Question 1

How much does the complete outbound sales stack cost per month?

Accepted Answer

Up to $500 per month. If you skip a CRM, you can squeeze in under $350. However, when building a sales funnel, you'll want to follow up, create reminders, and track potential deals. If you're thinking long-term, don't skip the CRM. Most sales aren't accomplished through the first outreach - you'll be following up with the same contacts multiple times throughout a year until you land them.

Question 2

How long does it take to set up the full sales stack from scratch?

Accepted Answer

With experience, it can be set up in under 5-6 hours. For most people who haven't worked with these platforms, a safe bet is under 2 working days. Take it easy, don't rush things, and do it properly so you won't have to redo everything.

Question 3

Do I need technical skills to set up these tools?

Accepted Answer

No, all the tools are fairly easy to use. It's pretty much like setting up your laptop or phone for the first time. It's really not rocket science.

Question 4

Can I start with just a few tools and add more later?

Accepted Answer

Yes, start with Reply.io + Clay OR Apollo. This gives you a tool to outreach with plus contacts to work with. You'll need to buy a domain for outbound, but you'll be limited by the volume of emails you can send initially.

Question 5

How many demos per month can I realistically expect to book?

Accepted Answer

This really depends on market, messaging, and targeting. It can be as low as 5, it can be as high as hundreds a month. From experience in a market where you have some competition and you add 40-50 new contacts monthly, 15 to 20 demos is a healthy target.

Question 6

How long before I see results from outbound?

Accepted Answer

You'll see open rates the same day, reply rates within a few days. Realistically, within the first week, if you haven't gotten answers and your open rate is lower than 40%, work on the messaging - you probably have issues there.

Question 7

What's a good reply rate for cold emails?

Accepted Answer

3-5% is a good benchmark for cold email reply rates.

Question 8

Should I hire an SDR or build this myself?

Accepted Answer

Always recommend starting yourself first. Calculate how much an SDR costs locally. A good rule of thumb is if an SDR costs $2,000/month, they need to bring enough opportunities to generate $6,000 of revenue monthly - essentially a 3:1 ratio.

Question 9

What's the #1 mistake founders make with outbound sales?

Accepted Answer

Writing emails that read like a marketing campaign. Your goal is to message like a friend and say 'Hey, I see you're having issues with this, I have a solution, worth a chat?' Less is more.

Question 10

Do I need a big email list to get started?

Accepted Answer

It's subjective and depends on what verticals you're targeting. Generally, we're speaking about thousands of contacts you can get from Clay, Apollo, or Lusha, so practically this isn't an area of concern.

Layer	Tool	Why it is here	Link
Leads	Apollo	Fast list building and filtering so you can start testing.	Visit
Sending	Instantly	Email-first sending with simple workflows and fast iteration.	Visit
Deliverability (optional)	Mailforge	Adds inbox scale and rotation without weekly deliverability panic.	Visit
Multichannel (optional)	Reply.io	Use if you need LinkedIn steps, calling, and reporting like a sales team.	Visit

Solopreneur Outbound Stack Under $100/mo (2026)

My simple recommendation

The stack (budget version)

What to do first (so this actually works)

1) Pick one ICP and one offer

2) Build a 200 lead list

3) Run a 2-week sprint

Compare Tools Before You Buy

🆚 Apollo vs ZoomInfo vs Cognism

🆚 Instantly vs Lemlist vs Reply.io

🆚 Clay vs Apollo

Want a stack that fits your stage?