The New Reality of Agency Outreach: Signals, Trust, and Small TAMs

Most agencies try to fix pipeline by working harder, but not by working smarter.

This conversation digs into why outbound has gotten tougher, what’s changed in the last decade, and how agencies can build a healthier, more defensible acquisition motion. We cover the shift from brute-force outreach to signal-driven, trust-based systems, why TAM size changes everything, and how sales and marketing need to operate as a single unit for mid-market deals. It’s a clear look at the mechanics behind winning in a crowded outreach landscape. 

Michael Maximoff is the co-founder of Belkins and the team behind Folderly. He’s spent more than a decade solving the same problems agencies face today: building predictable pipeline in a crowded, trust-heavy market, balancing marketing and sales investment, and adapting outbound to a world that no longer responds to direct pitches.

• Why cold outreach used to work with simple tools and high volume, and why that era is over
• How inbox competition jumped from ~100 cold pitches/month per decision-maker to 800+ today
• Why small TAMs require a different playbook and more precision, not more activity
• The importance of costly signals, warm intros, and touch-point-driven credibility instead of direct pitches
• How sales and marketing must operate in tandem to create “surround sound” and increase conversion likelihood
• Why mid-market agencies should hire full-cycle AEs who can build their own book of business
• The danger of giving SDRs outdated brute-force mandates in a world where the role is now a technical, marketing-adjacent function
• How deeper integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce, Clay) are reshaping outreach, personalization, and data orchestration
• Why agencies must choose the channel they have a true “genetic advantage” for.

Links & Resources

• Belkins — https://belkins.io
• Folderly — https://folderly.com
• Michael on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximoff