Cold Email & Deliverability | Growth | Partner @ Vinna.ai

If you're interested in improving your cold emails, you've come to the right place.

I’ve worked with clients like Discord, HP, Jellysmack, L'Oréal Paris, Fourthwall, Creative Juice, PearPop, and many more — sending over 60 million cold emails across different industries.

I combine cold email and outbound GTM expertise with AI solutions, smart automation, and deliverability optimization to help businesses scale their outreach and consistently book meetings.

My passion is sharing the knowledge I’ve gained from 5+ years in outbound sales, lead generation, and email deliverability with businesses and individuals who want to get the most out of their cold emailing process.

If you think there’s any way we can help each other, feel free to DM me!

Jovan Shojlevski

How most cold emailers clean their lead lists:

1. Export their contact list
2. Upload it to a verification tool
3. Wait
4. Download the results
5. Re-import the clean list
6. Suppress the bounces

That's 2+ hours per week.

8 hours per month.

Almost 100 hours per year.

On something that should take 0 minutes.

And don't get me started if you do crazy sales volume.

I switched to Bouncer AutoClean since it came out.

It: 

1. Connects to your CRM.
2. Verifies new contacts every hour.
3. Reverifies existing ones automatically.
4. Suppresses undeliverable emails on its own.

I haven't touched a verification CSV since.

And my bounce rate has been as low as ever.

Automate the boring stuff.

Spend your time on what actually makes you money.

Landing 1.2M+ cold emails/month in the inbox at Grow Surely

I check 6 things before sending any sales email campaign.

(Skipping even one can destroy your deliverability)

1. DNS setup → MxToolBox

SPF, DKIM, DMARC must be perfect.

If anything is in red, I let the domain warm up for longer.

No exceptions.

2. Domain reputation → Cisco Talos

If a domain's reputation isn't perfect, nothing is sent from it.

3. Email verification → Bouncer

Every email gets verified before it touches a campaign.

It also identifies spam traps, breached addresses, and complainers.

Invalid/untrusted emails = bounces = reputation damage.

4. Copy readability → Hemingway Editor

Grade 7 reading level or below.

If a 14-year-old can't understand it, simplify it.

5. Mailbox warm-up → Instantly.ai

Every mailbox needs at least 14 days of warm up.

I also always leave backup inboxes to warm up for longer.

6. Sequencing → Instantly.ai

Randomized times. Random intervals.

Predictable patterns trigger spam filters.

That's it.

6 checks. <15 minutes. Every campaign.

I track a metric that most cold emailers ignore.

It's not reply rate.

It's not open rate.

It's lead-to-valid-email rate.

Here's what I mean:

You build a list of 1,000 leads.

You run them through an email finder.

Only 400 come back with valid emails.

That's a 40% lead-to-valid-email rate.

Which means 60% of your research was wasted.

I used to deal with this every week.

Hours spent building lists.

Half the leads had no usable contact info.

It was the most frustrating bottleneck in my workflow.

Then I switched how I source leads.

I start with Prospeo.io 

And it's not just for enrichment.

But for the entire list build.

Here's why it changes everything:

→ 280M+ contacts with pre-verified emails
→ I filter by ICP before I ever export
→ Every email is verified at the source
→ My lead-to-valid-email rate went from 40% to 90%+

That means from 1,000 leads, I get 900+ valid emails.

Not 400.

Same effort. More than double the output.

Here's what that looks like in practice:
Old workflow:

→ Scrape leads from 3 different tools
→ Cross-reference in Clay
→ Run emails through a verifier
→ Lose 50-60% of the list
→ 4 hours of work for 400 usable leads

New workflow:

→ Build the list directly in Prospeo
→ Enrich for personalization
→ Push to Instantly.ai
→ few minutes for 900+ usable leads

The best campaigns don't start with better copy.

They start with better data.

If you're losing half your list before you even send, fix the source.

Helping B2B life science companies grow using strategic outbound | Co-founder at Astris Partners

Stop reading this.

Unless you want systematic, predictable revenue growth.

👉 Here’s my stance:

If you’re looking for a lead gen agency that promises 50 unqualified meetings a month, scroll on.

If you want someone who claims they understand your market better than you do after a 30-minute discovery call, this isn’t for you.

👉 Here’s what we actually do at Astris Partners:

We don’t generate leads. We build systematic outreach operations.

We extract the winning patterns from your existing customer relationships and create repeatable systems to reach more people in identical situations.

No guesswork. No spray-and-pray. No promises we can’t keep.

👉 Whether you’re:

	• A startup testing product-market fit hypotheses

	• An established company wanting predictable growth systems

	• A life science leader tired of random outreach

If you’re serious about systematic growth that you can forecast and scale, let’s talk.

We work with B2B companies who want to own their growth process, not depend on it.

Ready to stop hoping and start systematizing?
Shoot me a DM or click the link in my bio.

PS. We’ve done this successfully for over 50 B2B companies so far

Kevin Patrick (KP) 🤝

50 Books Every Salesperson Should Read

To make you a better salesperson in 2026.

Here are 20 to start with 👇
• Fanatical Prospecting – Jeb Blount
• Radical Candor – Kim Scott
• Snap Selling – Jill Konrath
• Pitch Anything – Oren Klaff
• Selling from the Heart – Larry Levine
• Buyer First – Carole Mahoney
• High-Profit Prospecting – Mark Hunter
• The Lost Art of Closing – Anthony Iannarino
• MEDDICC – Andy Whyte
• The Qualified Sales Leader – John M.
• Sell Different! – Lee Salz
• What Great Salespeople Do – Mike Bosworth & Ben Zoldan
• Start with No – Jim Campbell
• The Introvert’s Edge – Matthew Pollard
• SPIN Selling – Neil Rackham
• The Challenger Sale – Matt Dixon & Brent Adamson
• Predictable Revenue – Aaron Ross & Marylou Tyler
• Gap Selling – Keenan
• Never Split the Difference – Christopher Voss
• The Ultimate Sales Machine – Chet Holmes

📌 If you want the full list and the high res PDF of the graphic:

Comment “50” and I’ll send it to you. Make sure we are connected 

Make sure we’re connected so I can DM you.

P.S. Did I miss any must-read?

Kevin Patrick

Cold emailing in 2026 be like 😂
- First you let ChatGPT write it…
- Then you add emojis to make it friendly…
- Then you accidentally call 87 CEOs “Hey legend”…
- And suddenly your reply rate is 0.2% 💀
I mean… you don’t need fancy lines or emojis, just a clear, short ,human message.
Keep it simple, keep it real, and you’ll get way more replies.

These 30 signals tell you if outbound will work or not.

Usually, founders think they have a messaging problem when they don’t even know the product market fit

I mean, your outbound isn't failing because your SDRs aren't good enough.

It's failing because the market isn't pulling you in yet 🤷

Your product market fit shows up in very specific ways…

- Prospects forwarding your emails internally
- Competitors getting mentioned less in calls
- Deals closing faster without you pushing
- Reply rates that suddenly double for no obvious reason.

These 30 signals repeat across every successful outbound motion I've studied.

We just have to recognize them early and scale fast

P.S. Follow Kevin Patrick (KP) 🤝 for more outbound insights 😉

Prospects love to say “Sounds interesting” and push decisions to the next quarter.

But here’s the thing:

Chasing them nonstop only makes you look desperate.

Instead, try this:

Day 1: Send a solid cold email.
Day 2: Connect with them on LinkedIn.
Day 3: Like or comment on their post.
Day 4: Repeat Day 3 + send a DM (audio/video).
Day 5: Like or comment again.
Day 6-7: Give them space, don’t push.
Day 8: Send a follow-up email.
Day 9: Like or comment again.
Day 10: Follow up on LinkedIn.

Still no reply? Let it go and try again in a couple of months.

Focus on new leads. Don’t be annoying.

How do you handle the “maybe next quarter” reply?

AI in outbound just writes emails.

That’s what most people think.

Open ChatGPT.
Generate sequence.
Press send.

If you think that’s AI in outbound, think again.

   • Finding the right people to target

   •  Cleaning and improving contact data

   •  Grouping prospects the right way

   •  Sending at the right time

   •  Learning what actually gets replies

   •  Letting humans make the final call

Writing emails is the smallest part.

The real power is in the system behind it.

AI shouldn’t replace thinking.

       - It should improve targeting.
       - Sharpen decisions.
       - And help you double down on what works.

Outbound isn’t just copy.

It’s data + timing + feedback.

That’s where AI actually wins.

If your “personalization” could work for a SaaS startup and a plumbing company…

It’s not personalization. 😂

We’ve all seen it.

“Saw you’re passionate about innovation.”

Meanwhile, they’re installing water heaters and fixing clogged drains.

That’s not research.

That’s skimming the first line of a LinkedIn bio and hoping for the best.

And the worst part?
You think you personalized it.

Real personalization isn’t fancy words.

It’s showing you actually understand what they deal with day to day.

If they run a plumbing company, talk about scheduling, emergency jobs, reviews, missed calls, crew capacity.

Not “innovation.”

Before you hit send, ask yourself:

“Would this still make sense if I sent it to a completely different industry?”

If the answer is yes… rewrite it.

Because bad personalization doesn’t make you look smart.

It makes you look like the meme.

We generated a $250K deal with just one cold email

How a simple outbound system quietly outperformed volume.

A founder I worked with thought outbound just didn’t work.

He’d been at it for months.

Sending sequences
Using templates
Adding personalization
Watching open rates

But… no real pipeline.

He was doing what everyone says to do.
More emails. More tools. More hacks.

Still nothing.

That’s when he reached out to me.
We didn’t add more.

We actually did less but better.

1. Cut the list way down (only people who truly needed it)

2. Talked about their problems, not their name/company trivia

3. Reached out when timing made sense (funding, hires, launches)

4. Wrote emails like a normal human

5. Started with a real observation, not a pitch

6. Asked if they were open to exploring, not “book a call”

7. Made follow-ups feel like new conversations

8. Shared real examples instead of big claims

9. Learned from every reply (even the nos)

10. Used AI to spot signals, not write spam.
 
Then we kept it simple:
→ Small, high-fit lists
→ Relevant emails
→ Good timing
→ Constant tweaks

A few weeks later:
→ Replies started coming in
→ Real convos happened
→ One email turned into a $250K deal

It wasn’t luck.
It’s because the message hit the right person, at the right time, with the right context.

Cold email isn’t dead.
Bad cold email is.

If you want to make outbound work, start here:

Focus on who actually needs you
→ Keep your message simple and real
→ Reach out when timing makes sense
→ Show proof, don’t hype
→ Treat it like testing, not guessing

That’s what I help founders do.
Build outbound that feels natural and gets results.

Our outbound stack was getting very expensive.

We were spending more money on tools and getting fewer leads

- One tool for leads.
- One for emails.
- One for tracking.

And somehow… still dealing with bad data.

That’s when I tried Saleshandy’s Lead Finder 2.0.

And honestly?

It feels like they rebuilt prospecting from scratch.

800M+ contacts now…
and way more company-level data than before.

What I actually liked:
✅ Emails verified in real time (fewer bounces)
✅ Credits don’t just disappear (50% roll over)
✅ No more jumping between tools
✅ You can target companies, not just random people

What’s new in Saleshandy’s Lead Finder 2.0:

1. Company-first search.

You can look for companies by hiring, funding, growth, tech stack, website traffic - then find the right people inside.

2. 60–70+ filters.

Not just job title and location, but real filters that narrow results fast.

3. Buying signals.

Like companies that recently raised funds, are hiring fast, or brought in new leadership.

4. Simple workflow.

Find leads → save to list → push to email sequence → track in CRM.
No exporting, no CSV chaos.

Honestly, it feels less like a lead database
and more like a proper prospecting system.

If outbound is part of your growth, worth testing it yourself.

I don’t send a cold email until it passes this quick check.

Because I’d rather fix it in 60 seconds than spend the next week wondering why no one replied.

You know the feeling.

You write an email and it feels solid.

The targeting makes sense, the offer is clear, and it actually sounds like something a real human would send.

You read it back and think, “Yeah… this should work.”

You hit send.

And then… nothing.

So you start tweaking things.

- Maybe the angle’s wrong.
- Maybe the CTA needs work.
- Maybe people just aren’t interested right now.

But most of the time it’s something small.

— The subject line is a bit too long.
— The email drags by 20 extra words.
— There’s an extra link.
— Or a random word quietly pushing you toward spam.

Nothing dramatic. Just enough to kill replies.

That’s why I run a quick check before sending a cold email.

    •  Is the subject short?
    •  Is it under 90 words?
    •  One simple question?
    •  No spammy language?
    •  Is it easy to read in under 10 seconds?

If something’s off, I fix it before it ever hits an inbox.

Cold email is already hard.

But losing replies over small, avoidable mistakes shouldn’t be.

Every time I wanted to quit, my wife wouldn’t let me.

A few years ago, I had an idea. 

One of those big, bold ideas that felt like it could change everything. 

I was excited, ready to jump in. But before I did, I went to her with the rough plan.

She listened quietly, taking in everything I said.

The half-formed thoughts.

The things I wasn’t sure would even work.

Then, without skipping a beat, she asked the tough questions.

- How will this impact your time with the kids?
- What happens if this doesn’t go as planned?

She wasn’t just nodding along. She was pushing me to dig deeper.

I remember feeling a bit frustrated. 

I thought I had it all figured out. But she kept refining the idea, challenging me to think through every angle.

And when things didn’t go as planned, when the reality of execution hit, she was the steady voice reminding me why I started. 

She never said, “I told you so.” Instead, she helped me get back on track and see the bigger picture.

This past year has been a challenge. 

It’s stretched us both, tested us in ways I never imagined. 

But as I look back, I know I didn’t get here alone.

If you want a real advantage in life and business,

build with someone who believes in you,

but isn’t afraid to challenge you too.

That kind of partnership changes everything.

If your outbound worked, you wouldn't be here.

You clicked because deep down, you know something's off.

- The replies aren't coming. 

- The meetings aren't booking

Your team's grinding harder than ever, but the pipeline is still empty.

No, your outbound isn't failing because of bad luck, it's failing because it's outdated.

The same tactics that worked in 2018 are not working in 2026. 

→ Generic messages

→ Pointless voicemails.

Metrics that look good but mean nothing.

You're working harder, not smarter, and the reason behind it is these 7 signals killing your outbound

So save this post and see how many you're guilty of.

Your future self will thank you 😉

Anyone can send cold emails.

But only the companies that stop believing these lies will actually see results.

Here are the 8 myths that are still holding B2B companies back:

1. More emails means more deals

2. Cold outbound is dead

3. Personalization means just using their name

4. AI will fix everything

5. You can’t reach enterprise buyers cold

6. No reply means not interested

7. Leads = pipeline

8. Outbound can’t be predictable

The truth? 

It’s not about sending more emails or relying on shortcuts

It’s about knowing what works and sticking with it.

What lies have you heard in outbound?

10,000 enriched contacts in minutes > days of manual research

Quick question.

“How much time does your team spend just finding contact info?”

Because this used to slow us down a lot.

Every time we pulled a prospect list, something was missing.

- No email.
- No phone number.
- Outdated data.

So the team had to go digging for it.

Open one data tool → search the contact.
No result? Try another tool.
Still nothing? Try a third one.

And repeat that hundreds of times.

Not exactly the best use of an SDR’s time.

Instead of talking to prospects, everyone was just cleaning data.

That’s when we realized the issue wasn’t outreach.

It was the messy data workflow behind it.

So we simplified things.

Instead of checking different tools one by one, we started using BetterContact to automatically run enrichment across multiple data providers.

Basically, it searches several sources at once and fills in the missing info.

The difference was huge.

Now we can enrich thousands of contacts in minutes.

Less time chasing data. More time starting conversations.

Swipe the carousel to see how it works. 👇

P.S. Tools like BetterContact make outbound a lot smoother when your contact data is incomplete.

How We Enrich 10,000 Contacts Minutes Instead Of Days

80% of your prospect data is wrong.

Here's how to fix it.

You're sending emails to people who left the company 2 years ago.

It’s obvious no one will reply… right?

Bad data kills your outreach before it starts.

But here are 8 ways to fix it…

- Stop targeting everyone, focus on ICP matches
- Talk to the right people, find actual decision-makers
- Verify your data and use tools to check email validity
- Don't guess emails, use proper formats that work
- Check if emails actually exist, before hitting send
- Get phone numbers too, calls still close deals
- Clean lists before you send, remove outdated contacts
- Use Sales Navigator for accurate job titles and mapping

Clean data is a big factor in getting replies

Fix your list first and your message second

Better data leads to better conversation

One thing we’ve noticed after looking at a lot of outbound campaigns:

Most teams don’t have a copy problem.

They have a data problem.

It usually shows up in small ways.

- Someone “guesses” an email and just sends it.
- A tool says “valid” but it’s actually a catchall.
- Or they’re still using a CSV from months ago because “it should still be fine.”

Individually, none of these feels like a big deal.

But together?

• Bounce rates creep up.
• Inbox placement gets inconsistent.
• Replies drop.
• And suddenly outbound isn’t working like it used to.

What’s tricky is that the damage doesn’t look dramatic.

It’s slow. Quiet. Cumulative.

That’s exactly why we started using Icypeas before launching campaigns.

- Accurate emails from the start.
- Real verification on tricky catchalls (even Google & Microsoft).
- And keeping data fresh instead of trusting old lists.

It’s not the flashy part of outbound.

But it’s the part that protects everything else.

Because once your domain reputation drops, fixing it is a lot harder than preventing it.

The more I learned, the more I realized I didn’t know as much as I thought.

A few years ago, things were perfectly going my way.

I had closed some decent deals, managed a couple of projects, and people at work started looping me into bigger conversations.

For the first time, I felt ahead instead of behind.

And that’s exactly when I made the mistake.

I stopped being curious.

Instead of asking simple questions in meetings, I’d nod along. I didn’t want to look like the only one who didn’t get it.

If someone used a term I wasn’t fully clear on, I’d pretend I knew. I told myself I’d look it up later.

Sometimes I did. Most times I didn’t.

I started relying on what had worked before.

Same approach. Same thinking. Same effort.

And slowly, my results plateaued.

Nothing dramatic happened. No big failure. Just… no real growth either.

That’s when it hit me.

Early wins can make you comfortable. And comfort makes you assume you’ve figured it out.

But the more you’re exposed to different people, bigger problems, new situations, the more you see how layered everything is.

You realize there’s depth you never noticed before.

Now I’m much more comfortable saying, “I don’t understand this fully.”

I ask basic questions again. I double-check assumptions. I let myself be a beginner in rooms where I’m not the smartest person.

Because that’s the real shift.

The more you learn, the more you see how much you don’t know.

And that’s not a bad thing.

That’s where real growth actually starts.

Ever feel like you’re chasing prospects forever?

At first, prospect research seems easy, right?

— Open LinkedIn
— Google the company
— Scroll through their posts
— Check the news
— Rinse and repeat

But then, you start dealing with more prospects. And suddenly…

You’ve got too many tabs open:

→ Replies get lost in the mix
→ Following up becomes a chore
→ Timing? What timing?

So what’s the real issue?

It’s not your outreach.

It’s your research process.

We used to be stuck in the same cycle until we found Trigify.io  MCP

It let us…

1. Instantly connect social data to Claude
2. Pull real-time buyer signals from LinkedIn, X, Reddit, YouTube, and Podcasts
3. Make our research faster, smarter, and more relevant

With Trigify.io, we stopped wasting time and started talking to people who are actually interested.

So yeah, smarter research = better conversations.

Trigify.io + Claude = your shortcut to getting it right.

What If Calude Did Your Prospect Research

I almost gave up on outbound.

Not because it doesn’t work.
But because the whole system was falling apart in ways I didn’t even see.

Here are the 5 hidden failure points I’ve seen inside 90% of outbound setups👇

1️⃣ The Data Rot
Your list starts lying to you.
People change jobs, companies pivot, titles disappear.
Meanwhile, you’re still emailing ghosts.
Keep your ICP fresh, review it like you review your metrics.

2️⃣ The Message Drift
It starts small.
One rep edits a line, another softens the tone… and suddenly five versions of your “story” are out there.
Prospects feel it.
Stick to one story that everyone tells their own way, not five different stories fighting for attention.

3️⃣ The Feedback Gap
Most teams wait until end of quarter to see what worked.
By then, the market’s already changed.
Talk to your data every week.
Tiny tweaks > giant resets.

4️⃣ The Tool Pileup
Every new tool promises to make things faster.
But before you know it, your CRM says one thing, your sequencer says another, and no one knows what’s real.
Pick one source of truth.
Simplicity wins.

5️⃣ The Wrong Scoreboard
Everyone loves activity.
Emails sent. Calls made. Tasks completed.
But none of that means progress.
Start tracking momentum, not motion, how fast a new contact turns into a real conversation.

Outbound doesn’t die because it’s outdated.
It dies because we stop treating it like a system.

Fix the system, and the results follow.

♻️ Repost to help a team that’s struggling with outbound
🔔 Follow Kevin for more no-fluff outbound breakdowns

5 Failure Points Hidden Inside 90% of Outbound Systems.

Most SDR teams still waste 1 in 3 dials.

And no… it’s not because they’re not dialing enough.

It’s because the mobile data sucks.

Everyone says:

— Improve the script.
— Call at the right time.
— Handle objections better.

But if the number is wrong, dead, or a landline…

None of that matters.

You can’t have a great conversation with a disconnected phone.

That’s why BetterContact latest mobile upgrade is a big deal.

Here’s the simple version of what changed:

• It now pulls from 20+ data providers
 → So you’re not relying on just one database

• It doesn’t pull randomly
 → Providers are sequenced smartly to get better matches

• Every number is checked multiple times
 → Bad, stale, and landline numbers get filtered out

So your SDRs aren’t wasting time dialing junk.

Because more numbers doesn’t mean more pipeline.

Better numbers = more conversations.

And more conversations = more revenue.

90+ Qualified Conversations. 20%+ Reply Rate. 60%+ Positive Reply. 

These are the metrics we achieved in one campaign for a recent client. 

The average B2B cold email reply rate is well under 1%. 

After breaking down hundreds of cold email campaigns, I've found that the ones that actually work follow a 7-step framework.

They're short. They're specific. They sound human.

If your cold outreach isn't converting, this is where to start.

Check out the pinned comment for the full video.

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Kevin Patrick (KP) 🤝

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The Battle

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