
Clay finds the right contacts, verifies emails, and pushes enriched leads directly into a SmartLead cold email campaign. The 5-email sequence auto-personalizes using the signal reason as a merge tag — so every first email reads like it was hand-written for that company's specific moment.
When a prospect replies, Make.com routes them into Close CRM as a warm lead. The sales team only touches deals that have already shown interest.
Pipeline
The Five Stages
Signal Research
AI agent scans funding rounds, executive hires, product launches, and hiring signals across TechCrunch, Crunchbase, Product Hunt, and LinkedIn. 2-3 signal queries per day, rotated for variety.
ICP Qualification
Each company is scored against revenue ($5M-$100M), industry fit (SaaS, Gaming, AI, Crypto/Web3), video content gap, team size (5-250), and signal recency (last 14 days). Only qualified prospects advance.
Clay Enrichment
Qualified companies are pushed to Clay via webhook. Clay runs an enrichment waterfall — finding CMOs, VP Marketing, Heads of Brand, verifying email addresses, and appending company data.
SmartLead Sequence
Enriched contacts are automatically pushed into a 5-email cold sequence. Email 1 opens with the custom signal reason — making every email feel personally researched. A/B tests on subject lines optimize open rates over time.
Close CRM
When a prospect replies, Make.com automation routes them into Close as a warm lead with full context — signal reason, company data, and conversation history. The sales team picks up from there.
Campaign
Sequence at a Glance
5
Emails in Sequence
17
Days Total Duration
4
A/B Test Variants
0
Spam Trigger Words
Sequence
The 5-Email Flow
Email 1 — The Signal Hook
Day 1Opens with the custom signal reason — a specific, researched observation about the prospect's company. Bridges into WithLore's value prop and closes with a no-charge concept offer.
Email 2 — The Proof
Day 4Drops the strongest proof points — 2M+ organic views, 550K average, all without paid promo. Reframes WithLore as cinematic, not template. Soft ask for a concept.
Email 3 — The Creative Gap
Day 8Names the problem most companies won't admit — their product is 10x better than their content. Positions WithLore as an embedded team, not a vendor. Month-to-month, cancel anytime.
Email 4 — How We Work
Day 12Clean, scannable breakdown of the WithLore model — learn your brand, produce cinematic content, AI-accelerated pipeline, full creative team without hiring. Social proof close.
Email 5 — The Clean Exit
Day 17Respectful close. Reiterates the concept offer one final time — no charge, no call needed, just reply. Plants a seed that stays even if they don't respond now.
Signals
What Triggers Outreach
Funding Rounds
Series A-C announcements in the last 35 days. Fresh capital means active budget cycles and go-to-market pressure.
New CMO / VP Marketing
Executive hires signal new initiatives, fresh budgets, and a need to prove ROI quickly.
Product Launches
Companies launching new products need launch videos, brand films, and campaign creative — and they need it fast.
Content Team Hiring
Companies hiring video producers or content creators are investing in content but don't have the team yet. We fill the gap faster.
Expansion Milestones
New markets, user milestones, or rebrand announcements create moments where brand content matters most.
Qualification
ICP Scoring Matrix
| Criteria | Pass | Fail |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / Stage | $5M-$100M or recently funded | Pre-revenue or Fortune 500 |
| Industry | SaaS, Gaming, AI, Crypto/Web3 | Heavy industrial, pharma, gov |
| Video Presence | Weak or no video content | Already has premium video agency |
| Team Size | 5-250 people | Solo or 1000+ enterprise |
| Geography | US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia | Non-English markets |
| Signal Recency | Within 14 days (funding: 35 days) | Stale (2+ months old) |
Compliance
Spam-Clean Copy
0
Uses of 'free'
0
Uses of 'offer'
<125
Words Per Email
100%
Deliverability Safe
Architecture
Technical Stack
Research Layer: AI sales agent with web search, Perplexity, browser tools. Runs daily at 10 AM EST.
Push Layer: Custom clay-push.mjs script — deduplicates, rate-limits, pushes structured JSON to Clay webhook. History tracked in .clay-push-history.json.
Enrichment Layer: Clay enrichment waterfall — contact discovery, email verification, company data append. Auto-pushes to SmartLead.
Sequence Layer: SmartLead Campaign 2975641. 5 emails, A/B tests on Emails 1-2, {{signal_reason}} merge tag for auto-personalization. Schedule: Tue/Wed/Thu 8-9:30 AM prospect timezone.
CRM Layer: Make.com automation routes replies from SmartLead to Close CRM as warm leads with full context.
Philosophy
“The best cold email doesn't feel cold. It feels like someone who's been paying attention finally reached out.”
— WithLore Sales Playbook
Next Steps
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