How to build personalised outbound
for under €150/month
No Clay. No Sales Navigator. 4 tools plus Claude Code.
Step-by-step guide to build it yourself.
The exact stack we use to run outbound campaigns for our clients in the DACH region, laid out step by step.
Cold outreach in the DACH region is expensive, before you even send the first email.
You want to run outbound. Your product is good, you know who your target customers are, but you have no scalable way to reach them.
So you Google "B2B cold email stack" and land on the usual suspects: Clay, Apollo, ZoomInfo, Sales Navigator. You read a few LinkedIn posts from US gurus showing you how to build "10x personalised emails in 5 minutes" with Clay.
Then you look at the pricing.
And here is the real problem: these tools are built for the US market. Parsing the German Impressum structure? Reading IHK records? Using commercial register data? They cannot do it, or only badly.
You pay enterprise prices for tools that do not understand your market.
There is another way.
4 tools. One workflow. Under €150/month.
Built for the DACH market.
Over the past 18 months we have developed and optimised a stack that covers everything you need for personalised B2B outbound, from lead research to a ready-to-send campaign.
The trick: Claude Code is the command centre. It connects all tools through APIs and MCP integrations. What you would normally click together manually across several tools, you control here with a single prompt.
| Tool | Job | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Research Agent | Lead sourcing plus deep research per company | €49 (Starter, 500 credits) |
| FullEnrich API | Email plus phone via 15+ data sources | $29 (Starter, 500 credits) |
| Instantly | Email sequences plus warmup and tracking | $37 (Growth) / $30 annual |
| Claude Code | Orchestration of the entire workflow | ~$20 to $50 (API based) |
| Total | ~€125 to €160/mo |
Note on infrastructure: on top you need 2 to 3 domains (~€3/mo) and 4 to 6 Google Workspace mailboxes (~€24 to €36/mo) for sending email. These costs apply to any cold email stack, with or without Clay. They are not a differentiator.
Fair comparison (same workflow, infrastructure excluded because both stacks need it):
Our stack: ~€140/mo
Clay Launch ($185) + Instantly ($37) = ~€205/mo, without live web research
Clay Growth ($495) + Instantly ($37) = ~€490/mo, with CRM integration
Our stack is around 30% cheaper than the cheapest Clay stack and delivers deeper, live-researched data per lead.
The workflow, step by step
Below we walk you through every step in detail, with concrete configurations, prompt examples and the results you can expect.
Lead sourcing & deep research with Research Agent
The Research Agent handles two jobs in one step: it finds your leads AND researches them in depth. It searches Google, scrapes websites, LinkedIn, Crunchbase and 20+ other sources, including JS-heavy pages via headless browser.
No separate scraper needed. No Apify, no PhantomBuster. One tool for sourcing and research.
How to use it:
- Create an account at research-agent.net (50 free credits to test, no credit card)
- Pick an agent template or build your own (e.g. "ICP Qualification" or "Company Enrichment")
- Define a prompt (e.g. "Find IT service providers in Bavaria with 20 to 100 employees. Per company: decision-maker, pain points, personalisation hook.")
- Set the output schema (JSON): which fields do you want back?
- Run individually or as a bulk run
What you get per lead (as structured JSON):
{
"company": "TechSolve GmbH",
"website": "techsolve.de",
"description": "IT service provider focused on SMEs in Upper Bavaria.
Specialisms: cloud migration, managed services, IT security.",
"decision_maker_name": "Michael Bauer",
"decision_maker_role": "Managing Director",
"team_size": "~25 employees",
"current_signals": [
"3 open sales roles (stepstone.de)",
"New blog post on NIS2 compliance",
"Google rating: 4.7/5 (83 reviews)"
],
"pain_point": "Growth phase, actively looking for new customers,
sales likely not yet systematised.",
"personalisation_hook": "I noticed you are hiring across sales right
now, which suggests serious growth ambitions."
}Why this beats Clay:
Clay pulls data from pre-indexed databases, which can be stale. Research Agent does live web research: every query is fresh, across 20+ sources, with an understanding of the German Impressum structure, IHK records and the DACH market.
Clay gives you: "Company size: 25, industry: IT, tech stack: WordPress". Research Agent gives you a context brief with a personalisation hook you can turn straight into an email.
"Company size: 25, industry: IT, tech stack: WordPress". That is a data point, not personalisation.
A context brief with a personalisation hook you can turn straight into an email. In German. With understanding of the Impressum, IHK records and the DACH market.
MCP integration:
Research Agent works natively as an MCP server in Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP-compatible client. Setup: 6 lines of JSON config, done in 2 minutes.
Use the Research Agent to find and research 200 IT service
providers in Bavaria.
Return per lead as JSON:
- company, website, address
- decision_maker_name, decision_maker_role
- description (1 to 2 sentences)
- current_signals
- pain_point
- personalisation_hook
Export as leads_researched.csvEnrich email & phone with FullEnrich
You now have a list of researched leads, including decision-maker names and company domains. FullEnrich finds the matching business email and phone number.
Why a separate tool for email enrichment?
Email verification is a specialism. FullEnrich uses waterfall enrichment across 15+ dedicated data providers with triple verification. You only pay on success, no credit burn when nothing is found.
Enrichment rate in the DACH region:
Important: leads without a verified email get filtered out, no unverified emails go into the campaign. This protects your sender reputation.
Take leads_researched.csv.
Call the FullEnrich API for each lead with
decision_maker_name + domain.
Merge email and phone back into the CSV.
Create two files:
1. leads_enriched.csv (only leads WITH a verified email)
2. leads_no_email.csv (for LinkedIn outreach)
Stats: enrichment rate, number of emails, number of phones.Set up the outreach campaign with Instantly
Your researched and enriched leads go into Instantly, the tool that sends the emails. Instantly handles sequences, warmup, tracking and reply management.
Before you start, the mailbox setup:
- Buy domains: 2 to 3 similar domains (~$10 to $15/year per domain)
- Set up Google Workspace: 2 mailboxes per domain (~€6/mo per mailbox)
- DNS records: configure SPF, DKIM, DMARC correctly
- Warmup: turn on Instantly Warmup, run it for at least 14 days
- Send limits: start at 20 emails/day per mailbox, scale slowly to 40 to 50
The email sequence:
Four emails over 14 days, short, personal, no corporate fluff.
Subject: {{personalisation_hook}}
Hi {{first_name}},
{{personalised_intro_from_research}}
We help [target audience] achieve [concrete outcome].
Quick question: {{relevant_question_about_pain_point}}
Best regards
[Your name]Subject: Scaling sales at TechSolve?
Hi Michael,
I noticed you have three open sales roles at the moment,
which usually points to serious growth ambitions.
We help IT service providers in the DACH region win new
customers systematically, through personalised, data-driven
outbound.
Quick question: alongside the team build-out, are you
already building a scalable outbound channel, or is new
business mainly coming from referrals at the moment?
Best regards
[Name]Hi {{first_name}},
quick follow-up to my note from Monday.
A concrete example: for an [industry] company of similar
size we generated [X meetings] within 8 weeks, with under
a day of setup effort.
If outbound is on your agenda right now, worth a
15-minute call?
Best regards
[Name]Hi {{first_name}},
no pitch, just a quick insight that might be relevant
for you:
[Relevant insight for the industry/situation]
If you want to talk about what this could look like
specifically for {{company}}, I am here.
Best regards
[Name]Hi {{first_name}},
I do not want to keep nagging, last note from me.
If outbound is not a topic for {{company}} right now:
absolutely no problem.
If it ever becomes relevant, this email is enough as a
conversation starter.
Best regards
[Name]Instantly configuration:
Orchestrate everything with Claude Code
Claude Code connects all steps through MCP integrations. One prompt, the entire workflow.
What you need:
- Install Claude Code (Anthropic CLI)
- Configure MCP servers for Research Agent, FullEnrich and Instantly
- Done. No n8n, no Make, no Zapier.
Campaign: IT service providers Bavaria Q1 2026
1. SOURCING & RESEARCH
Use Research Agent to find 200 IT service providers in Bavaria.
Research per lead: decision-maker, pain points, personalisation hook.
Output as JSON.
2. ENRICHMENT
Enrich each lead via FullEnrich (email + phone).
Sort leads without email into a separate list.
3. PERSONALISATION
Create personalised email variables per lead:
- Personalised subject line
- Intro (2 sentences)
- Relevant question
4. EXPORT
Export as Instantly-compatible CSV import.
Campaign report: enrichment rate, top pain points, A/B test recommendation.What you can expect, honest numbers from the DACH market.
| Metric | Expectation | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Leads found & researched | 500 to 1,000 per campaign | Depends on industry and region |
| Enrichment rate (email) | 60 to 75% | Higher at larger companies (50+ FTE) |
| Emails sent | 300 to 750 | After deduplication and verification |
| Open rate | 50 to 70% | DACH B2B average with a good setup |
| Reply rate (overall) | 3 to 8% | Highly dependent on personalisation depth |
| Positive reply rate | 1.5 to 4% | About 50% of replies are positive/neutral |
| Meetings booked | 5 to 15 per campaign | Out of 500 emails sent |
| Setup effort (one-off) | 4 to 6 hours | Incl. domain setup and warmup start |
| Setup per campaign (after) | 30 to 60 minutes | Just adjust the prompt and start |
| Time to first replies | 3 to 4 weeks after start | 2 to 3 weeks of warmup plus first sequence week |
Your results depend on ICP quality, personalisation depth and messaging. Generic copy = 1 to 2% reply rate. Research-based personalisation = 5 to 8%.
The sharper your Ideal Customer Profile, the better. "All companies in Germany" does not work. "IT service providers with 20 to 100 FTE in Bavaria, currently scaling sales" does.
Generic copy = 1 to 2% reply rate. Research-based personalisation = 5 to 8%. The Research Agent is what makes that difference.
Your offer has to match the pain point. The best personalisation is wasted if your value proposition is not relevant.
Honest comparison: what you get, and what you do not.
| Criterion | Our stack | Clay Launch + Instantly | Apollo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost/mo (excl. infra) | ~€140 | ~€205 (Clay $185 + Instantly $37) | $49 to $99 + outreach tool |
| Research depth | Live web research, 20+ sources per lead, structured JSON | Pre-indexed databases, data-point based | Basic (name, company, industry) |
| DACH optimisation | ✓ Impressum, IHK, DE websites, LinkedIn | ✗ US focused | ⚠️ LinkedIn data okay, weak enrichment |
| Email enrichment (DACH) | ✓ 60 to 75% via FullEnrich waterfall (15+ sources) | ⚠️ 40 to 60% (fewer DE sources) | ✗ 20 to 40% (US databases dominate) |
| Setup effort | 4 to 6h (one-off), 30 to 60 min per campaign | 2 to 4 weeks of Clay learning curve plus setup | 3 to 4h |
| Ongoing maintenance | Minimal, one prompt per campaign | High, maintain workflows, manage credits | Medium |
| CRM integration | Via Claude Code + MCP | Only from Clay Growth ($495/mo) | Built in |
| Technical requirement | ⚠️ CLI/API affinity required | ✓ No-code interface | ✓ No-code interface |
Our honest take: Clay has the better UI. Apollo has the bigger database. If you primarily work the US/UK market and need a no-code interface, those are solid options. But if you operate in the DACH region, want deep personalisation and have to scale with budget discipline, our stack is the better choice. Around 30% cheaper than Clay, with deeper research per lead.
Everything you need to start today.
Claude Code prompt templates
Copy-paste prompts for each of the 4 workflow steps.
CSV lead list template
All columns from raw lead list to Instantly import.
Email sequence templates
Three ready-made sequences: IT services, professional services, trades.
Checklist "Outbound in 1 day"
From buying domains to your first campaign, ready to tick off.
Instantly setup guide
DNS records, warmup, send limits, tracking, on a single page.
Templates are sent by email.
Yes, cold outreach is legal in Germany, when you do it properly.
Legal basis:
- GDPR Art. 6(1)(f), legitimate interest: you may process personal data when you have a legitimate interest. In a B2B context: you contact someone in their professional capacity with a relevant offer.
- UWG § 7(2)(2), presumed consent: email advertising is permitted if the recipient is presumed to be interested in your offer.
The 7 rules:
Only contact people at their business email. No private Gmail/GMX addresses.
Your offer has to fit the recipient and their role.
Working unsubscribe link, one click, no login.
Full Impressum per § 5 TMG in every email.
No reply = implicit "not interested". On unsubscribe: stop immediately.
Record where the contact came from and why you are reaching out.
Be able to respond within 30 days about which data you hold.
You now have two options.
Have us do it
We take care of everything: Playbook, ICP, lead lists, campaign setup, ongoing management.
50% money-back guarantee if fewer than 5 replies with meeting intent in the first month.
Book a discovery callFrequently asked questions
Do I need programming skills?
No, but the CLI/terminal should not scare you. If you can type "npm install", that is enough. Claude Code does the rest.
Does this work for my industry?
Yes, as long as you have B2B customers who are findable via websites. Industry agnostic.
How long until first results?
3 to 4 weeks. Week 1: setup. Week 2 to 3: warmup. From week 3 to 4: first replies.
What does this really cost me all in?
Tools: ~€125 to €160/mo (Research Agent €49, FullEnrich $29, Instantly $37, Claude Code ~$20 to $50). Plus domains and mailboxes: ~€27 to €39/mo. Realistic all in: ~€150 to €200/mo. Clay Launch + Instantly alone is ~€205/mo, without deep research.
Is this GDPR compliant?
B2B cold email is allowed under specific conditions (see GDPR section). Even so: consult a data protection lawyer.
Can I do this with n8n or Make?
In principle, yes. Claude Code is more flexible (natural language instead of node configuration), but if you know n8n, nothing speaks against it.
What if leads do not have an email?
The 25 to 40% without email are perfect for LinkedIn outreach via HeyReach. Separate Academy guide is coming.
Why are you giving away your stack publicly?
If you do it yourself, great, we earn trust. If you realise you want pros to handle it, you know exactly what you are getting. Both outcomes are positive.
Can I test you first?
Yes. Step 1 is always free: an individual Playbook with 50 qualified leads. Not a single euro upfront.