Cold Email Revival, Trust The Systems, Cutting The Sh*t, & How To Separate as a Top Rep in 2026+

Welcome to The Pipeline Press, brought to you by Pipeline Papi, Lindy Boy, Quota Cowboy, Rookie Rep, & Ant Calabrese. Every Friday, you’re getting stories, tips, job openings, and a little lifestyle drip to keep the edge sharp and the mission clear. PROMOTION, QUOTA, EARNINGS. Follow us on X if you aren’t already, we are all very active in the tech sales space if you want to continue the convo or have any questions.

Let’s get into it.

I did not think I’d be writing this sentence here in 2026, but cold emails are back. Revived. My stats for this quarter so far are below. Out of the 20 meetings I’ve already set, 15 have been from cold email outreach.

In fact, our SDR team last quarter booked 75% of our meetings via cold email.

To be fair, I work at a top logo and a truly dominant (borderline monopolistic) company in the space, but still. What I have been hearing is that emails have never been hitting like this.

What I did was put together a 9 step email sequence lasting 18 days. I followed this basic email framework I got from Tech Sales Guy.

Keep it under 75 words. It should read like a text, cut all the fluff. Remember, as an SDR you are selling a MEETING, so entice them with a meeting.

Also seeing a lot of success from the ‘bump’ email. Following up on a solid email the day before with something like ‘hey NAME just making sure you saw this.’

Happy to help answer any specific questions you may have.

Trust the System Top of the morning Sales Chads and Chadettes. Another Lindy morning here in blistering cold Appalachistan.

The birds aren't chirping (flew south for White Boy Winter), but the coffee's fresh and ideas are rolling off my tongue like fat kids on a water slide.

Something that's been absolutely crucial to my day-to-day lately: SYSTEMS..

If you know me IRL, I'm your typical sales brain. Mind moves a million miles a minute. Mouth moves faster. Slightly unorganized. My genius can't exactly be quantified on paper (we will use the term “genius” lightly).

Sound familiar? It's a superpower. But we gotta build formulas and calculated movements that are organized, concise, and buttoned up. Otherwise we turn into mad scientists. Two parts to this:

The first part? Easier. Build a calendar that actually reflects your day. Tasks. Blocks. Everything.

Put your phone in another room. Stick to that calendar like a bee to honey.

The systems piece? Way more complicated. That's where I'm dumping a ton of energy right now. Optimizing workflows. Squeezing every last drop of juice out of every motion.

Problem is there are 4 million sales tools out there. And everyone recommending them feels like an affiliate shill. Fair game though. Ya know, SALES.

Core stack you need: Email sequencing (Smartlead, Instantly, etc.) Data/people finder (ZoomInfo, Apollo, Sales Nav, etc.) Enrichment tools (Clay, Freckle, etc.) Dialer (too many to count) LinkedIn automation (HeyReach, others) My current stack: Apollo + Freckle + Smartlead + onboarding HeyReach.

But here's the truth. My system is nowhere near complete. And I'm definitely not the expert here.

So I'm asking YOU: What's your stack and how are you running it? How can a beginner adopt a simple stack and start ripping immediately?

How can an intermediate level up and go full giga sales chad mode?

The formula: Elite sales acumen + bespoke workflow + supreme focus = unbeatable quirked-up white boy sales giga chad destroyer.

Drop your thoughts and stack in the comments.

Happy Friday. Heading out for a weekend getaway with my 8-months-pregnant wife and closing the laptop for 48 hours minimum.

Okay, I might check a couple Slacks.

Cheers.

Happy Friday Mornin folks, long week of travel for me out for a show in Tampa but let’s get after it today. Our topic this week will be brief, and ironically it is all about getting the the point and “cutting the sh*t”.

When you either begin your time as a BDR, or change companies, it’s a lot to handle in terms of a new team, a new product to learn, your new competition and how you differ, etc. This can make our brains cloudy, and tend to have us ramble on and on about whatever we are selling. It’s important that you fight this, because the more you product dump on someone,

or have a minute long opener on a cold call the less likely your chances are of bookin meetings.

Getting straight to the point with people is refreshing in this world of AI slop and obtuse value statements. Call people, when they answer hold your frame by tellin them who you are why you’re calling and why they should listen. No more of “this is a cold call, can you give me 30 seconds”. Absolutely not.

Keep it brief, approach with confidence, and you will command respect over the phones even if they aren’t “interested now”. Have a great weekend everyone

Go Pats,

QC-QC

There is obviously a lot of talk & hype currently all around AI, especially in the tech sales world.

It is allowing orgs to mass blast emails, automate CRM functions, & do all the account research for sales reps in minutes. You can now have an account’s tech stack, key decision makers, any recent funding & news, open roles, and anything else you would want in 5 minutes.

Believe it or not - this isn’t what will take reps to the top of the leaderboard. Everyone has access to it nowadays, every competitor has the same buying signals, and is doing the same thing too.

But, do you know what will make the best reps in 2026 & moving forward?? It can build trust faster than any perfect email can describing all their pains & what they need.

It is called getting in-person.

Now that everything is more remote, automated, and behind screens, actually showing up will be a massive edge in sales cycles & building champions.

This week I spoke to a guy at my gym who owns his own IT-shop. Once a week he goes around town and stops into local shops. He says hi, introduces himself, and hands them his business card. He told me that his phone doesn’t stop blowing up from people reaching back out when they need IT help.

The beauty of all of this is that most people won’t do it. That is why it works. The few that get it & are willing to put in the time to visit them in person is what separates them from all the competition.

As we continue to a more remote society, in-person interaction will only become more valuable.

Until next week.

Rook ♜
X: @rooktorep

GONE FISHING THIS WEEK

Currently Hiring For

SDRs:

NYC - new grad top 150 school 60 base 90 ote uncapped and commission
NYC - 1 YOE strong preference in fintech - 110 base 130 k ote uncapped

SF - new grad top 50 school 80 base 100 ote
SF - new grad top 25 school or athlete or somewhere in the middle 80 base 135 ote

Main Companies: Office Hours, Meow, Solidroad, Simple AI, Vapi

AEs:

Sf/nyc - comm-midmarket-enterprise aes min 2 yoe as a direct seller at snowflake / figma / vercel type companies (technical product sales)

100-200 base 200-400 ote depending on segment being worked and Yoe.

Main companies: dust.tt, factory.ai, decagon, sequence, unify

Reach out to him HERE on X if you fit any of these descriptions

P.S. The Pipeline Papi SDR Bot is live. Your SDR copilot for custom cold call scripts, objection handlers, discovery questions and more, for EVERY Prospect. Built to make booking meets 10x easier.