Tip
23 Sept 2025
Building GTM Infrastructure That Actually Works
Cold email is back in fashion, but making it work is harder than ever. In a world where Microsoft blocks suspicious domains, spam filters are smarter than most humans, and buyers are bombarded with generic outreach, you need more than a catchy subject line. At Yopla, we’ve seen it first-hand. The difference between outreach that lands and outreach that dies in spam isn’t luck. It’s infrastructure. The systems you put in place before you hit “send” determine whether your GTM engine runs smoothly or burns out.
Cold email is back in fashion, but making it work is harder than ever. In a world where Microsoft blocks suspicious domains, spam filters are smarter than most humans, and buyers are bombarded with generic outreach, you need more than a catchy subject line.
At Yopla, we’ve seen it first-hand. The difference between outreach that lands and outreach that dies in spam isn’t luck. It’s infrastructure. The systems you put in place before you hit “send” determine whether your GTM engine runs smoothly or burns out.
Step One: Don’t Burn Your Domain
Your domain reputation is the passport of your outreach. Abuse it, and you’re grounded.
Do it right | What goes wrong if you don’t |
|---|---|
Warm up new domains slowly, with controlled sending volumes | Emails bounce, your domain is blacklisted, recovery takes months |
Configure SPF, DKIM and DMARC - the internet’s identity paperwork | Mail servers treat you as suspicious, even when your content is clean |
Rotate sending domains to spread risk | One bad sequence can kill your whole company domain |
We’ve helped clients who learned this the hard way. Their first “big push” meant Outlook flagged them as spammers. Six months later, they were still struggling to rebuild trust.
Step Two: Make Your CRM the Source of Truth
Great campaigns die in bad data. If your CRM isn’t synced properly, you’ll waste time chasing ghosts or irritating people you’ve already spoken to.
Healthy setup | Messy setup |
|---|---|
HubSpot or Salesforce cleanly integrated with outreach tools like Clay and Insightly | Contacts live in spreadsheets, updates get missed, sales teams work from different lists |
Automations keep deals, contacts and companies aligned | Duplicate records confuse reporting and annoy prospects |
Outreach flows push back signals into the CRM | Sales and marketing argue about what “actually happened” |
This isn’t just admin. It’s the heartbeat of your GTM stack. Without it, you’ll never scale reliably.
Step Three: Use Signals, Not Guesswork
Cold outreach is no longer about blasting lists. It’s about timing.
Smart signals (via Clay & co.) | Guesswork |
|---|---|
Hiring triggers - new Head of Ops, fresh Finance Director | Sending to stale contacts who left 2 years ago |
Tech stack insights - spotting who uses HubSpot, Xero, or Asana | Pitching a solution they don’t even use |
Buying signals - funding rounds, job ads, product launches | Hoping volume makes up for poor targeting |
When your system is tuned to signals, your messages feel relevant, not robotic. That’s when doors open.
Step Four: Message, Test, Repeat
The copy matters, of course. But it’s not everything. The best GTM engines treat messaging as a process, not a guess.
Better practice | Bad habit |
|---|---|
Run structured A/B tests on subject lines and calls to action | Write one sequence and pray |
Use HubSpot, Clay or Apollo to pull personalised data points into each message | Mail merge first name, nothing else |
Iterate weekly - measure reply rate, bounce rate, spam flag rate | Leave the same template running for months |
Step Five: Scale Safely
Infrastructure doesn’t just get you started. It lets you grow without chaos.
Scalable habits | Fragile habits |
|---|---|
Separate sending domains, monitored deliverability, and volume control | One domain, one inbox, zero backup plan |
Centralised reporting - leaders see the full funnel in HubSpot | SDRs track success in random spreadsheets |
Training teams on systems, not just scripts | People leave, knowledge disappears, the machine stalls |
Where Yopla Fits In
This is what we do. We partner, design and build GTM infrastructure that gives your campaigns the best chance of success.
If you’re not sure where to start, our Mobilisation Audit gives you a readiness check. You’ll know whether your people, systems and culture are set up for outbound success.
If you’re ready to move, our Launch programme builds the stack with you - HubSpot or Insightly, Clay, domain management, deliverability, integrations. We don’t just plug tools together, we make sure people actually use them.
If you want to keep momentum, Thrive ensures the machine keeps running - clean data, smart signals, and a culture of iteration.
Cold email can work. But not if you treat it as a one-off campaign. It only works when the infrastructure behind it is ready. That’s the difference between spam and strategy.
👉 Want to get your GTM engine firing? Let’s talk.