For agencies
Warm outbound for agencies.
If you run lead gen or GTM for clients, warm outbound changes the job. You stop buying lists and start working each client's orbit: the people already looking at their founder, their posts and their competitors. Here's how to set it up per client, report on it and keep the account.
On this page 6 sections
- Every client has their own orbit, and it's already there.
- Reply rate is the retention metric.
- Day one per client is a setup checklist, not a campaign.
- Report by source, or the client can't see what's working.
- Three things that go wrong in agency warm outbound.
- The tooling question is about seats and approvals.
The short answer
Warm outbound for agencies means running each client's warm sources (the founder's profile viewers, post engagers, page followers and competitor engagers) as a daily campaign alongside a targeted cold list. Set up the sources on day one, agree the voice and approval rules, report replies by source every week, and help the client post so the orbit keeps growing.
Every client has their own orbit, and it's already there.
A new client usually arrives expecting a big cold list. But most clients already have an orbit they've never worked: people viewing the founder's profile, reacting to the company's posts, following the page and engaging with their competitors. That's the warmest audience you'll get for them, and it costs nothing to find.
The founder's profile
Viewers and post engagers. Usually the strongest source, because buyers look up founders.
The company page
Followers and engagers. Slower, steadier, refills on its own.
The website
Visitors, where the client's privacy position allows it. Company-level is the safer default, especially in the EU.
Competitors and creators
Engagers on posts about the client's problem. The fix for clients with no audience yet.
Reply rate is the retention metric.
Agencies rarely lose clients over a bad week. They lose them over a quiet month, when the client checks the inbox and sees nothing. Reply rate is the number the client actually feels.
That's where warm sources earn their place. Cold outbound typically gets around 1-3% replies. Warm outreach on LinkedIn commonly gets 15% or more. In Valley's 2025 data across 7.3 million prospects, warm campaigns got 2.3x the reply rate and 2.6x the interested-reply rate of cold, in every segment. A client with even a small warm list in the mix has conversations to look at in week two, while the cold list is still warming up.
Day one per client is a setup checklist, not a campaign.
- Agree which account sends. Usually the founder's or a sales leader's LinkedIn. Get access and limits in writing.
- Connect every warm source. Profile viewers, post engagers, page followers, and two or three competitors' engagers. Warm lists start small and grow weekly, so start them before the first send.
- Write the ICP down in their words. Industry, size, roles, regions, what the buyer sells. And who to exclude: their customers, partners, investors, competitors.
- Capture their voice. Ten of the client's own messages or posts. If the outreach doesn't sound like the person whose name is on it, prospects notice on the first reply.
- Agree the approval rule. Who approves what, and how fast. A message waiting three days for approval has lost the warmth it was written for.
- Build a tight cold list next to it. A few dozen best-fit accounts, so there are conversations while the warm sources fill.
- Agree the content plan. Two or three posts a week from the founder. No posts, no new orbit.
Report by source, or the client can't see what's working.
A single reply rate across everything hides the most useful thing you know: which ring is paying. Split it.
| Source | New leads | Kept after ICP | Messaged | Replies | Interested | Meetings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profile viewers | ||||||
| Post engagers | ||||||
| Page followers | ||||||
| Competitor engagers | ||||||
| Cold list |
Two lines to add under the table every week: which source improved and why, and what you need from the client (usually: more posts, faster approvals, a sharper exclusion list). That second line is how you turn a report into a working relationship.
Count interested replies, not just replies. "Thanks, not now" is a reply. A client who sees a high reply rate and an empty calendar starts asking questions you can't answer well.
Three things that go wrong in agency warm outbound.
- One voice for every client. Agencies template across accounts. Prospects can tell, and warm outbound depends on feeling like a person noticed.
- The client stops posting. The orbit stops refilling, warm volume drops, reply rates follow, and it looks like your fault. Put posting in the scope.
- Weekly batches. A once-a-week export means messaging viewers after they've forgotten they looked. Work the list daily, or automate the collecting.
The tooling question is about seats and approvals.
Whatever you use, check three things: can it pull each client's warm sources daily without you exporting by hand, does it keep each client's voice and ICP separate, and does it let the client approve messages without logging into five tools. Valley is built around that loop for LinkedIn, with a seat per sending account. See pricing.
Can an agency run warm outbound from the client's LinkedIn account?
Yes, and it usually works best that way, because the client's profile is the one prospects viewed. Agree access, sending limits and an approval rule in writing before you start.
What if a new client has no audience?
Start with borrowed orbits: people engaging with their competitors and the creators their buyers follow. Add a tight cold list. Then get the founder posting, so their own orbit fills. See warm outbound without an audience.
Next: what to measure and what good looks like, or the day-to-day playbook.
