Bill Stathopoulos

Founder

👋 I'm Bill, and here's my story:

1. Building SalesCaptain, an Outbound & AI GTM agency for B2B SaaS to $3M+ ARR, while being a digital nomad for 4 years.
2. Authored a book - "Cold Email Secrets"
3. Scaled a Growth Marketing Agency to $1M ARR at the age of 28. Grew the team from 7 to 25+ employees in 3 years. Closed clients like Nestle, Revolut, GE, and the Singapore Airport.
4. Helped multiple startups go from zero to $5M+ revenue in 18 months since 2015
5. Trained 2,500+ Growth Marketers in the last 5 years
6. Built the speakers lineup for Ad World, with 50k+ attendees and 100+ speakers, making it the largest advertising conference in the world
7. Interviewed Seth Godin, Scott Galloway, Arianna Huffington, Rory Sutherland, the CMO of Samsung, the CMO of Hubspot, and 30+ world-class Marketing executives.
8. Published the book “Cold Email Secrets”, the bible of modern Outbound & GTM. 
9. Named “Top Lead Generation Voice” on LinkedIn in 2024
10. Became the Clay Club Host in London, leading a team of 15+ GTM Engineers

What you'll get working with me:
🧲 Your Go-To-Market (aka GTM) Strategy
🏀 Optimize your Marketing channels; make the most of your budget
🏆 Build systems for User Acquisition, Activation, Retention, and Revenue

Peace, love & growth ✌️

Bill

Co-Founder

We build and scale Outbound Sales systems that include multi-channel prospecting, lead response, and our cutting-edge processes to help you build your business.

If I asked you right now:
Who owns pipeline end-to-end in your GTM motion?

If the answer isn’t crystal clear,
that’s a problem.

In many teams, GTM looks like this:

- Marketing runs inbound
- Sales runs outbound
- RevOps fills the gaps

Everyone cares about pipeline.
But nobody owns the full motion.

Does this work? No.

What actually works in 2026 (in practice)

After seeing hundreds of GTM motions up close, one pattern keeps winning:
Inbound, outbound, and signals treated as one system.
Not three separate plays.

Here’s how we make that work 👇

1️⃣ Outbound isn’t just top-of-funnel

Outbound should exist across the entire funnel:
Top: ICP-based awareness (relevant, not clever)
Middle: Signal-triggered follow-ups (timing > volume)
Bottom: Direct offers when buyers are already close

2️⃣ Inbound is not “wait and hope”

Inbound-led outbound means this:
Someone visits your site, attends a webinar, or signs up → you act, instead of letting the lead sit untouched.

Inbound creates interest.
Outbound creates momentum.

3️⃣ Signals don’t create pipeline, ownership does.

Signals only matter if someone is accountable for:
- who acts
- when they act
- and through which channel

No owner = dead signal.

4️⃣ Judge the system by pipeline, not activity

If your dashboards celebrate:
- emails sent
- sequences launched
- campaigns shipped
You’re measuring effort, not outcomes.

The only question that matters:
Is this system producing pipeline predictably?

Between SalesCaptain, HeyReach.io, and Zapmail.ai,
this exact system helped generate ~$25M in revenue.

This is exactly what we’re breaking down live in an upcoming GTM Roundtable, with operators from the 3 companies building these systems every day. I will be speaking with:

Ilija Stojkovski (CRO, HeyReach.io)
Kaustubh Wadhwa (Product & Growth, Zapmail.ai)
Bojana Petkovic (Ecosystem Lead, HeyReach.io)

This isn’t an inbound vs outbound debate.
It’s about how teams are using both to build one coherent revenue motion.

We're meeting live on Zoom, next Tuesday, Jan 27, at 19:00–20:00 EET.
Link to register: https://luma.com/udv8tm4q

If pipeline predictability matters to you this year,
this session will be worth your time.
(come with all your questions).

CEO, SalesCaptain | Clay London Club Lead 👑 | Top lemlist Partner 📬 | Investor | GTM Advisor for $10M+ B2B SaaS

No, your GTM engineer can’t fix your outbound.
Read this before you hire a GTME.

(This is part 1/5 GTM mistakes you shouldn’t carry with you into 2026.)

I was on a sales call this week with a founder who said:
"We hired a GTM Engineer 6 months ago… but our pipeline growth is minimal."
I asked: “What’s your team structure?”
She said: “I have a GTME.”
....

One of the most common GTM mistakes I see:
Founders hire a technical expert, 
and expect them to drive both pipeline and revenue.

It doesn’t work that way.

Here’s what actually works (and how we structure GTM at SalesCaptain):

You need these 3 roles
1️⃣ GTM Strategist: owns strategy (ICPs, messaging, cross-channel orchestration)
2️⃣ GTM Engineer: builds AI/data workflows, connects APIs, scales infra
3️⃣ Full-Stack AEs: convert pipeline, leverage infra, feed insights back

We learned this the hard way:
One person can’t own both strategy and execution.
This is too much switching between contexts, which leads to too many dropped balls.

So we tested different structures till we got it right.

→ We launched campaigns twice as fast
→ Our messaging started resonating better
→ It became easier to see what was actually driving revenue

We’ve helped clients implement the same structure, and the numbers keep proving it right.

So let me ask you this 👇 
How’s your GTM team structured?
How is it working for you?

From my conversation with Milan Savov, on Leaders of Growth podcast (I will add the link in the comments).

When it comes to GTM data, which pill are you taking? 💊

Every GTM team wants the same thing:
A growing pipeline that makes the best use out of your reps' time.

But there are two very different ways to get there.

1. 🟦 Blue Pill GTM:
Buy more lists → Get more leads.

In this path you:
- Buy a CSV from Apollo, ZoomInfo, Cognism,... take your pick.
- Filter by title
- Send 1,000 cold emails.
- Wait for someone to book.
- If replies drop… buy a bigger list.

This path feels productive (more rows, more potential.)
But practically, you get bloated CRMs, irrelevant messaging, and reps spending their time chasing leads.

2. 🟥 Red Pill GTM:
Build a signal-driven pipeline: ICP first → Signals second → Messaging last.

In this path, you:

- Define ICP beyond job titles (think tech stack, hiring motion, headcount trends).
- Layer real-time signals like funding, exec changes, tool adoption, website shifts.
- Enrich with context: How does this company make decisions? What’s likely top of mind this quarter?
- Write emails that answer: Why me? Why now?

When you do this, your first touch feels like a warm intro,
because it is the right message, to the right person, at the right moment.

I don’t know which pill you’ll choose.

What I know is the best GTM operators in 2026 are building living, breathing pipelines.
Ones that update daily, prioritize based on intent, and let you engage buyers before your competitors even realize they’re in-market.

The tools exist.
The data exists.
The process is teachable.
The only question is:

🟦 Keep buying lists?
🟥 Or build a modern GTM system that prioritizes relevance over volume?

#GTM #Outbound #SalesCaptain

GTM Engineering job postings went up 205% in 2025 vs 2024.
Why?

Because revenue teams have reached a breaking point.

They’re not short on tools, AI pilots, or headcount.
They’re short on people who own the system end to end.
That’s what GTM Engineers solve.

They build the infrastructure that makes revenue repeatable, in ways like:

* Turning messy signals into structured actions
* Making outbound workflows scalable across reps
* Connecting tools and data so AI can actually drive outcomes
* Designing systems where pipeline grows instead of resets

How do you know if your team needs a GTME? 🤔 

Here’s what it looks like when the GTM system has no clear owner:

- Each rep runs a different version of the playbook
- “Integrated” tools constantly break handoffs
- CRM updates happen manually (if at all)
- AI experiments never make it into live workflows
- Weekly pipeline reviews feel more like firefighting instead of optimization

If 2 or more of these sound familiar, you need a GTME.

And if you’re thinking,
"That sounds like the kind of impact I want to have..."

GTM Engineering is one of the few roles growing fast, even in a tough market.
This role sits at the center of AI, systems, and revenue.
And it will only become more and more foundational.

We put everything into the visual below:
The 2026 GTM Engineer Playbook
What the role is, what skills it needs, expected salary and how to prepare for it.

Save it.
Share it with someone who wants to grow into this role.
Tag them below, this could be their next move.👇

Not all GTM partnerships are built the same.
Many get announced, logos get swapped, and nothing changes in how pipeline is built.

The successful ones have one thing in common:
Both sides are building real GTM, not just pitching it.

We’ve worked with lemlist for years, since the early partner program.
What made it work was a shared worldview: 
Outbound isn’t a sales play anymore.
It’s part of the GTM infrastructure, just like your CRM or analytics stack.

Then last year I sat down with Charles Tenot, CEO of lemlist (now a $35M ARR company). 
We shared a deep alignment on where outbound is breaking, and how real operators are rebuilding it.
You can feel that when a team runs their own GTM at the same pressure and pace their customers do.

The note and small award we received recently were a byproduct of that kind of partnership, one where feedback loops, shared pain, and long-term bets matter more than metrics.

Big thanks to Julia Guenier, and the whole lemlist team for operating with that mindset.

Excited for what's coming!
Let’s keep building 🔥

Do you ever stop and ask "Why do people actually buy from us?"
That's the key to finding the best signals.
 
Instead, I get these questions a lot 👇 
"Is hiring a good signal?"
"What intent data should we buy?"
"Which tool has the best triggers?"

Wrong questions.
 
The real insight doesn't come from external signals. It comes from your own closing history.
 
So, before you add another tool, do this:

→ Pull your last 10–20 closed deals and ask one question:
What changed inside the company before they bought?
 
For example, at SalesCaptain, we analyzed our closed deals over the past 4 years.
The pattern that kept appearing: companies who changed their CRO in the last 6 months.
(Within 1–6 months of a CRO change, that's when they're ready to rebuild GTM infrastructure.)
 
What we see across mature GTM teams:

- New CRO/CMO hired → mandate to "fix pipeline"
- Ownership of revenue changes hands
- Shift from founder-led sales to systems
- Pressure to scale without hiring more reps
 
These moments create forced action.
And forced action beats generic "interest" every single time.
 
Here's something GTM teams need to remember:
Signals are hypotheses, not truths.
 
A signal only becomes valuable when you:
1️⃣ Tie it back to why people actually buy from you
2️⃣ Test it across months, not days
3️⃣ See it repeat consistently, not once
 
This is why signal-led GTM isn't about finding the signal.
It's about building a system that:

-> Tests signals continuously
-> Scores them against real revenue outcomes
-> Routes action based on impact, not noise
 
This is how pipeline becomes predictable.
 
This is from the amazing conversation I had yesterday with Ilija Stojkovski (CRO, HeyReach.io) Kaustubh Wadhwa (Product & Growth, Zapmail.ai) and Bojana Petkovic (Ecosystem Lead, HeyReach.io).
 
Here's the link to the full webinar: ﻿https://lnkd.in/dyTbkVyT

P.S. if you want the slides I shared in the webinar, DM me.

What if you treated outbound like a marketing channel?

That’s how we run it at SalesCaptain.
And for GTM teams with a finite TAM, it’s literally a cheat code.

Here’s how you can operationalize it:

✅ Quarterly touchpoints

If your ICP is 5,000 companies, your goal isn't just to "get replies", it’s to stay top-of-mind.
We run outbound like marketing campaigns: built around themes, refreshed quarterly, and optimized for relevance.

Orchestrated with: Clay, and delivered via lemlist and HeyReach.io.

What you can track:
- % of accounts touched this quarter
- Re-engagement from dormant accounts
- Reply trends by persona/topic

✅ Email signals are real-time intent

Opens, clicks, site visits... these are all triggers.
If someone engages, you need to follow up fast.
Sub-60 second replies consistently lead to 2-3X more meetings booked.

Tools: Instantly.ai, Midbound, Clay, n8n, plus Lemlist and Heyreach for outreach.

What you can track:
- Speed-to-lead (How fast you respond after a lead shows intent)
- Signal-to-meeting conversion (% of intent signals that actually turn into booked meetings)
- Channel effectiveness

✅ Outbound needs distribution of insight

We’re not here to “check in.”
Our highest-performing messages offer something useful like frameworks, benchmarks, or patterns the buyer hasn’t seen before.

Research & Personalization via: Claygent, Twain and/or Octave.

What you can track:
- Response rate to insight-led messages
- “This was helpful” kind of replies

Video below from my conversation with Stefan Conic 🙌

Outbound trying to be smart -> Stupid.
Outbound trying to be relevant -> Smart.

Part 2/5 of mistakes you can’t afford in 2026

Your outbound messages fail because you're trying to impress.
Instead of trying to help.
When in reality, winning campaigns are useful, not clever!

Here are some examples of useful messages:

- Lead magnets that are genuinely valuable 
- Insights specific to the buyer’s market, role, or stack 
- Strong offers (often free implementation or teardown) 
- FOMO through hyper-relevance “We’re already working with your top 2 competitors” 

But none of that works if your data’s trash.
You can’t fake context, nor can’t prompt your way to get trust.

When the data’s real, the message writes itself.
Short, relevant, to the point.
And that’s what wins.

Why US companies are winning the GTM execution race, 
and everyone else is playing catch-up

Over the past couple of years, while working with GTM teams across the US and Europe, I kept noticing the same pattern:

Same conferences.
Same tools.
Same markets.
But very different questions.

US teams asked:
“How do we optimize our 30+ Clay workflows?”

Most European teams asked:
“How do we get more leads?”

Clay calls this GTM Alpha; the velocity at which a company can execute go-to-market.
And GTM Alpha is quietly splitting B2B into two camps.

Here’s where people get confused:
→ US leads global AI investment with $109.1B, nearly 12× China and 24× the UK.
→ 95% of businesses globally already use or plan to adopt AI by 2025.

On paper, it seems like everyone’s on equal footing, but they’re not.

Europe often reports higher AI usage:
→ 13.5% of EU enterprises in 2024 vs. ~8.7% of US firms in 2025.

So why is the US still pulling ahead?

Because adoption is not depth!

It’s not whether companies use AI, but how deeply it’s embedded in their GTM system.

-> In the US, organizational AI adoption is ~82%, with 99% of Fortune 500 already onboard.

Most teams start the same way:
AI for writing emails and summarizing calls.

The best teams go further. 
They run GTM with AI:
– Data enrichment
– Intent-based segmentation
– Multi-channel orchestration
– Real-time routing to reps
(Same tools, different outcomes.)

So how do you catch up? ⚠️ 

Start with the foundation.
You don’t need 30 workflows. Just the right ones, in the right order.

Phase 1️⃣: Clean your data
CRM enrichment
Lead routing
Basic scoring
(Most teams skip this, and fail later.)

Phase 2️⃣: Broad ICP outreach
List building from LinkedIn, Google Maps, etc.
AI-powered personalization
Email + LinkedIn sequencing

Phase 3️⃣: Add intent signals
Job changes
Hiring spikes
Competitor followers
Event attendees

Phase 4️⃣: Activate inbound
Visitor ID
Form enrichment
LinkedIn engagement
Pricing page workflows

Phase 5️⃣: Build your ABM stack
Account tracking
Committee mapping
Tool change detection
Expansion workflows

Here's something you need to keep in mind:
-> Despite 78% of orgs using AI in some function,
70–85% of AI projects still fail.

Why?
Because teams jump to Phase 5, without fixing Phase 1.

AI-led GTM drives:
– 3× more site visits
– ~50% larger deals
– 30% faster launches and ~25% workflow gains

Some teams are still debating tools.
Others are optimizing conversion by segment, time-to-MQL, and cost per account.

Stop asking:
“How do we get more leads?”
Start asking:
“How do we orchestrate GTM?”

Thoughts? 👇

You tracked the signal.
You did what you were supposed to do.

Website visit.
Job change.
Engagement spike.
...
So you reached out.
And nothing happened.
No reply, no pipeline!
 
This is where most GTM teams get confused.
Because the problem isn’t that you missed the signal.
It’s that the signal didn’t answer the most important question:

👉 Why now?
 
Your GTM team already has the signals:
Website visits, job changes, social engagement, product usage, and hiring signals.
 
The issue isn’t lack of data.
It’s that signals don’t tell a story on their own.

- A website visit doesn’t mean interest.
- A job change doesn’t mean intent.
- Engagement doesn’t mean readiness.

On their own, these are contextless events.
And what usually happens next is predictable:

- Signals get pushed into Slack.
- Logged in the CRM.
- Tagged inside GTM tools.
But no one defines:
1. what changes because the signal happened
2. who should act
3. how the message should adapt
4. or when not to act at all
So teams react instead of orchestrate.

What the best GTM systems do differently is simple (but not easy):

1️⃣ They combine signals, they don’t chase them
One signal rarely means anything.
Multiple signals, across time, start to explain intent.

2️⃣ They score accounts, not activities
Fit × Engagement × Potential Value.
Not “someone clicked,” but “this account is worth time now.”

3️⃣ They design actions before automation
Signals are inputs, not instructions.
The action depends on where the account actually is.

4️⃣ They protect human effort
Sales and marketing only engage when the system says timing is right.

Everything else gets deprioritized automatically.
That’s when outreach stops feeling random.
and pipeline flows.

I’ll be breaking this down live with Erwan Gauthier VP of Growth at lemlist, including how the team at Lemlist are building signal-led GTM motions going into 2026.

Link to register: https://luma.com/zn8wfvy6

This session will change how you think about signals.

Your next 50 best customers will look a lot like your last 5.
 
We had a client burning $5K/month on cold outbound trying to "expand TAM."
1% reply rate, zero pipeline, team demoralized.
 
I asked them one question: 
"Who are your 10 favorite customers? The ones who get it, move fast, and actually implement?"
 
They sent me the list, we spent 2 days analyzing them.
Then we killed every other campaign they were running.
 
What we did instead:
- Pulled their best 15 customers from Salesforce
- Imported them into Clay
- Used Ocean.io to find 200 companies with the same industry, size, tech stack, and buying triggers
- Built automated outreach mentioning the customers they mirror via lemlist
- Let it run
 
The results:
- 15% reply rate (vs. 1% before)
- $400K pipeline in 90 days
- 4 deals closed in the first 90 days

Same team, same budget.
 
So what changed?
When you target lookalikes, you have an advantage:
- You already know the exact problem they have
- You already know what messaging lands
- You already have proof in their language
- You already know who makes the buying decision
- You already know how long the sales cycle is
 
The mistake most teams make is that they chase "new markets" way too early.

They see their core ICP starting to saturate (or think they do) and immediately pivot to adjacent segments, new verticals, or "enterprise" just because the board asked about it.

Meanwhile, there are 50+ companies exactly like your best customers who haven't heard from you yet.
 
The fastest pipeline growth comes from doubling down on what already works.
 
Here's the exact workflow we run:
Step 1: Export your best 10-15 customers (the ones you'd clone if you could)
Step 2: Import them into Clay
Step 3: Use Ocean.io, Apollo, or Findymail to find lookalikes based on:
Industry
Company size
Tech stack
Growth signals
Location (if relevant)
Step 4: Enrich with decision-makers using Clay's waterfall (Datagma → Apollo → Findymail)
Step 5: Build sequences in lemlist/HeyReach.io mentioning the customer they mirror:
"We recently helped [similar company] in [their industry] solve [specific problem]. Saw you're in a similar space and thought this might be relevant."
Step 6: Let it run, measure, and scale what converts
 
Average result: 3x more pipeline in 60 days, targeting companies they already know how to close.

If you haven't exhausted your core ICP, don't go chasing new markets.
 
If you know your top 10 accounts and want help applying this playbook, DM and I will be happy to help you.

We scraped Google Maps photos of 2,000 bakeries
and used AI to detect bread-making machines 🥖 
Sounds insane, right?
 
But this is exactly the kind of custom signal that’s replacing generic intent data in 2026.
 
Everyone’s buying the same intent data.
Which means everyone’s reaching out to the same prospects,
at the same time,
with the same “personalized” message.
 
Which means you are always standing in the same line with your competition.
 
Here’s what changed our entire GTM approach at SalesCaptain:

We stopped relying on off-the-shelf signals.
and started building our own.
 
Not:
– Hiring intent from ZoomInfo
– Funding announcements from Crunchbase
– Sales Navigator filters everyone else is using
 
Instead, we built signals only we had access to.

Here are some real-life examples from our client work:
 
1. Wellness and self-care software company 💇‍♀️ 

- Scraped Google Maps + websites for salons/spas
- Detected multiple locations or recent expansions
- Identified operators outgrowing spreadsheets/manual tools
- Triggered outreach during operational scaling

Result: 400+ positive replies in 5 months

2. Cybersecurity company 🥷 

– Monitored public breach reports in real time
– Identified relevant security teams
– Reached out while the problem was active

Result: $200K+ ACV meetings in a single quarter

3. Recruitment platform 💼

– Scraped job listings across multiple sources
– Identified companies actively hiring
– Matched HR decision-makers to real demand

Result: 710+ demo calls in 10 months

These aren’t signals you can buy from a vendor.
They’re competitive advantages built from:

– Custom data sources
– AI enrichment of unstructured data
– Community, ecosystem, and event signals

The pattern I see across every high-performing GTM team:
They don’t ask,
“Which intent tool should we buy?”
They ask,
“What data would give us an unfair advantage competitors can’t access?”

Then they build it!

If you want to design custom signals for your market and orchestrate them across sales, marketing, and ops, you know where to find me. 😎

Clay just unlocked super-multichannel with ads.

Not just email + LinkedIn.
The same audience can now be targeted across email, LinkedIn, and ads (LinkedIn, Meta, Google) in a unified way.

Why you should care:

1️⃣  One audience, one system, not separate targeting logic per channel
2️⃣ Prospects see you programmatically across channels, not randomly
3️⃣ You can increase spend and message frequency as signals increase
4️⃣ Website visits, product views, demo signups → more spend
5️⃣ ICP-fit accounts with weaker signals → lighter spend
6️⃣ Outreach and ads are sequenced based on warmth

Instead of managing multiple audiences across multiple platforms,
you control exposure, intensity, and timing from one place.

The warmer the prospect, the more they see you.
The colder the prospect, the less you spend.

This is huge 🔥

ADS IN CLAY. The most exciting new feature of everything Clay has been working on in my opinion is Ads.

We are seeing customers get ~much~ higher match rates than they have today against their audiences on LinkedIn, Meta and Google which is a massive win for performance marketing teams.

Ads platforms as a new export destination in Clay also enables very interesting campaigns. For example now you can:

1. Setup website intent in Clay to deanonymize web traffic
2. Search in Find People for your ICP contacts
3 Enrich them to find their hashed advertising IDs using our ads ID waterfall
4. Create audiences in Ads to run ABM campaigns
5. Convert them deeper into the funnel where you can message them via the various messaging tools in Clay

This is in open beta today for enterprise customers and we are looking for lots of feedback from performance marketers to make this best in class. 

DM me or comment for more.

Founders ask me all the time:
“Which channel should we double down on?”
 
SEO?
Google Ads?
LinkedIn Ads?
Social?
Cold Email?
 
After working with 60+ B2B teams at SalesCaptain, here’s the reality:
👉 Most channels work.
👉 Not all channels work for your stage, deal size, and urgency.
 
So instead of opinions, let’s benchmark 👇
Cost • Targeting Precision • Scalability • ROI • Time to Results
 
📬 Cold Email / Outbound
• Very low cost (tools + time)
• Extremely precise targeting
• Highly scalable
• Very high ROI when done right
• Fast results (1–2 weeks, if you have warmed up inboxes)
 
💰 Google Ads (Search)
• High CPCs
• Great for bottom-funnel intent
• Moderate scalability
• Fast if demand already exists
 
📈 SEO / Content
• High upfront investment
• Long-term scalability
• Massive ROI over time
• Slow to impact (3–6+ months)
 
🎯 LinkedIn Ads
• Surgical B2B targeting
• Expensive
• Moderate scalability
• Strong for awareness + nurture
 
🎥 Social Ads (Meta / TikTok)
• Scalable
• Interest-based targeting
• Better for DTC than niche B2B
 
🤝 Referrals / Partnerships
• Highest conversion rates
• Hard to scale
• Not predictable on their own
 
Cold Outreach wins when:
✅ You know your ICP
✅ Your offer is clear
✅ You want speed and control
✅ You’re building a repeatable engine, not betting on algorithms
 
📊 Save this. Share it with your Marketing Lead.
 
Use it to decide where your next $$$ actually goes.
 
And if you want help designing an Outbound system
that scales without burning cash,
you know where to find me.
 
#coldemail #outbound #b2bsales #gtm #demandgeneration #saasgrowth #revenuegrowth

Closed-lost isn’t a graveyard,
It’s a dataset.

Most teams lose a deal and move on.
We do the opposite:

We turn every closed-lost deal into a future meeting… using the exact reason they said “no”.

Here’s the 8-step workflow we built (we used this with a fintech client last week, and reactivated 3 deals in 8 days).

1) Pull closed-lost from HubSpot
Deal name, close date, close-lost reason, notes, decision maker.

2) Pull the actual buyer context from Gong
First + last call transcript.
Not “AI personalization”… the real objections, timelines, and blockers.

3) Enrich with real signals
Funding, acquisitions, new hires, restructuring, product launches.

4) Generate a reactivation recommendation
Why they said no
What changed
When to re-engage
What angle will land now
What to avoid

5) Turn that into a short email (4-part structure)
Intro → original blocker → why now (signal) → 15-min CTA.

The point is to send the one email that makes the buyer think:
“Yeah… this is actually relevant now.”

Imagine if you’re sitting on 200+ closed-lost deals, how much pipeline you could be generating with this workflow.
If you want a workflow like this built for your team, you know where to find me. 😉

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One page TikTok Shop strategy for 2026.

We've used these exact steps to help brands scale from $0 to millions in GMV on TikTok Shop:

Helping 8+ Figure Brands Win on TikTok Shop | CEO of Social Tale | Speaker | Social Commerce Growth Expert | DM for growth, audits, or collabs

I'm 35.

I run one of the best TikTok Shop agencies out there.

We've generated $80,000,000 in sales for our clients.

Ask me anything about TikTok Shop strategy and eCommerce for the next 24 hours:

I'm excited to announce that I'll be taking the stage at Affiliate World Conferences in Dubai, UAE.

Dates: March 4-5, 2026

My session:

 - How to build a TikTok Shop channel that can realistically reach $1M per month
- ⁠The exact growth phases from first sale to scale, and what changes at each stage
- ⁠How to structure unit economics so growth compounds instead of burning cash
- ⁠How to build a creator engine that produces predictable content and GMV

Why Affiliate World Global is a MUST-ATTEND:

- The #1 Performance Marketing Conference
- 7,000+ attendees from 110+ countries
- 35+ expert speakers (I'll be one of them)
- 300+ exhibitors with the latest tools and tech
- Endless networking, learning, and connecting with top marketers in the game

If you're serious about scaling on TikTok Shop and want to stay ahead of where the platform's headed…

You should be in the room.

If you're going, let me know so we can connect.

See you in Dubai! 🇦🇪

TikTok Shop isn't rocket science.

Most brands just skip the fundamentals.

If you're not selling → test more creators.
If creators are converting → scale what works.
If you're scaling → maintain velocity.

The brands winning on TikTok Shop are just executing the basics consistently.

One page TikTok Shop content strategy for 2026.

The exact content framework we use to generate $80M+ in sales:

Our new client launched 30 days ago on TikTok Shop.

224 samples shipped.
309 videos created.
$93.42 GMV per video.

That's 1.3 pieces of content per sample.

Most brands are lucky to hit 0.3.

The brands winning right now understand TikTok Shop isn't one-size-fits-all.

I speak to 20 brands per week about TikTok Shop.

Maybe 2 are actually ready.

Most brands think TikTok Shop is their lifeline, but the truth is, it’s not.

TikTok Shop in 2026 is a performance channel. 

Not an experiment or a shortcut.

If you're launching because your competitor is, you're already set up to fail.

If TikTok Shop needs to work for you in order for you to survive, it won't work.

I recorded a short video on the exact decision framework we use before launching any brand.

Comment “framework” and I’ll send it over.

People ask me what a typical day looks like managing 8-figure TikTok Shop brands.

There is no typical day.

You wake up expecting one thing.

TikTok throws something else at you.

Most people think this job is about posting content, but it's mainly about making sure creators, ads, shop ops, and the client are all rowing in the same direction.

I spend my days making decisions that affect GMV, like:

- Should we pause this creator?
- Do we double down on this product?
- Is this trend worth testing?

Every decision compounds.

And on TikTok Shop, good or bad decisions compound faster than on any other platform.

I said it before. I'll say it again.

1 creator posting 10 times > 10 creators posting once.

- Builds momentum
- Gives the algorithm data
- Drives actual GMV

Not to mention all the secondary impacts

- Creator gets comfortable with your product
- They refine their messaging with each post
- You only manage one relationship instead of ten

And the cheeky fact that most brands burn through samples, hoping something sticks instead of betting on proven performers.

“Can I actually be profitable with TikTok Shop?”

I get this asked all the time by brands.

Most brands think TikTok Shop is plug-and-play.

Just find creators, send samples, watch the sales roll in.

That's not how this works.

I walked a brand through this  P&L scenario last week.

$36 AOV.
26% commission.
20% discount on top.
Unoptimized fulfillment.

Profit per order was $2.80.

At 500 orders, it’s OK

So I showed them what happens at 5,000 orders.

The math breaks.

If your economics work at a small scale, it might not work at a real scale.

The brands doing 8 figures built their P&L first.

They launch agressive commission at 20-30% for 60-90 days to find winners.

Then tiered down to 12-20% based on performance.

They optimized fulfillment before adding volume.

They tracked sample CAC like any paid channel.

They avoided discounts unless margins allowed it.

Because when you stack 30% commission + 20% discount, you're giving away half the pie.

That's not sustainable.

I just recorded a video on the full profitability framework we use before launching any brand.

Comment "profit" and I'll send it over.

I speak to 15–20 brands every week about TikTok Shop.

And almost every call sounds the same:

“How much do we actually need to invest?”
“When does this become profitable?”
“Can we show this to finance or the board?”
“What happens if we need to break even by month 6?”

Most brands are flying blind.

They either:

- Send samples with no model
- Spend on ads with no end point
- Or kill the channel too early because it “didn’t work”

So I built the tool I wish every brand had before they launched.

A TikTok Shop Forecast that shows, in black and white:

- Your true cost to run the channel
- When you hit break-even
- How long does profitability realistically takes
- What “conservative vs aggressive” actually means
- What TikTok Shop looks like as a business unit, not a gamble

You plug in:

-COGS
- AOV
- Samples (Recommended)
- Commission for creators

And it outputs:

- 3 and 6-month forecasts
- Weekly and monthly P&L
- GMV growth curves
- Contribution
- Break-even timelines
- Total cash required
- Even halo impact on DTC and Amazon

It’s the same logic we use on every audit and strategy call.

The difference is now you can:

- Run this before you launch
- Share it with your CFO
- Pressure test assumptions
- Decide if TikTok Shop actually makes sense for your business

Some brands need profitability early.
Some are happy to break even.
Some will invest knowing the halo effect is worth it.

This lets you make that call with data, not vibes.

I’m giving it away for free.

If you want access, comment "Forecast" and I’ll send it over.

Most brands on TikTok Shop are fighting for scraps on the FYP.

Meanwhile, TikTok Search is sitting there with 3x higher conversion rates.

And almost nobody is using it.

Most brands ignore it because they're too busy chasing viral moments while their competitors steal customers searching for their exact product.

Here's the framework we use to dominate search traffic for our clients:

---

Step 1: Find what people are actually searching for

- Open TikTok search.
- Type your product category (e.g., "collagen powder").
- Screenshot the top 5-7 auto-complete suggestions.
- These are real search queries with real intent.

---

Step 2: Create videos that match the search term

Most brands make one generic product video.

That approach limits their growth.

Instead, you need separate videos for each search variation.

Someone searching "collagen for skin" has a different intent than someone searching "best collagen powder."

Make content for both.

---

Step 3: Match everything to the search term

- Your hook must include the exact search phrase.
- Your text overlay must include the exact search phrase.
- Your file name should match the search phrase.
- TikTok's algorithm reads all of this.
- Treat it like SEO because that's exactly what it is.

---

We've seen brands go from random viral spikes to predictable daily sales just by owning 5-10 search terms in their category.

If you're still ignoring TikTok Search, you're leaving money on the table.

---

♻️ Repost, bookmark, and share with your network if you found this helpful.

Follow me, Ashley Wright, for practical insights on TikTok Shop and eCom growth.

Most brands think TikTok Shop is a marketing channel.

It's not. It's a commerce ecosystem.

And the algorithm doesn't reward the biggest brands.

It rewards the best sellers.

I've watched brands with 50+ years in retail come to TikTok Shop expecting their name to mean something.

Well, unfortunately, it doesn't.

Your logo doesn't carry weight here.
Your brand heritage doesn't translate.
Your retailer relationships don't matter.

Product velocity means everything.

This is the shift most brands can't wrap their heads around.

They come in expecting their brand equity to carry them.

Then they watch a no-name product with strong creator content outsell them 10:1.

Because TikTok Shop doesn't care about your brand.

It cares about:

- How fast you're converting
- How much commission you're offering
- How well your product performs in content

The platform is built to move products.

Not build brand awareness.

Drink Nello did $28M on TikTok Shop since launching.

$13.55M of that came from affiliates alone.

Here's the exact playbook they've used:

---

1) The Problem-Solution Framework

Nello sells a "Super Calm" drink mix in the crowded wellness supplement space.

They stopped selling features and started solving a real problem. Every video follows the same pattern:

Problem: "I can't sleep because my mind won't shut off"

Solution: "I started using this and actually slept through the night"

---

2) The UGC Shift

Their polished studio ads completely flopped.

So they switched to raw iPhone footage:

- Real customers mixing powder in their kitchen.
- Talking about their actual stress levels.
- Showing genuine before and after results.

One creator posted about better sleep, and it went viral.

Instead of moving on, Nello amplified that exact video with GMV Max ads, extended its reach and turned one viral hit into sustained revenue.

In the 1st half of 2025, they ran only 5 ads, but generated over 787,000 orders.

---

3) The Affiliate Play

Nello generated $4.38M in TikTok Shop sales in March 2025 alone.

This is what they have done:

- Multiple product listings with tiered pricing (following proven TikTok Shop tactics).
- Higher-than-average pricing ($35+ per unit vs category norms).
- Heavy reliance on TikTok Shop affiliates with competitive commission rates.
- Focus on creator-led sales through product tags and authentic recommendations.

---

4) Live Commerce Execution

BOGO offers during TikTok Shop livestreams created instant urgency:

- "Buy 1, Get 1 Free" drove volume during live sessions.
- Acquired customers at break-even on first purchase.
- Real profit came from reorders (consumable product = high LTV).

---

Stop making ads that look like ads.

Show real people getting real results.

Offer affiliates a commission that actually motivates them to promote you.

Use live commerce to acquire customers at break-even, then win on lifetime value.

Nello proved you don't need the biggest budget.

You need the right system.

---

♻️ Repost with your network if you found this helpful.

Follow me, Ashley Wright, for practical insights on TikTok Shop and eCom growth.

“Is the TikTok Shop halo effect actually real?”

For the longest time, “halo” has been a buzzword.

Everyone talks about it.
Very few can prove it.

More sales on Shopify.
Lift on Amazon.
Brand search going up.
But no clean way to see it.

That just changed.

TikTok Shop rolled out Off-Site Performance Analysis.

It now shows you:

GMV generated on Shopify
From users who viewed or clicked TikTok Shop content
Outside the app
Tied directly back to TikTok activity

In one account I looked at:

$12k TikTok Shop GMV
$1.4k off-site GMV
In the same 7-day window

That is an extra 11% revenue that never shows up in your TikTok P&L.

Over a month?
That is real money.

Over a quarter?
That is the difference between “this channel loses money” and “this channel compounds the business.”

This matters because:

Most brands judge TikTok Shop in isolation.

They see:

High commission
Discounts
Fulfilment drag
Tight per-order margin

And conclude:
“This doesn’t work for us.”

But TikTok Shop is not Meta.
It is not Google.
It is not a single-touch channel.

It is earned media at scale.

If you only measure in-app GMV, you are undercounting the return.

Now you can finally see:

What TikTok content does off-platform
How awareness turns into DTC revenue
Why the best operators treat TikTok Shop as a growth engine, not a margin line

This is the first real step toward making “halo” measurable.

And once finance can see it,
The whole conversation changes.

Comment HALO and I’ll send you the breakdown.

"I don't know how to create content that sells on TikTok Shop."

Here’s how to generate unlimited ideas:

---

1. Study what's converting (not what's viral)
   
- Pull your GMV per view data.
- Analyze which creator angles drove sales.
- Check FastMoss for trending products in your category.

The data tells you what works.

2. Pick your hook type

- "How I [result] using [product]"
- "What [expert] uses for [problem]"
- "This [product] changed how I [outcome]"
- "I tested [X products], here's the winner"

Hook in the first 3 seconds, or you've already lost.

3. Show the transformation
   
- Demonstrate it working in real time.
- Before/after when possible.

Focus on the outcome, not features.

4. Handle objections before they come up
   
- Price: "Cheaper than [alternative]"
- Quality: "I've used this for [X time]"
- Effectiveness: "Here's proof it works"

5. Test multiple creators on the same product
   
- Don't rely on one creator to hit.
- Test 5-10 creators per product.
- Different angles from different creators.

6. Optimize your shop before pushing content
   
- 15-30% commission to motivate affiliates.
- Product title optimized for search.
- Reviews are loaded before you push.

7. Clear CTA to TikTok Shop
   
- "Link in my bio to grab it on TikTok Shop"

Make it obvious where to buy.

8. Test fast, scale what works
   
- Give each angle 48-72 hours.
- Double down on what converts.
- Stop what doesn't.

9. Brief creators with data
   
- "This angle drove $15K last week"
- "Focus on [benefit], that's what converts"

Show them what's working, not what you want.

10. Track GMV per view, not total views
   
A 50K-view video that does $15K beats a 3M-view video that does $2K.

Focus on what makes sales, not what goes viral.

---

Most people are still creating content for likes.

The brands making money are creating content for conversions.

Check out the infographic below for the full breakdown.

Most brands treat TikTok Shop like a guessing game.

Send samples. Hope something goes viral. Repeat.

But there's a system to this.

And once you understand it, everything changes.

Here's the loop that's generated $80M+ for our clients:

---

1) SEND SAMPLES

Only to creators who actually engage their audience.

Top creators juggle 10, 20, 30 brands.

They're booked weeks out. If you're reaching out a couple weeks before a big sale, you're too late.

We start prepping creator pipelines 60-90 days ahead.

Send 200-500 samples.

Build relationships early and stop obsessing over whether creators match your brand aesthetic. Focus on those who actually move their audience to action.

2) CREATORS POST

One post from a creator rarely breaks through.

Instead, give them multiple attempts, and they're dialing in the message. Getting more comfortable. Figuring out what resonates.

The most successful affiliates post about the same product 5-10 times because they know it only takes one video to go viral.

This is exactly why paying one creator for 10 posts outperforms sending 10 samples to random people, hoping something sticks.

3) TRACK GMV

I've watched brands get 1M+ views and make nothing. And others pull serious revenue from 50K-view videos.

A video with 30K views that drives $15K in sales destroys a 3M-view video that only generates $2K.

Stop thinking like you're running a social media page.

Start thinking like you're running performance marketing that happens to use social content.

4) ALGORITHM REWARDS SALES

This is where it gets interesting.

More conversions = more reach = more sales.

The more you sell, the more the platform pushes your content to new audiences.

When you win on TikTok Shop, you'll see lifts across Amazon, retail, and your DTC site too. Plus, all that creator content you have, use it in your ads.

5) SCALE WINNERS

When you've found a format that's working, brief more creators to run with it.

Top affiliates aren't reinventing anything. They see what's going viral in their category and put their own spin on it.

Tools like FastMoss show you what's converting right now. Take that format, apply it to your product, and brief your creators to run with it.

---

The loop repeats, and it compounds.

This isn't about going viral.

It's about building momentum that the platform rewards.

♻️ Repost, bookmark, and share with your network if you found this helpful.

Follow me, Ashley Wright, for practical insights on TikTok Shop and eCom growth.

The skill that changed everything for me had nothing to do with TikTok or business.

It was letting go.

I had to stop being the operator for every client.

And start being the operator for the business.

For the first year, I was in every account, call, and brief.

I thought that's what made us good.

Turns out, I was the bottleneck.

Every decision waited on me.
Every client needed my approval.
Every win required my direct involvement.

The minute I forced myself out of daily delivery, Social Tale scaled.

The thing is, people see my content and buy into me as the brand.

And then they expect me to run their account personally.

I get it.

But it's impossible to give 100% across 20+ brands while running the agency.

If I'm still the single point of value three years in, I haven't built a business.

I've built a job.

The hardest part of scaling was learning to trust people to deliver at my level.

As a business owner, have you experienced something similar?

Paid media experts used to be able to explain not just which ads won, but why they won.

And more importantly, how to repeat that success.

That used to be the job.

But the role has changed.

Today, we aren’t just thinking in ROAS anymore.

We’re thinking in attribution, cross-channel impact, and downstream effects.

We don’t mass-produce 10–20 hooks hoping one sticks.
We think in entities, angles, and patterns that compound.

We don’t look at creative KPIs in isolation.
We look at full-funnel performance.

In short, we were pushed to become performance marketers.

And that shift broke a lot of people.

Too many dashboards.
Too many signals.
Too little time to connect the dots.

That’s where most creative testing breaks.

And that’s exactly the gap GoMarble’s AI Agents are built to solve.

This isn’t another chatbot.

The Agents Lead Magnet gives access to 20+ specialized agents that compress hours of analysis into minutes, so you can focus on what actually matters: shaping ideas, guiding testing, and orchestrating the creative flywheel.

Some of the agents inside:

• Meta Ads Performance Audit Agent
• Ad Performance Drop Analysis Agent
• Daily Performance Report Agent
• Creative Performance Audit Agent
• Hook & Angle Testing Agent
• Creative Fatigue Detection Agent
• Client Reporting Agent
• Campaign Health Scorecard Agent
• Competitive Intelligence Agent

This is the missing layer between data and decision-making.

You still decide what to test.

The agents help you understand why something worked, what is breaking, and where to focus next.

Comment ‘'MARBLE’’ and I'll send the agents over!

Not getting enough TikTok Shop sales?

This content formula has worked 100% of the time for our 7 and 8-figure brands.

Here's the formula:

—

Hook + Benefit + Demo

Every single video that's driven serious GMV for our clients follows this exact structure.

Here's what it looks like:

Hook (first 3 seconds):
Stop the scroll. Make them curious.
"I tried this $30 product and threw away my $200 one"

Benefit (next 7 seconds):
What does it actually do for them?
"It removed years of buildup my expensive one couldn't touch"

Demo (remaining time):
Show it working. Prove the claim.
Film the before/after. Show the transformation.

—

The Psychology

Hook (Curiosity) - You've got 3 seconds to stop someone from scrolling. If you don't grab them immediately, nothing else matters.

Benefit (Desire) - People don't buy products. They buy outcomes. Tell them exactly what problem this solves.

Demo (Proof) - Saying something works means nothing. Showing it working means everything. The algorithm rewards videos that hold attention, and demos do that better than anything else.

This works because it's focused on conversion.

The brands crushing TikTok Shop aren't the ones with the best production value.

They're the ones who understand that social commerce isn't social media.

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The Battle

Bill Stathopoulos

Ashley Wright

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Bill Stathopoulos's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreBill Stathopoulos's LinkedIn Performance