Are you net-fishing or spear-fishing?

    CQ

    Corey Quinn

    Founder, Deep Specialization™

    How smaller lists generate bigger results in agency outbound...

    The biggest mistake agencies make with outbound:

    Starting with the wrong list.

    When I was building Scorpion from $20M to $150M, we discovered that most outbound campaigns fail before they even begin—because they target too many of the wrong prospects.

    I call it "net fishing" vs. "spear fishing":

    Net Fishing:

    • Get a list of 10,000 potential clients

    • Send them generic emails

    • Hope for a 0.1% response rate

    • Burn your domain reputation in the process

    Spear Fishing:

    • Identify just 20-30 perfect-fit prospects

    • Research each one deeply

    • Send them highly personalized gifts

    • Follow up with precision

    The net-fishing approach treats your total addressable market (TAM) like a commodity to be blasted. The spear-fishing approach treats them like human beings worthy of your attention.

    With gift-based outbound, your ROI comes from quality, not quantity. We spent $25-75 per gift, which means we couldn't afford to waste them on poor-fit prospects.

    The perfect outbound list is small enough that you can give each prospect your full attention, but large enough to hit your growth targets.

    Quality over quantity. Always.

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    About Corey Quinn

    Founder, Deep Specialization™

    Corey helps founder-led agencies scale through Deep Specialization™ and programmatic M&A. Former CMO of Scorpion ($20M to $200M). Author of "Anyone, Not Everyone."

    “Is this a good fit for my agency?”

    I partner with founders who want to build something meaningful, not just a busier agency, but a stronger, more scalable business.

    You’re likely a strong fit if:

    • You’re generating $1M–$20M+ annually
    • You want to lead your market, not blend into it
    • You’re thinking about long-term scale, not short-term tactics
    • You want a growth engine that doesn’t rely on you
    • You value clarity over complexity
    • You’re open to advanced growth levers, including acquisitions
    Anyone Not Everyone Book Cover

    Escape Founder-Led Sales With My Free Book

    My bestselling book Anyone Not Everyone reveals the positioning and outbound system that helps founder-led agencies create predictable, scalable growth.

    Endorsed by Aaron Ross, Alan Dibb, Dr. Benjamin Hardy, and many other top thinkers in the agency world.

    ★★★★★
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