The Clay Stack: How We Automate 90% of Our Outbound

Outbound isn't broken—but the way most teams run it is. In 2025, relying on manual prospecting, static lead lists, and disconnected tools isn't just inefficient—it's expensive. At The Playbook Agency, we've built an outbound engine that runs on automation, with 90% of our outbound workflows powered by Clay.

This article breaks down how we've engineered a scalable system around Clay—the no-code platform that lets you enrich, filter, personalize, and trigger outbound at scale. Whether you're a lean startup team or an enterprise RevOps leader, this is a blueprint for how modern outbound should work.

Why Clay? Why Now?

For years, outbound teams juggled dozens of disconnected tools: one for scraping leads, another for enrichment, and yet another to handle email. That approach creates friction, introduces error, and limits scale.

Clay changes that. It combines data sourcing, enrichment, filtering, and action into a single visual workflow. You can scrape job boards, enrich with tools like Clearbit or Dropcontact, pull in technographic data from BuiltWith, and send to Smartlead or HubSpot—all in one interface. It's not just a tool; it's a programmable canvas for outbound operations.

We chose Clay because it lets us go beyond the generic "leads list." It gives us control over who we target, how we score and prioritize them, and what data powers our personalization. When paired with a robust outbound strategy, the result is high-quality, high-volume outreach—with minimal manual effort.

How We Built Our Clay Stack

At the center of our outbound system is a Clay workbook that acts like a living CRM and automation hub. It ingests raw data from multiple sources—think Crunchbase, Google Maps, LinkedIn, and job boards—and transforms it into structured, enriched contact profiles.

We enrich each lead using multiple data providers layered together, ensuring better match rates and cleaner information. Tools like Apollo, Hunter, and Clearbit fill in the gaps, while filters inside Clay score and prioritize leads by intent signals, hiring activity, or tech stack fit.

Once the records are cleaned and scored, they're piped into our email tools—often Smartlead or Instantly—with variables ready for deep personalization. If a prospect mentioned a funding round or posted a hiring spec for their sales team, that insight shows up in the first line of our message. No intern had to write it manually—Clay did the work.

This stack allows us to run plays like the "Google Maps to meeting" workflow, where we pull local businesses, enrich them automatically, and launch outreach within minutes. Or our "ClickUp Fortune 500" workflow, where we dynamically enrich key accounts with account-level signals and route them through a priority cadence. These aren't just automations—they're revenue engines.

The Benefits Go Beyond Prospecting

Most teams see Clay as a better way to build lead lists. That's true, but it's only the beginning.

We use Clay to clean and maintain CRM hygiene—standardizing records, removing duplicates, and updating contact status based on LinkedIn activity. Our RevOps team uses it to surface whitespace opportunities by monitoring hiring trends, product usage signals, and expansion triggers.

Because Clay is programmable, we also use it to auto-generate ideal customer profiles and competitive briefs for new campaigns. This means we're not guessing who to target—we're pulling data directly from the market and adjusting our plays in real time.

Whether we're running top-of-funnel prospecting or mid-funnel ABM workflows, Clay acts as the intelligence layer that keeps our systems lean and our outreach sharp.

Lessons Learned from Automating at Scale

Automation is powerful—but without structure, it can lead to chaos. We learned early on that the quality of your Clay stack is only as good as the logic behind it.

One mistake we made was over-engineering early workflows before testing basic assumptions. Now, we build light MVPs for each play—test them across a few hundred records—and scale only what converts.

Another key lesson was creating QA layers within the stack. Even though 90% of our outbound is automated, every campaign passes through a human checkpoint. We validate data accuracy, test personalization snippets, and run soft launches before fully activating a sequence.

AI tools inside Clay are useful—but we use them responsibly. For example, we'll use OpenAI within Clay to summarize a blog post or job description for context, but we don't rely on it to generate full email copy. Instead, we let the data do the talking and keep copywriting human-first.

Getting Started with Clay (The Right Way)

If you're new to Clay, the best place to start is with a single high-signal workflow. One we often recommend is combining Google Maps + enrichment + email—it's simple, fast, and works well for local B2B outreach.

From there, expand into plays like job spec scraping or technographic targeting. As your logic improves, Clay becomes less of a spreadsheet and more of a strategy engine.

If you're running outbound at any meaningful volume and not using a programmable data layer, you're leaving leverage on the table. You don't need more tools—you need better architecture.

Modern outbound isn't about sending more emails. It's about building smarter systems—ones that let you reach the right people, with the right message, at the right time. At The Playbook Agency, Clay powers that system.

It's how we've gone from fragmented workflows to fluid automation, and why we can execute full campaigns without wasting hours on manual research.

If you want help building your own Clay stack—or need a custom outbound engine designed around your ICP—our RevOps & Clay Engineering service can help you build it right.

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