In B2B, where effective outreach can make or break a startup, the ability to create scalable and repeatable sales processes is critical. Jed Mahrle, the founder of Practical Prospecting, recognized this need firsthand.Â
What started as a personal newsletter detailing his sales strategies evolved into a thriving consultancy that helps startups refine their outbound sales processes.
His journey—from the initial struggles of starting a business to achieving impressive milestones—paints a compelling picture of determination, innovation, and the transformative power of the right tools.Â
Today, Practical Prospecting specializes in assisting Series A to C tech companies that are either new to outbound sales or struggling to make it profitable.
Jed’s approach centers on actionable systems that drive real results, a philosophy that has resonated with many in the industry.Â
By leveraging Smartlead, Jed refined his approach to cold emailing but also scaled his business, proving that a well-implemented outbound strategy can lead to substantial success.
“Every cold email tool can automate a sequence, but Smartlead focuses on what truly matters: deliverability and simplicity,” Jed states, reflecting on his experience.
This case study explores Jed’s journey, the challenges he faced, and how Smartlead became an integral part of his success story.
Jed’s journey into the world of outbound sales began over five years ago when he entered the tech industry. Initially working as a sales representative, he recognized the potential of effective outbound strategies.
 “I started a newsletter about my experiences and strategies, and it began to resonate with others in the industry,” Jed recalls during his interview. This initiative laid the groundwork for his future business as it attracted attention from various tech companies seeking guidance in their sales efforts.
As his newsletter gained traction, Jed began receiving requests for consulting from Series A through Series C tech companies. These companies were looking to optimize their outbound sales processes but often lacked the infrastructure to do so effectively.
Balancing a full-time job with consulting projects proved challenging, but the positive feedback and referrals he received fueled his passion.
In October 2023, after nearly two years of juggling responsibilities, Jed made the leap to focus on Practical Prospecting full-time.
The company offers two main services: a "done for you" model, where Jed's team manages complete cold email and LinkedIn automation campaigns, and a "done with you" model, which guides clients in building their outbound infrastructure.
Jed's target audience primarily consists of founders, Chief Revenue Officers (CROs), Vice Presidents of Sales, and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) in startups that are either new to outbound sales or struggling to make it profitable.
This focus allows Practical Prospecting to deliver tailored solutions that meet the unique needs of these early-stage companies.
As Jed began to scale his business, he quickly realized the importance of a robust cold emailing tool.
“Deliverability is everything in outbound sales. If your emails aren’t landing in the inbox, you’re not going to get responses,” he emphasizes. After testing various cold email tools, he discovered Smartlead, which stood out for its emphasis on deliverability.
“Smartlead takes deliverability more seriously than any other cold email tool I’ve encountered,” Jed notes. With features such as inbox rotation and email warm-up tools, Smartlead ensured that his campaigns consistently reached their intended audience.
This capability was crucial, especially considering the common pitfalls associated with cold emailing, where landing in the spam folder can significantly hinder success.
Another challenge for Jed was managing multiple inboxes effectively. As Practical Prospecting expanded its outreach, the administrative burden of connecting and updating individual inboxes became overwhelming.
Smartlead transformed this process by allowing Jed to bulk connect and update inboxes, significantly reducing the time spent on these tasks. “Being able to set up inboxes and signatures in bulk was a game-changer for us,” he explains.
This streamlined management freed up Jed’s team to focus on strategy rather than administrative details. With Smartlead handling the technical aspects, they could dedicate their energy to crafting effective messaging and refining outreach strategies.
Timely follow-ups are crucial in outbound sales, but managing them manually can be a daunting task. Jed discovered that Smartlead’s subsequence feature was invaluable for automating follow-ups based on common responses.
“Once we’ve worked with a client for a while, we know the common types of responses they receive. Automating the follow-ups for those responses saves us a ton of time,” he shared.
This automation allowed Jed’s team to prioritize engagement and strategic thinking rather than getting bogged down in repetitive tasks. By streamlining follow-up processes, they ensured that no lead fell through the cracks, enhancing overall efficiency and effectiveness.
Smartlead's 'Follow-Ups' feature automates the email communication, ensuring user maintain consistent engagement with their leads.
Step 1: Campaign A Settings
In Campaign A, you have established settings that allow for 100 new leads per day. This means the campaign will send out a maximum of 100 emails to new leads daily.
Step 2: Email B and Email C Limits
Both Email B and Email C have a daily limit of 40 emails each. Therefore, the combined total limit for both emails is 80 emails per day (40 + 40 = 80).
Step 3: Campaign Sequence
Your campaign sequence is configured with three emails:
This sequence dictates how your emails are sent out over time.
Step 4: Campaign Execution
When the campaign starts, the system prioritizes the follow-up schedule over new leads. Here’s how it plays out:
Smartlead’s system constantly adjusts the number of emails sent based on various factors:
This dynamic management ensures optimal email delivery and adherence to the specified limits.
Understanding campaign performance is vital for optimizing outreach efforts. Many tools provide complex reporting that can be overwhelming. Smartlead, however, offers user-friendly reporting features that deliver clarity.
“Smartlead provides better visual and straightforward reporting, making it easy for us and our clients to grasp performance metrics,” Jed noted.
This clear visualization enables Jed to quickly assess the effectiveness of various campaigns, allowing for real-time adjustments based on data-driven insights. By understanding what works and what doesn’t, he can allocate resources more effectively and refine strategies for greater impact.
For startups like Practical Prospecting, managing costs while maintaining quality is essential. Many cold email tools come with hefty price tags, often without offering commensurate value.Â
This was a concern for Jed, where every dollar spent had to count. Smartlead stood out as both effective and budget-friendly. “It’s far less expensive than many other email sending tools, making it a no-brainer for us,” Jed explained.
This cost-effectiveness allows Jed to invest resources in other critical areas of his business while still delivering high-quality service to clients. By optimizing performance and budget, Practical Prospecting can scale effectively without compromising service quality.
Jed also appreciates Smartlead’s commitment to continuous improvement. The platform consistently rolls out new features designed to enhance user experience and effectiveness.
“Since I started using Smartlead, they seem to come out with new features every month,” he observes. This dedication to innovation ensures that Practical Prospecting can stay ahead of trends and maintain a competitive edge in the dynamic landscape of outbound sales.
In the realm of tech tools, customer support can make a significant difference. Jed has had positive experiences with Smartlead's support team, stating, “I feel like I'm messaging customer support every other month, and they get back to me relatively quickly.”
Given his extensive use of various tech tools, he recognizes the value of reliable customer support and appreciates Smartlead's quick response times and helpful solutions.
Beyond the tool itself, Jed values the Smartlead community. “I've been part of many Slack communities, but Smartlead’s stands out. It’s filled with people focused on getting better at cold email,” he remarks.
The community fosters an environment where users can share insights, campaign ideas, and strategies, making it an invaluable resource for Jed and others in the field.
The results speak for themselves. Since implementing Smartlead, Practical Prospecting has booked over 500 meetings for its clients, a milestone that Jed attributes directly to the effectiveness of the tool.
“I’ve never reached that number in another tool,” he affirms. This achievement showcases the power of a well-executed cold emailing strategy, backed by a tool that prioritizes deliverability and ease of use.
In addition to the number of meetings booked, Jed also noticed a significant improvement in open and response rates. “We’ve seen higher response rates in Smartlead than any other tool, largely because we’re landing in the inbox more consistently,” he states.
This shift in engagement metrics illustrates the tangible impact of Smartlead on Practical Prospecting’s outreach efforts.
Moreover, the cost-effectiveness of Smartlead allows Jed to maintain healthy profit margins while providing high-quality service to his clients. “It’s simply far less expensive than a lot of other email sending tools, making it a no-brainer for us,” he explains.
Looking ahead, Jed is excited about the future of Practical Prospecting and the role that Smartlead will continue to play in its success. He envisions further enhancements to Smartlead’s features, particularly regarding integrations with other sales tools.
 “While I appreciate Smartlead's focus on email, many of my clients are also interested in cold calling and LinkedIn outreach,” he explains.
Jed suggests the possibility of better integrations with tools such as LinkedIn automation platforms. “If Smartlead could provide seamless connections with these tools, it would streamline our process even further,” he notes.
However, he also acknowledges the importance of Smartlead maintaining its strength in email deliverability, fearing that expanding too much could dilute its core offering.
Additionally, Jed expressed a desire for a feature that allows users to pause all campaigns for holidays or special events. While he has found workarounds using automation tools, he believes a built-in functionality would enhance user experience.
“Automating the pausing of campaigns for holidays would save time and ensure our outreach is always respectful of our audience's time,” he states.
Overall, Jed’s experience with Smartlead has been overwhelmingly positive. He rates it an “eight out of ten,” highlighting the significant improvements it has brought to his operations while suggesting a few enhancements to reach that perfect score.
Jed Mahrle’s journey with Practical Prospecting exemplifies how the right tools and strategies can drive success in outbound sales.
By focusing on deliverability and ease of use, Smartlead has enabled Jed to optimize his outreach efforts and achieve remarkable results for his clients.Â
As he continues to explore new features and integrations, the future looks bright for both Jed and Practical Prospecting.
“Every challenge presents an opportunity for growth, and with Smartlead by our side, we’re excited to see what we can achieve next,” he concludes, embodying the spirit of innovation and determination that defines successful entrepreneurs in today’s competitive landscape.
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Founder, StackOptimise
Smartlead's combination of automation, unlimited inboxes, and easy campaign management has completely transformed how we run cold email campaigns.
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Founder, Cold Email Hackers
We have about 15 companies and we use Smartlead for all of them.
Founder, DutchSave Media
One of the things I love about using Smartlead is the deliverability feature. If they landed in the bounce or spam folders, we could resolve this quickly.
Co-Founder, Growth Today
I want to continue to use Smartlead to make operations more seamless - the plan is to bring more clients here and build more SOPs.
Founder, FueltoFly
Smartlead listens to the agencies and customers and builds according to what people want, that has really made things easier for us.
Founder, OutboundSync
We build an infrastructure product, and OutboundSync communicates with Smartlead itself. I love the webhook and API. They're really well done and keep getting better.
Founder, Axoleads
With SmartDelivery, you can put all of that in the hands of the tool. It ensures your emails land in inboxes, and by running a simple test, you can see if you're hitting the mark.
Founder, Claygen
Deliverability is the cornerstone of cold email outreach. You could have the best email copy in the world, but if no one is seeing it, it's useless. I really love the feature where you can actually give client accesses to your clients.
Co-Founder, Cymate
I do not want to switch to another software. Pick a solution you trust, stick with it, and keep refining your copy.
CMO, Avalanche Capital
Managing large volumes of emails through multiple inboxes used to be a logistical nightmare. With Smartlead, the process is seamless. We book thousands of discovery calls through cold emails. These campaigns are generating leads at a scale we never thought possible.
Founder, Growth Engine X
We came for the unlimited inboxes, and we stayed for the API. 1.5M cold emails/month, 7,767+ inboxes managed.
Head of Community & Ecosystem, TxtCart
You cannot replace having 10,000 touches with potential clients. When you have that much distribution and reach, you really start to see incredible results. The simplicity of Smartlead made all the difference. It doesn't require you to be a technical wizard.
Founder, Hyperke
Smartlead has been a game-changer for us. It increased our appointment volume, improved ease of use, and offered valuable features. 80% increase in appointments/month, peak of 276 appointments in a single month.
Founder, Kinetyca
Smartlead has been our cold email backbone from day one. The platform evolves constantly, keeping pace with how deliverability and personalization need to work today. 21% overall reply rate, $175K in 4 months for multiple B2B clients.
Founder, Reachflow
Smartlead is centered around deliverability and constantly evolving. Their API is not like any other platform. Smartlead covers all our needs. The focus on core features like deliverability and API integration is unmatched.
CEO, Halfwarm
Our approach to crafting conversational emails led to reply rates that many of my peers thought were unattainable.
Co-Founder, letstrike
We've grown on zero capital, zero marketing, purely cold emailing - and that's the story we love to tell. The best approach is no approach if you can't handle domain meltdown. The second best is something like Smartlead that's built from the ground up for deliverability at scale.
Founder, Fenixtal
Smartlead's white-labeling and automation let us punch above our weight. The 12M euros sales potential? That's what happens when you combine human creativity with Smartlead's precision.
Co-Founder, Digital Creativs
Nine out of 10. Ninety percent of our clients are on Smartlead unless they come in with an existing setup. That's the default.
Co-Founder, BuildingReach
At the end of the day, you have to take a bet on one tool or another. It was a no-brainer taking that bet on Smartlead. We had to even turn down the volume of our marketing campaigns - Smartlead was capable of driving more volume than our sales team was able to fulfill.
Founder & MD, Prospectiv
Since starting the business in January of this year, we've already generated $200K in sales exclusively from cold email. Smartlead has been central to our operations and has exceeded our expectations.
Founder, Growthlynk
There's so much stuff built on top of it. I would be dead if I had to rebuild it with another tool. I can manage hundreds of senders easily. I can send hundreds of thousands of emails.
Founder, Corebits
The platform's HubSpot integration, real-time Slack updates, and advanced campaign customization have been game changers for our business and our clients'.
Founder, Apex Ascension
From day one, we've never used anything else.
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