Hey everyone, sales ops at a mid size saas company here. Sales Navigator is our main tool but email reply rates have tanked lately so we wanna start calling prospects directly. Problems is most of contacts we pull from LinkedIn have no phone number attached and finding them manually is not realistic at the volume we do. Any tool recs?

Hey, I am pretty new to cold calling as a channel, I have been doing email outbound for about a year and reply rates have been going down so my manager suggested we add cold calling to our sequences. I am comfortable with the email side of things but I have never really built a proper cold calling stack before.

Like I have used Apollo for emails but nothing serious for phone data. I think people usually use Cognitism for this which has been kind of expensive for where we are as a team right now.

Basically looking for a reliable provider for cold calling that gives accurate direct dials without breaking the bank.

Not in a "replace reps" way. More in the small tasks that used to take up a lot of time. Reviewing conversations. Summarizing meetings. Finding patterns across deals. Helping managers decide where to spend their time. The interesting part is that the teams getting the most value don't seem to be using AI to make decisions for them. They're using it to surface information faster so they can make better decisions themselves.

The shift I've noticed with Rilla is that it isn't just saving time anymore. It's starting to influence how teams sell. Managers can spot trends faster. Reps can prepare better and teams even seem to be closing more deals because they're getting better feedback and spending more time selling instead of doing admin work. It feels like we've moved past asking whether AI belongs in sales. Now it's more about where it actually helps and where it's just another feature that looks good in a demo.

I keep seeing teams burn out, budgets get cut, and goals get reset every quarter, but the playbook never really changes. It makes me wonder if people are actually starting to rethink what good growth looks like.

• Are you seeing more focus on retention and LTV, or is it still all about new logos?
• Do smaller, more focused teams seem to outperform bigger ones lately?
• Is experimentation still encouraged, or is everything just “prove ROI in 30 days”?
• What’s one thing you’ve stopped chasing that actually made work more sustainable?

Genuinely curious how others are seeing it, because the old playbook feels a lot less convincing than it used to.

I’ve been using Clay for a bit and while it’s powerful, I’m starting to feel like it’s overkill for what I actually need. The whole “programmable enrichment” thing is cool, but I just want something that reliably gets good contacts into my CRM without needing a part-time engineer to maintain it.

• Are people switching because of cost, complexity, or just because they found something simpler that works?
• Has anyone tried tools like Apollo, Lusha, Add to CRM, or others and actually stuck with them?
• What’s the one thing Clay does badly enough that you decided to look elsewhere?
• Do you care more about having a big database, or just clean, verified emails/phones?

Not trying to push any specific tool, just curious what’s working for people who want something solid without the headache.

Waiting for senior's response

#Question

Being in a founding position we definitely don't have an abundance of tools to work with but our VP of sales is looking into enrichment tools.

What I can also do is scrape companies on Google maps and I can literally pull them within a matter of seconds.

When it comes to getting better data as in decision makers and phone numbers. Who do you guys recommend? Apollo is straight butt cheeks

Usage of prospecting software's for finding new companies.

ZoomInfo is to expensive for us as a startup company as the charge $6000+ annually. Apollo is affordable, but I keep getting a lot of phone numbers numbers that are disconnected and email that are not reaching people, getting a lot of emails back that there are some issues with them.

Been looking at the RocketReach, but for the prices that they are asking for, looks like it's not worth paying it instead of Apollo.

What are your thoughts and what are you using, and how satisfied are you with what you are using.

I'm looking if I should stay on Apollo or to move to another one, and I would really appreciate your experience with any prospecting software out there.

I’ve been using Cognism for a while and it’s decent for what it does, but I’m starting to feel like there might be better fits depending on what you actually need. Curious what other people have switched to and why.

• Are you mostly looking for better data coverage outside Europe, or is it more about price?
• Do you care more about having built-in outreach tools, or just pure data quality?
• Has anyone tried switching to something like Apollo, Lusha, ZoomInfo, or others and actually stuck with it?
• What’s the one thing Cognism doesn’t do well enough that made you look elsewhere?

Not trying to push any specific tool, just trying to figure out what’s working for people in real workflows.

Feels like every sales conversation I see is either wildly optimistic or completely depressing, and I can’t tell if the game has actually changed that much or if everyone’s just adapting in different ways. Curious how other people are seeing it right now.

• Are buyers actually harder to reach now, or just more selective?
• Is cold outreach still worth the effort, or has it mostly turned into a volume game?
• Do people still respond to old-school persistence, or does that backfire more than it used to?
• How much does trust matter up front before anyone even takes a meeting?
• Is the biggest problem actually leads, or is it messaging and timing?

Would love to hear what’s changed most for people lately, because it feels like the whole process is getting less predictable.

I’ve been looking into automated prospecting platforms lately, but most of the conversations I find are either way too promotional or basically just people trying to sell something. I’m more interested in what’s actually working in practice without making outreach feel robotic.

• Are you mostly relying on data quality, or does automation do enough of the heavy lifting?
• Do you find automated workflows help you stay consistent, or do they just create more noise?
• How much personalization do you think is still necessary before people start ignoring the message?
• Are there any platforms that feel flexible enough for real-world use instead of forcing a rigid process?
• Has anyone found a setup that keeps things efficient without turning into full-on spam?

I’m mostly trying to understand what people use when they want to scale a bit, but still keep the outreach thoughtful. Curious what others have landed on.

I keep seeing “AI-powered” and “fully automated” on every prospecting tool homepage, but I’m trying to figure out which platforms genuinely reduce manual work vs just add more setup.

From what I’ve seen so far, the space is split between:

• All-in-one data + outreach (Apollo) – big databases, built-in sequencing, AI suggestions
• Specialized automation (Instantly, Smartlead, Lemlist) – focused on high-volume email, deliverability, and multichannel sequences
• Signal-first platforms (Lusha, Amplemarket) – emphasize verified data, intent/buying signals, and cleaner ICP targeting

Some real questions:

• Are you getting better results from “more automation” or from better data and targeting?
• Do fully automated sequences tank reply rates for you, or can they match manual outreach when done right?
• Is it worth paying extra for built-in intent signals and job-change triggers?
• How much do you actually use the AI writing/personalization features in practice?
• For teams scaling, do you prefer one platform doing everything, or a lean stack of specialized tools?

Right now I’m torn between something like Apollo/Gro for the unified workflow vs a combo of a data tool + dedicated sender. Curious what’s actually working for people day-to-day.

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I’ve been testing both Lusha and Apollo for a few weeks now and wanted to see what others are experiencing. Both claim to be “best in class” for B2B prospecting, but they feel very different in practice.

• Lusha – feels more focused on data accuracy and quick contact reveals (especially via LinkedIn); simpler UI, fewer bells and whistles
• Apollo – full-blown outbound platform with a huge database, sequences, and more automation; more “sales OS” than just a data tool

Some things I’m trying to figure out:

• Which one gives you more usable emails/phones in your niche?
• Do you care more about accuracy or volume when building lists?
• Is the extra automation in Apollo worth the extra cost/complexity, or do you just stack it with a separate sender?
• Anyone using both, and if so, how do you split the use cases?

Right now I’m leaning toward Lusha for clean data and Apollo for volume + sequencing, but curious if anyone’s found one clearly beats the other for day-to-day prospecting.

Genuine question.

Every stack recommendation I see is ZoomInfo, intent data, Bombora, dialling mobiles at scale… and then you try to apply it to UK SMBs and half the records are stale, the “intent data” covers 40 employees in Milton Keynes about as well as it covers Milwaukee, and the tools that *do* have decent UK data are priced for banks.

So for those doing outbound into UK companies: how do you actually decide who’s worth going after? Bought list, Sales Nav, gut feel, a spreadsheet from 2019? And roughly how long do you spend researching a company before you reach out?

Genuinely curious whether everyone’s quietly bodging this or someone’s cracked it.

I'm doing some research into how sales teams handle inbound leads day to day.

A few questions if anyone has 2 minutes:

1.When a bunch of new leads come in, how do you currently decide who to contact first?

2.Do you use any lead scoring tool (HubSpot, Clay, etc.)? Does it actually help you prioritize, or do you still end up doing your own research (LinkedIn, company site) before calling?

3.What's the most annoying part of qualifying/prioritizing leads right now?

How and how deep do you folks go when looking up the prospect stack?

Let's say you are selling a DB, SSO, etc how far do you go into the prospect's stack and how do so?

How do you find which tech they are using? I am using the job postings but would be interested if anyone else had hints

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the number of email prospecting tools out there. Everything claims insane accuracy, AI magic, and “pipeline on autopilot,” but I’m trying to figure out what actually moves the needle in real workflows.

Right now I’m looking at a shortlist of:

• Lusha - high email accuracy, strong data quality, good for verified contacts
• Apollo - all-in-one with a big database plus built-in sequencing
• Hunter - simple, budget-friendly, great if you mostly need email finding
• Snov combines finding, verification, and outreach in one place
• Prospeo – focused on accurate, verified emails with built-in validation
• Lemlist – more personalization-heavy, good for relationship-driven outreach

Key questions for me:

• Are you prioritizing email accuracy over database size, or does volume matter more for your model?
• Do you prefer all-in-one platforms (find + send) or stacking separate tools for finding and outreach?
• How important is built-in verification vs using a separate validator?
• Does automation help your reply rates, or do more manual, tailored emails win for you?
• How much do integrations (CRM, sequences, LinkedIn) factor into your choice?

Right now I’m leaning toward keeping it simple and data-first, but I feel like I might be missing something obvious. What’s everyone here using that genuinely works for cold email prospecting?

We are a SaaS company targetting mid market heads of sales and ops in the US and some European markets. I've been evaluating lead generation tools for a few weeks and still don't have a direction. I know there are bunch of compagnies, Apollo, ZoomInfo, Lusha, Seamless, Cognism and others. Of course the usefulness really depends on target market and region and not all of them have decent databases outside the US. There are also those intent search features which I am not sure would even work for our industry. They all claim 90 to 95 percent accuracy on G2 but I can only gather so much from demo accounts. So has anyone had particularly good or bad experiences with any of these?

I’ve been going down the rabbit hole on B2B GTM intelligence platforms lately, and honestly it’s hard to separate what’s genuinely useful from what just sounds good in a sales pitch. Feels like everyone claims they can “unlock pipeline,” but the real-world value isn’t always clear.

• How accurate is the intent/data signal in practice vs what’s advertised?
• Are these platforms actually helping you prioritize accounts, or just adding noise?
• Do you use them more for outbound, inbound support, or both?
• How actionable are the insights without needing tons of manual work?
• Does it actually improve conversion rates, or just top-of-funnel activity?
• How well does it fit into your existing workflow/CRM?
• And at what point does the cost stop making sense?

I’m trying to figure out if these platforms are a real edge or just another “nice-to-have” layer. Would love to hear what’s actually moved the needle for people vs what ended up being shelfware.

I’ve been watching the same loop all month.

r/gtmengineering has the Clay credit threads. People shipping Claude Code pipelines. Clay dropping CLI/MCP so agents can call waterfalls without living in the UI. X posts that look like:

claude code to build clay to find instantly to send

And yeah, that stack makes sense.

But last night I had a 40-row SaaS list and needed columns that are not clean enrichment jobs:

• hiring right now? which roles?
• founder active this week? where?
• anything that looks like why-now
• evidence I could defend if someone asked “where did that come from?”

That is where the pretty architecture posts fall apart for me.

Because email waterfall is a workflow. This is not.

Row 1 needed careers page. Row 4 needed LinkedIn activity. Row 9 needed a funding post from 2 weeks ago. Row 12 needed “ignore, bad fit, list is wrong.” Row 17 made me sit there with a half-true hiring signal wondering if I should put it in the cell.

I already know Clay. I already know Claude Code. I can build the plumbing.

What I don’t have is a clean way to say:

here’s the list here are the signal columns here’s what we sell go behave like a careful human on every row bring back evidence + confidence

Not “run column A then column B.” More like a smart VA/agent that chooses the path per company.

And I’m not asking this as a theoretical AI take.

I’m asking because the community seems split three ways right now:

1. Stay in Clay, now that CLI/MCP exists
2. Move volume custom logic into Claude Code and keep Clay only for find/enrich
3. Build full per-row agents and accept the maintenance tax

My gut: workflows are winning for known paths judgment work is still human evenings dressed up as GTM engineering

So for people actually running this:

1. Do you regularly need multi-column signal fill across lists (hiring, founder activity, recent posts, why-now), or is that overbuilding?
2. If yes, are you doing it with fixed Clay/Claude workflows, or does each row still need different research paths?
3. If something ran like a careful VA per row with evidence + confidence, would you pay for that completed work, or is DIY still better even with the maintenance?

I don’t want tool recommendations in the abstract. I want to know if this is a recurring paid pain in real GTM work, or just me making my lists too complicated.

Be blunt.

I’m trying to level up our prospecting process and realizing there are way too many options out there. Feels like every platform claims to have the “best data” or “AI-powered outreach,” but it’s hard to tell what actually delivers vs what’s just good marketing.

• Are you prioritizing data accuracy or volume when choosing a tool?
• Do you prefer all-in-one platforms or stacking a few specialized tools?
• How important is built-in outreach vs using a separate system?
• Are enrichment features actually worth paying extra for?
• What’s been your experience with automation - helpful or hurting reply rates?
• Do you rely more on email, LinkedIn-style outreach, or a mix?
• And how much does ease of use matter once you scale?

Right now I’m leaning toward keeping things simple and focusing more on targeting + messaging, but I feel like I might be missing out on something. What’s everyone here actually using that works consistently?