Hans Dekker

I’ve developed outbound prospecting campaigns for over 200 B2B companies in various industries, ranging from private jet charters to B2B SaaS.

As a former Head of Growth & Head of Marketing I know both the world of bootstrapped, lean teams as well as funded sales machines and what it takes to supply each of those with outbound leads.

Previously one of the top Clay educators and one of the original GTM Engineers.

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I just pulled the numbers from our VIP team.

250+ clients managed. 6,000+ opportunities created. Over $100M in pipeline generated.

4% average reply rate. 21% meeting rate. 90-day timeframes.

These aren’t projections. This is what we’ve actually done.

And I realized something. We’ve been running the same playbook for every single instantly.ai client. 

The same offer frameworks. The same campaign structures. The same email copywriting best practices.

It works. Consistently.

So I sat down with the legend Aaron. Reid and said let’s just package this. The whole thing. Everything we do to build $1M+ pipelines in 90 days.

13 pages. No fluff.

Here’s what we put in there:

→ The 5 principles we follow on every single engagement (learned from analyzing 6,000+ opportunities)
→ How we create offers that get 4% reply rates instead of 2%
→ 7 campaign playbooks with the actual email templates we use
→ Trigger campaigns that hit 30-40% reply rates
→ Social proof sequences that close at 45%+
→ Multi-channel plays for enterprise deals
→ The exact metrics we track (and the ones we ignore)
→ Benchmark targets for what good actually looks like

This is the system behind our results.

Not theory. Not best practices from 2019. The playbook we’re running right now for clients paying us to generate pipeline.

Copy-paste templates included.

Want it?

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

AI-powered GTM strategist | Head of Education & Outreach Innovation at Instantly.ai

Instantly.ai just dropped two features that actually change how outbound works.


And a bonus third one that people have been asking for forever.

Feature 1: Reply Agent now books meetings for you

Reply Agent was already handling conversations automatically. Now it detects when someone's ready to meet.

Lead says "sure, Thursday at 3 works" → Reply Agent books it in your calendar.
No more jumping between tools. No more manually scheduling every call.

It just happens.

Feature 2: Sub-sequences based on behavior

This one seems simple but it's huge.

Before → lead clicks a link or shows interest → you had to manually move them or use external tools

Now → you set rules and they automatically go into different sequences

Examples:

Lead clicks link → goes into nurture sequence Lead replies with keyword "tool" → gets lead magnet automatically

Lead completes campaign without reply → tries different angle

You're basically building "if this, then that" logic right inside your campaigns.

Bonus Feature 3: Dark mode

Big fan. That's all.

Here's what this means:

You can launch campaigns → set up sub-sequences based on behavior → Reply Agent handles conversations + books meetings → you just watch meetings come in.

The limit here is really just your own creativity with how you set this up.

Instantly.ai just released something people have been asking for forever.

Multi-channel outreach. Built right into the platform.

I've been waiting for this one.

Here's what it does:

You connect tools like Aimfox, HeyReach, Valleyhq → set up automations → leads flow between email and other channels (like this one..) automatically.

No more manual exports. No more jumping between tools.

Some of the triggers you can use:

Lead finishes campaign without replying → add them to social outreach
Lead replies positively → connect with them on socials automatically
Lead marked as interested → push to different channel
Lead books demo → add to nurture sequence

That last one is a bit of a hidden gem. Someone books a call → automatically send them case studies before the meeting.

Here's where it gets interesting:

Reply Agent can tag leads based on what they say in their reply.

Lead mentions high ad budget → mark as priority + push to social campaign

Lead mentions lower budget → stick with email

You're basically building "if this, then that" logic across multiple channels.

But it's not just multi-channel:

You can also automate actions inside Instantly.

Lead says yes to lead magnet → add to specific campaign 
Lead books demo → trigger nurture sequence
Lead finishes one campaign → automatically start another angle

The setup is dead simple. No API keys. Just connect your accounts and build the automation.

This is just the start. More integrations coming + I dropped a bit of a spoiler by the end of this video.

We did a full webinar on this yesterday. Link in comments if you want the deep dive.

Who else is excited...?

Cold email isn't dead in 2026.

I just think that the gap between good cold email and spam is bigger than ever.

And honestly? With tools like Instantly.ai, it's easier than ever to be on the good side of that gap.

Every other person I talk to tells me how cold email is dying. Spam filters are tighter. 

Inboxes are flooded. People are ignoring everything.

Yup :)

That's all true.

But here's what I think they're missing.

It's also easier than ever to send really good cold emails.

Lemme tell you why:

You can use AI to do research that used to take hours.

I've been using AI to 10x my own output without sacrificing quality. And I'm seeing other people do the same.

With something like Copilot in Instantly.ai you're not just asking AI to write emails. You're talking to an AI that knows your business inside out.

You brainstorm campaign ideas. It suggests angles you didn't think of. You can spin up 10 different hyper-segmented campaigns in the time it used to take to write one generic sequence.

The research part is huge for me:

Before, I'd spend 30 minutes per lead trying to find something relevant about their company.

Now? I use AI agents to research companies. Find recent news. Check their tech stack. See what they're hiring for.

Then I actually know whether I should reach out. And if I should, what I should be talking about.

Maybe I was planning to pitch them on deliverability. But I find out they just raised funding and are scaling fast. Now I'm talking about scalability instead.

That's the difference between spam and relevance.

My view on this:

The only gap now is your willingness to adapt.

You need to learn how to use these tools. How to prompt AI properly. How to use Claude or Copilot or whatever tool you're working with.

You need to put in a bit of work upfront. Learn the systems. Build your frameworks. Document your workflows.

Then once you do that, you can send cold emails that are more relevant, more researched, and more likely to get replies than anything you could've done manually two years ago.

I believe cold email isn't dead.

Lazy cold email is dead.

If you're willing to learn the tools and do the work, it's never been easier to send emails that actually connect.

When Pampa Sellers told Aleksander they needed results fast, they meant it.

They had just launched a brand-new Amazon store management offer for Spanish e-commerce brands.

A solid offer. Real demand. But no predictable way to reach the right companies.

And there was a deadline.
They had 30 days to prove this offer could sell.

Manual outreach wasn’t getting traction.
Inbound wasn’t built yet.
They needed a shot of momentum immediately.

Aleksander had one shot to make the first client happen fast. So he fired up Instantly.ai

Here is what he built:

1. Hyper-targeted list of Spanish e-commerce companies
> Brands already selling online with enough volume to expand onto Amazon.

2. A fully Spanish outbound sequence
> 4-step cadence written natively in Spanish
> Automated through Instantly
> Replies synced directly to the client

3. Smart deliverability filtering
> He removed every lead using an Email Security Gateway.
Those domains rarely let cold outreach in.
Filtering them out immediately improved deliverability and reply quality.

Then the campaign went live.

The results in the first week:

1056 leads contacted
14.9 percent reply rate
24 opportunities created
120,000 dollars in pipeline
First client closed in 7 days (yup, 7..)

This is what happens when smart targeting, native-language messaging, and deliverability discipline all run through Instantly.ai

Huge shoutout to Aleksander Kochaniak for executing at a very high level for his client Pampa Sellers.

I built a Google Maps scraper that finds local businesses + their owner emails + syncs straight to Instantly.ai campaigns.

Took me way too long to figure out. So I'm giving it away.

Here's what it does:

→ Scrapes Google Maps for any business type in any location 
→ Finds owner emails + decision maker contacts at those companies 
→ Pushes them directly into your Instantly campaigns

No manual exports. No CSV uploads. Just automated lead flow.

Why this matters:

Most people scraping Google Maps are doing it manually. Or they're getting business emails that go nowhere.

This finds the actual people (generic emails too, as a fallback for max coverage). Then puts them where you need them.

I use it for local service businesses. Restaurants. Retail. Anyone with a Google Maps listing.

If you want it:

Comment "MAPS" below and I'll send you the link. Just plug in 2-3 API keys and you're good to go.

It's free. Just want to see if people actually get value from this stuff.

I love seeing stuff like this.

Lakshya Sharma just shared his results with me. 66K emails sent. 2.89% reply rate. $1.36M in pipeline. Using Instantly.ai

I'm always curious what separates the people who get results like this from everyone else. So I asked him to break it down.

Here's what he shared:

On personalization:

Not the "Hi {{FirstName}}" stuff. Real context. Industry pain points, role relevance, mentioning current initiatives. This is when his reply rate started climbing.

On copy length:

30-50 words max. One line observation, one line relevance, one line question. That's it. Short emails get read.

On deliverability:

Inbox rotation saved him. 66K emails without burning domains only works if you're rotating domains + subdomains + keeping inboxes warm.

On data:

He didn't go for big lists. Filtered by buyer readiness, role, current projects. That's why 0% click rate still produced $1.36M in pipeline. The right people replied.

On follow-ups:

Most replies came from email 2, 3, 4. Not email 1. Buyers respond when timing aligns, not when you want them to.

On CTAs:

No links. No attachments. No "book a call" stuff. Just "Worth a look?" or "Is this on your roadmap?" Conversations first.

What he said about Instantly:

The warmup system kept his domains healthy while scaling. And being able to set up sequences fast, rotate accounts automatically, monitor everything in one place meant he could focus on messaging instead of fixing operational stuff.

This is what good outbound looks like.

Not magic. Just discipline + right tools + consistent improvements.

Most follow-ups scream one thing: “I want something from you.”

That’s why they get ignored. 
It's something I figured out the hard way as well, trust me. 

“Just following up.”
“Did you get my proposal?”
“Bumping this to the top.”

Every one of those lines puts the spotlight on your agenda… not theirs.

But here’s the part most people miss (but what the most successful instantly.ai users figured out):

👉 Follow-up is about pull, not push.

>When people feel pursued, they lean out.
>When they feel understood, they lean in.

Not until I started doing my homework better and learning from some of the greats, I figured it out.

Instead of chasing, try follow-ups that are rooted in their world:

• “Read this and thought of you…”
• “You’re always sharp on this topic — curious what you think…”
• “Last time you mentioned X — want an intro / resource / quick idea?”

Tiny shifts, massive difference.

Broke it down more in a carousel - hope it's helpful!

Cold outreach follow up templates

Everyone's chasing "personalization at scale."

But nobody stops to think what that actually means.

I was talking to a business owner the other day. They said that was their big goal.

I told them that phrase is like "Michelin-star fast food." 🫠 

(I know, hilarious..)

You can't mass-produce something that's supposed to feel crafted.

The most successful Instantly.ai users I see aren't chasing personalisation at all.

They're chasing relevance at scale.

Here's the difference:

Nope.. → "Hey {{first_name}}, saw you like coffee!"

Yep! → "Hey {{first_name}}, noticed your team's hiring more AEs. Are you ramping outbound internally?"

One's just random text.

The other's about their actual problems.

Most "personalisation" is decoration.

Relevance is earned through understanding.

The best operators aren't building 21-step N8N automations to write 1000 unique intros → instead, they're building 1 insight that speaks to 1000 similar people.

They know what matters:

> What they're trying to achieve 
> What they're stuck on
> What they're responsible for

That's what earns replies.

So forget "personalization at scale."

The real game is context at scale → relevance + timing + insight.

But for that, you need to do your homework.. :-)

Tech stack consolidation is one of the topics I'm excited about for 2026.

Either big players filling product gaps using shorter dev cycles, partnerships, or M&A OR new players building connective layers.

Exciting times to be a sales tech nerd.

Excited to be joining the IE University panel next week to share the stage with the Lovable team.

We'll be talking AI, growth, and startups + a lot more.

If you're in the Madrid area come say hi!

View company: IE Technology & Innovation Club

The rumors are true…

In just 8 months, Lovable hit 100M ARR, raised200M at a $1.8B valuation, and powered over 10 million AI projects, with 100K new ones every day.

Next week, Lovable lands at IE University  for a one-of-a-kind collaboration 🚀

🙌🏼Come meet them:  
Join us for a panel with Sophia Nabil Gustafsson (Lovable ) and Hans Dekker (Instantly.ai) as they share how they built record-breaking AI startups.  

👉 Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/dJJXDTmg

👨🏼‍💻Come build with them:
Got an AI idea you’d love to bring to life? No coding needed just submit your concept! Five finalists will be selected to pitch on Nov 28 in the IE Tower.  

👉 Submit your startup idea: https://lnkd.in/dnGgcufV

👉 Come to the finals!: https://lnkd.in/deKBFTuP

IE Campus Life  IE Entrepreneurship Club  IE Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center Irina Moise Adriana Tarazona Mario Gazitúa Sofia Wiedemann Gonçalves Ripa Hovsepyan Gabriela V F Bazzo

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