For years, sales engagement platforms (SEPs) were hailed as the answer to meeting new customers "at scale." From calls and emails to LinkedIn -- automation, sequences, and templates were the answer.
But the cows have come home. The chickens are roostin' too! These tools aren’t only failing; they’re actively hurting sales teams and small businesses alike.
Troy Munson, CEO at Dimmo, is one of the few sales leaders brave enough to say the quiet part out loud.
"My email response rate increased 3x when I stopped using sales engagement tools.”
It’s not just anecdotal. Others are experiencing the same.
"I deleted our 12-email sequence recently and replaced it with just 2 emails. Our sales went nuts." -- Dillon Andrew, Niche Capital.
"First email introduces them. Second adds value. Third shares content. Fourth tells a story. Fifth creates urgency," says Dillon.
"Six through twelve try desperately to seem relevant. I regret to inform you that all of this is a complete waste of time."
What does he do instead?
Provokes in email #1. Then a "Did you see the last email?" bump.
Y'all, SEPs are helpful for organizing your day. Or sending bulk messages to low-tier accounts. But for high-value targets?
They destroy deliverability, stifle creativity, and rob you of the deep research which makes a difference. Particularly in Enterprise business-to-business settings.
Dillon Andrew
Hans Christian Andersen wrote his famous tale about an emperor who parades around in invisible clothes. He's convinced he’s dressed in the finest fabrics. No one dares tell him the truth—until a child finally cries out, “He’s naked!”
Reality sets in, and everything changes. Sales is having a similar moment of truth.
SEPs are like fentanyl
"There real irony must be ditching tech internally to increase pipeline and sales while being the Founder of an org that hosts sales tech demos," says Shawn Sease.
"See how each facet of the SEM Industrial Complex starts out a solution -- but the next one is fixing a problem the previous created?
- Cadence
- SEPs
- Multi-domain rotation
See how each starts out a solution -- but the next one is fixing a problem the previous created?"
He encourages us to look even deeper...
"Examine your perceived value (in SEMs). Is it really valuable -- or did someone just give the first hit/dose for free? Think of it this way: Is fentanyl use down or all of the users dead or dying off?"
It’s time to rethink everything you believe about sales outreach.
Strategic, high-touch prospecting isn’t optional anymore—it’s what separates the great sellers from the good.
Why SEPs are screwing us
SEPs were supposed to make life easier for sales teams. Instead, they’ve created an illusion of efficiency, luring teams into high-volume, low-impact outreach.
Troy breaks it down:
“As soon as I started giving a shit about deep account and prospect research, everything about building pipeline and closing deals became easier.”
Here’s why SEPs are screwing us:
Kellen Casebeer
- Deliverability Issues: Tools leave a digital fingerprint that email service providers (ESPs) like Google detect. According to Kellen Casebeer of The Deal Lab, Google knows exactly when you’re sending through these tools and blocks emails.
- Lack of Personalization: SEPs encourage one-size-fits-all messaging, which savvy prospects recognize and ignore.
- False Sense of Efficiency: Automation feels productive, but it often replaces the hard work of understanding prospects deeply.
Kellen Casebeer explains:
“Google KNOWS you’ve sent via these tools… They could hard code block any of them on a whim. That’s why companies should use alternative domains and keep volume low.”
All of the following are points of potential blocking, according to Kellen.
Our experience at Communications Edge aligns. And don't forget about SEGs! (Secure Email Gateways) They know too! Here are the points you are forced to consider...
Kellen Casebeer
- home internet ip address
- physical router address
- physical device address
- email tenant (google workspace or outlook)
- domain (the url itself)
- inboxes (the address you send from)
- sending tools (they stamp an IP too)
- copy (patterns to writing)
- subject (patterns to subject)
- frequency (volume and hours)
- reply rates (ratio of send to replies)
All of the above must be considered at all times.
"Whether you know it or not you're participating in this environment. If you're not aware, not measuring, and don’t consider the existence of these factors there is immense risk in becoming reliant on email," Kellen says.
"Google and Microsoft are ready for blocking all the emails and killing your reply rate," says Jesse Ouellette, founder of LeadMagic, who's experience I rely on.
"Six to seven figure data provider contract. Six to seven figure sequencer going to spam. Keep adding those seats. Keep deploying that cash so inefficiently while the rest of us steal the profits," says Jesse.
"Get your sales people on calls or meetings where live conversations happen and leave the fancy email delivery conversations to the experts."
Jesse points out -- it's not the sequencing software. It’s the system required to send emails.
"It doesn’t work to just load up Outreach or Salesloft and start firing. Once you hire 2-3 reps you crush your domain and that’s it. Game over. That channel is smoked. Majority of these companies are just done on e-mail.
That deliverability component is too much out of what the reps skills are making it a better activity for a specialized team to manage that," says Jesse.
The Emperor has no clothes
We’re at a tipping point in sales. More and more sales leaders are realizing the truth: high-volume automation isn’t working.
The story of The Emperor’s New Clothes is a perfect metaphor. Everyone wants to believe in SEPs. For years, we've bought the hype and looked the other way when results didn’t match expectations.
Now, reality is crushing us.
But not everyone is ready to admit it. Some still defend the tools, blaming poor configuration or improper use. Tito Bohrt compares it to blaming the gym for not losing weight:
“It’s not the gym’s fault if you use it wrong. Strategic outbound works—you just need the right tools and processes to get it done.”
The truth is, SEPs aren’t inherently bad. They’re just not the right tool for targeting high-value accounts. For that, manual, thoughtful outreach wins every time.
Others ask, "Why do you use the second email (in the 2 email sequence) to only say 'did you see my last email?' instead of rewording the offer or trying a new offer or lead magnet?"
Because that's a low status move -- aimed at high status people!
It's too persuasive. It's what they get -- day in, day out. One man's "new offer" or "value" is another man's trash.
Deliverability
Deliverability issues are one of the biggest risks sales teams face—and few realize how serious it is.
Kellen Casebeer lists the many points where emails can be blocked:
- Your home internet IP address
- Your physical device address
- Your email tenant (Google Workspace, Outlook)
- Your domain (the actual URL)
- The sending tool itself
“Every email tool stamps its own IP,” Kellen explains. “Google knows you’re sending bulk emails and can block them at any time.”
What’s the solution?
- Use alternative sending domains to protect your primary domain.
- Keep email volume low and focus on hyper-personalized outreach.
- Invest in tools like Smartlead or EmailGuard to improve anonymity and avoid blocking.
Calling may be old-fashioned, but it’s becoming more popular for a reason: too many companies are flying blind with email, and the risks are just too high.
Yet even this may not be enough.
Patrick Spielmann (who operates an SEP) says they all have to use shared servers for:
- hosting email accounts
- sending emails
- receiving replies
"That server has an IP address associated to it and it's being used by A LOT of other customers besides you," he says."
Meaning you're are "guilty by association". Why don't SEPs do something about it?
- They can't move from a shared to dedicated server.
- without forcing "reauth" (unless credentials stored insecurely)
- they can only rotate but likely are "proxies" masking the server
"I know this because I'm the Founder of Uptics," he says.
That’s why the longer you use a sequencer, the worse results you can get.
A 'half baked' solution is to run "Private Proxy Servers" says Patrick.
It's better than the alternative, but not perfect because these aren't dedicated servers, they only "mask" the shared server, sometimes, and the server IP is still exposed and connected to everyone else.
And again you're still "guilty by association".
There's only one way to fix this, says Patrick. Dedicated private servers.
Meaning, "NOBODY else is using the server and IP address. NOBODY."
Prescriptive prospecting
Many say the answer isn’t more automation. It’s prescriptive prospecting, where every outreach is based on deep research and tailored to the prospect.
"The bigger problem is that salespeople don't know how to write emails that get replies," says Scott Martinis, a GTM architect.
Scott says going back to manual emails won't help if no emails get replies.
Troy’s approach is simple but powerful:
“I reach out to specific people about specific things, hitting them on every channel I can—LinkedIn, video, audio messages, images, cold calls, emails, and in-person.”
The result?
- Prospecting becomes easier.
- Discovery becomes easier.
- Becoming a trusted advisor becomes easier.
Instead of spamming prospects with generic messages, Troy forms a hypothesis about their business and crafts every outreach accordingly. This strategy builds trust, breaks through the noise, and leads to more meaningful conversations.
Steve Travaglini sums it up perfectly:
“If I were trying to beat my own team, I’d go manual, highly customized, zero automation. It has always worked best.”
"At the very end of the day, it’s all about finding people who have the problem your company solves for, full stop," says Tyler Meckes of Pipedream.
The tipping point is here
The sales world is reaching a moment of truth. The tools we relied on are no longer enough.
We can keep clinging to broken systems—or we can embrace the reality that manual, high-touch prospecting is the future.
Before you send another sequence, ask yourself:
- Does this tool help me truly understand my prospect?
- Am I using it to cut corners—or to improve outcomes?
- Would I respond to this outreach if I received it?
The emperor has no clothes. The sooner we admit it, the faster we can adapt—and win.
This is the way. This is 2025.
