The AI market just hit $2 .53 trillion in spending.
That is a number so big it is hard to even visualize.
It really is. Beat. And yet there are thousands
of aspiring agency owners out there right now.
They're just staring at their screens. Exactly.
Convinced they cannot get a single slice of that
pie. Because they do not have a viral YouTube
channel. They are thinking, you know, I have
11 subscribers and my mom has three of them.
Right. I am finished before I even start. It
is the classic trap. We completely conflate fame
with competence. We really do. But in a market
this massive, businesses are not looking for
influencers. No, they are drowning in problems.
They want solutions. They do not care about your
follower count. Welcome back to the Deep Dive.
Today we are taking a very specific surgical
look at this landscape. We are deconstructing
Max Sand's cold outreach strategy for AI agencies
2026 guide. And I want to set the tone right
away here. We are not doing hype today. No get
rich quick schemes. None of that. This is going
to be a calm analytical look at systems. It is
refreshing, honestly. The whole premise here
is debunking the audience myth. You do not need
to dance on TikTok. to build a serious b2b business
yeah businesses want solutions not entertainers
that is a massive relief to hear because my dancing
is terrible ha same here our mission today is
straightforward we are going to walk you through
three specific mechanics to land clients without
a personal brand we are talking about cold outreach
but the right way not the spam way right and
referrals Plus something the source calls the
Trojan horse method. So let us unpack this first
big hurdle. The audience myth. We see these gurus
saying, I got my clients because I have 100 ,000
followers. It feels like the door is locked if
you do not have that key. But it is a correlation
versus causation error. Content is great. I absolutely
love content. But Max Anne makes a really sharp
point here. Content is one path. It is not the
only path. And crucially, it is the slow path.
It takes six to 12 months to get real traction.
If you need revenue right now, waiting for the
algorithm to bless you is just... It is a bad
strategy. It is interesting when you think about
the psychology of hiring. Think about how important
decisions actually happen. If you get sued, do
you browse YouTube for a lawyer? Do you pick
the one with the best thumbnail? No. You call
a friend. You ask a colleague. You ask who is
actually good at this. Important decisions happen
through trust transfer, not just attention. Content
builds attention, but referrals and direct outreach
build revenue. That distinction is crucial. Attention
versus revenue. A lot of people chase likes thinking
it is a bank deposit. It is not. If you are a
business owner with a hair on fire problem. Say
your customer support is drowning in tickets.
You do not care if the person fixing it has zero
Instagram followers? You only care if they can
put out the fire. So if content is the slow lane,
what is the fast lane? Direct human connection
or where trust already exists. Let's move into
the mechanics of that connection. Method one,
cold outreach. The science of the inbox. I feel
like this term carries a lot of baggage. People
hear cold outreach and they cringe. They immediately
think of spam. Because 99 % of it is spam. But
there is a science to doing it right. The biggest
mental block here is the proof problem. You are
sitting there, you have skills, you know Python.
But a prospect asks, who have you done this for?
And if your answer is nobody, the conversation
just dies. It is the ultimate chicken and egg
scenario. You need experience to get clients.
But you need clients to get experience. How do
you actually break that loop? You cheat the loop.
You do not need a Fortune 500 client. You just
need one sentence. I helped Business X achieve
result Y. And Business X can literally be your
cousin's restaurant. It can be a friend's hair
salon. So it does not have to be a paid high
-ticket engagement. Not at all. Go automate appointment
reminders for your local barber. Do it for free
just to get the data. Suddenly you have a real
case study. I helped a local business cut no
-shows by 20 % using SMS automation. That one
sentence separates you from everyone pitching
theory. It is very empowering. You can manufacture
your own track record. Now, let us talk about
who we are actually contacting. The guide mentions
most people just lazy scrape LinkedIn. Yeah,
they fire up Sales Navigator, they export a thousand
names. And they just blast them all. It is so
inefficient. The guide suggests getting much
smarter about the list. Instead of scraping,
use industry directories that already exist.
the American Institute of Architects, Medical
Association Databases, or the Real Estate MLS.
These are pre -qualified lists. Why are those
better than LinkedIn? Because the intent is completely
different. These people have self -identified
as active professionals. If you target architects
on LinkedIn, you get students and retirees. But
if you go to the AIA directory, you get a much
higher quality of data. And once you have the
list, You have to pick your platform. Do not
try to be everywhere at once. This source was
very specific on the numbers here. LinkedIn DMs
get a 10 % to 25 % response rate. Email is lower,
maybe 1 % to 5%. So just pick one. If you are
good at email, do email. But do not dilute your
focus. Okay, we have the list. We have the platform.
Now we need the message itself. This is where
everyone messes up. They write these massive
essays about their tech stack. Oh, the tech stack
flex. Nobody cares about your tech stack. I use
Python and N8n and an MCP server. It is exactly
like stacking Lego blocks of data. I still wrestle
with prompt drift myself. It is highly technical
work. It is complex. But the client does not
care about the blocks. They care about the castle.
Or, more accurately, they care that the castle
keeps the rain out. Just to define the jargon
for a second. They're sure. N8n is just visual
software to connect different apps together.
And MCP servers just help AI read your local
files securely. They are cool tools, but discussing
them is like a plumber talking about pipe gauges.
The homeowner just wants the toilet to flush.
Focus on the outcome. I can help you stop losing
leads. That is it. And here is the crucial tactic
from the guide, the loom pivot. Standard Outreach
always asks for a 30 -minute call. Can I pick
your brain? Can we jump on a Zoom? No. I do not
know you. I am not giving you 30 minutes of my
life. It is a massive ask for a stranger. So
instead you ask for permission to send a video.
Can I send a two -minute video showing exactly
how I'd help? That changes the dynamic completely.
Low friction. Low risk. You record a personalized
loon video. You screen share their website. And
you say, here is exactly where you are losing
money. And here's how I would fix it. You give
value before asking for anything. But even with
the perfect message, there is the reality of
the math. Alex Hormozy has a great quote for
this. Volume negates luck. If you send 10 messages,
you are just gambling. If you send 100 messages
a day, you are building a statistical model.
100 a day is the baseline. It sounds like a lot.
But if your response rate is 5%, that is five
conversations. I want to pause here for a second.
Sure. Reading this section about sending 100
messages a day. I felt a real pang of anxiety.
The emotional weight of it. Exactly. You send
100 messages, 95 people ignore you. Or they tell
you to get lost. Getting ghosted is hard. I admit,
I still struggle with rejection. It feels deeply
personal. It does. You put yourself out there
and get silence. The guide actually addresses
this emotional reality. It says the difference
between winners and losers is not talent. Winners
treat rejection as data. That subject line did
not work. Okay, note it down. Change it. Losers
get rejected and think, I am just bad at this.
You have to reframe failure as data collection.
You are a scientist in a lab. A failed experiment
is just a result. It is not a judgment on your
words. So looking at cold outreach as a whole.
What is the number one mistake people make when
starting this outreach? Building the product
before selling it. Treating business like a hobby.
Sell it first, then build it. Always. Sponsor.
We're going to take a very quick break for our
sponsor. We will be right back. Okay, we are
back. We covered the grind of cold outreach.
Now let us talk about the warm path. Method two,
referrals. The trust accelerator. The statistic
here is absolutely wild. 92 % of BDB buyers trust
referrals. It makes total sense. AI is new and
scary. Business owners hear horror stories about
hallucinations. Where the AI just confidently
makes things up. Or data leaks. They want safety.
A referral is a safety blanket. But hoping for
referrals is not a strategy. The guide lays out
a golden question. But there is a prerequisite
first. You have to over -deliver. What does over
-delivering actually look like here? It is doing
the job, plus 10%. Like adding a dashboard they
did not even ask for. Exactly. So they can visualize
the data easily. Or creating a library of training
videos. Anticipating their needs before they
have to ask you. And timing is everything with
this. You do not ask for a referral the day you
sign the contract. You wait one to two months.
Wait until the results are visible. Wait until
they see the actual time saved or money made.
Then you ask the golden question. Do you know
anyone else who needs help with this? It is so
simple. No complex script needed. But there's
a massive gap here, the ask gap. The guide mentions
91 % of satisfied customers would refer if asked.
But only 11 % of salespeople actually ask. We
feel awkward. We feel like we are begging. But
if you truly crushed it for them, asking is not
begging. It is offering to help their friends.
Why is timing so critical here? Ask too early,
it is awkward. Ask after results, it feels like
a reward. Spot on. Now let us move to method
three. This one really caught my attention. The
Trojan horse. This is the ultimate leverage play.
Borrowed authority. Instead of building trust
from scratch, partner with people who already
have it. Marketing agencies, CPAs, IT firms.
Think about a marketing agency with 50 clients.
All of those clients are hearing about AI. They
are getting anxious. They're asking, should I
be using automation for my leads? And the marketing
agency does not know. They do ads, not code.
They risk looking outdated to their own clients.
Exactly. So you come in, you offer to be their
white label AI partner. You audit their clients
for free. If the client buys, the partner gets
a 20 % revenue share. It is a win -win -win.
The partner looks like a hero for bringing in
an expert. The client gets their problem solved.
And you get a warm lead without sending a single
cold DM. The guide gives a very specific discovery
question for these calls. It is a brilliant diagnostic
tool. To sex silence. Whoa. Imagine asking this
on a call. Let us hear it. If tomorrow you woke
up with 300 new customers, what part of your
process would break first? It completely cuts
through the noise. It forces the business owner
to stress test their company in real time. They
will not say, oh, I need a chatbot. They will
say, my onboarding team would quit immediately.
Or my invoicing system would completely crash.
Boom. That is exactly where the automation belongs.
You are not selling AI. You are selling the fix
for the thing that breaks. It instantly reveals
the real pain point. But what happens if the
discovery call does not lead to a sale? You still
win experience and the partner still looks proactive.
Nobody loses face. It strengthens the relationship
for the next lead. We have covered the three
methods. Cold outreach for volume. Referrals
for trust. And the Trojan horse for leverage.
Now let us look at the four -step roadmap to
put it all together. Step one is the mindset
flip. Sell, then build. Cold outreach is just
market research. If nobody replies, your offer
is bad. Do not build the bot yet. Fix the offer.
Step two is validate. Get your first five clients
via volume. This is the grind phase. Sending
those hundred DMs a day. You are hunting for
those initial case studies. Step three is deliver
and document. Document the baseline carefully.
It used to take 10 hours a week. Now it takes
10 minutes. That delta is your marketing material
for the rest of your career. And finally, step
four is scale. Once you have the proof, you activate
the Trojan horse partners. You go to an agency
and show them exactly what you did. Now you are
playing with a loaded deck. The big idea here
is that you do not need a personal brand. You
need a system that mixes volume with leverage.
The viral video is just a vanity metric. Revenue
is a sanity metric. I really like that. Revenue
is a sanity metric. The source ends with a provocative
thought about this whole process. The only real
difference between winners and losers is not
talent. It is that winners treat rejection as
data. It all comes back to resilience. The algorithm
of business is human resilience. You are basically
just training yourself. So for everyone listening
right now, here is your call to action. Do not
wait for permission. Today, pick a niche. Just
one. Do not overthink it. Tonight, find 20 Trojan
horse partners. Look for agencies in that niche.
And tomorrow, send the very first audit offer.
Just hit send. Collect the data. Your first client
is closer than you think. They do not care about
your subscriber count at all. Thanks for diving
in with us. See you in the inbox. Catch you in
the next deep dive.