I’m building something right now that I don’t entirely like.
It takes a search phrase — the exact words a stranger typed into a Google search — reads the intent behind it, and hands me back an audience type.
It tells me the person’s name, their email and phone number, and which stage of the decision process they are in. As well as how soon they’re likely to act. And it does this in nanoseconds.
It’s a little unsettling but, at the same time, super exciting, especially how quickly it narrows down the data.
A week ago I would have told you the hard part of growing a business was finding the right person at the right moment and sending the right message. I’ve spent a career on that obstacle.
And the moment I saw it work, I realized something. The thing this system makes easy was never the hard part.
Hi, I’m Jeff Payne. You’re listening to The Jeff Payne Show, Episode 94: Finding Them Was Never the Hard Part.
Here’s a short history of a very long trend.
Twenty years ago, a list of names was an asset. If you knew who the decision-makers were at the 500 companies you wanted to sell to — their titles, their phone numbers, an email address that actually delivered — you had something your competitors didn’t. Companies paid real money for that email list, and they were right to do so.
Then the cost of finding a person went to zero.
Then the cost of reaching them went to zero.
Then the cost of writing something that sounds personal went to zero.
Today, a business can put a custom-written email in front of 10,000 people in a single day for roughly the price of a dinner for two at Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille.
And now the last piece is falling. Intent or Predictive Behavior. The signal that someone is actually in the market, right now, for what you sell. That used to be the rarest data of all. It’s about to be a line item.
So picture the inbox on the other end. The average office worker now gets about 15 of these a week. They’re all relevant. Most of them are well-written. And they get deleted in four seconds — not because they missed, but because they hit, and the recipient has never heard of the sender.
Here’s the part I want you to sit with.
When everyone can find the right person at the right moment, finding them is no longer a competitive advantage. It becomes table stakes. The scarce thing has moved — again — and most businesses haven’t noticed where it went.
It went to the 30 seconds after the email lands.
Two things decide what happens in those 30 seconds. The first is what you’re actually offering. Not a demo. Nobody wants a demo from a stranger. The businesses winning this channel are offering something the prospect would value even if they never buy — a real assessment, real data, a real result delivered up front.
The offer is the filter. If it’s valuable, the right people lean in, and the wrong people select themselves out.
The second thing is whether your name already means something before the email arrives. And this is the one that scales. A perfectly targeted message from an unknown sender is a cold call with better aim. The same message from a name the recipient has seen cited, reviewed, recommended, or referenced — that’s not cold at all. That’s a follow-up to a conversation they didn’t know they were having.
So here’s the trap.
Precision targeting feels like it lowers the stakes of each send. It raises them. Every email is a trade. You’re spending a small piece of long-term brand equity for a shot at a short-term pipeline.
An unsubscribe never comes back.
A reputation for noise never fully recovers.
The better the targeting gets, the more every send is a bet on your brand — not on your reach.
Which means the real question in outbound marketing isn’t who anymore. It’s why they would believe me. And that question gets answered long before the campaign starts.
Before you turn on any predictive behavior system that can find your buyer — and you will, because everyone will — do three things.
First, do the math. How many people are actually in your market? How many times a year can you reasonably contact them? If the answer is “a few thousand, three times,” you’re not building a volume channel. You’re building a precision one, and every message has to earn its place.
Second, decide what you’re willing to risk. Write it down. What level of success justifies spending part of your list and part of your name? If you can’t answer that, you’re not ready to send.
Third — and this is the one that compounds — invest in being recognized before you invest in being found. Every citation, every review, every third-party mention is pre-paying for the 30 seconds after the email lands. That work is slow. It’s also the only work in this entire system that your competitors can’t buy next quarter.
Finding them is about to be free. Being worth finding never will be.
A few questions for your drive today.
If your best prospect received your outreach tomorrow, would they recognize your name — or just your logo?
Is your offer something they’d want even if they never bought from you?
And have you decided, in advance, what you’re willing to spend to find out?
I hope this episode lingers with you and makes you think strategically about your marketing and outreach efforts.
Thank you so much for listening. I’m Jeff Payne. I will see you tomorrow.
When anyone can find your buyer at the right moment, the hard part shifts elsewhere.
I’m building something right now that is exhilarating but also something I don’t entirely like. It takes a search phrase or keyword — the exact words a stranger typed into a Google search box — reads the search intent behind it, and hands back an audience type. It tells me in nanoseconds who this person is, what stage in the buying process they are in, and how soon they’re likely to act. It does this in about the time it takes to read this sentence.
A week ago I would have told you the hard part of growing a business was finding the right person at the right moment. I’ve spent a career on that problem. And the moment I saw this system work, I realized the thing it made easy was never the hard part.
A short history of a very long trend
Twenty years ago, a list of names was an asset. If you knew who the decision-makers were at the 500 companies you wanted to sell to — their job titles, their phone numbers, and an email that actually delivered — you had something your competitors didn’t. Companies paid real money for that list, and they were right to do so. do so
Then the cost of finding a person went to zero.
Then the cost of reaching them went to zero.
Then the cost of writing something that sounds personal went to zero.
Today, a business can put a custom-written email in front of 10,000 people in a single day for roughly the price of a nice dinner at III Forks.
And now the last piece is falling: intent. The signal that someone is actually in the market, right now, for what you sell. That used to be the rarest data of all. It’s about to be a line item.
So picture the inbox on the other end. Research compiled by outbound practitioners Kellen Casebeer and Noah Adelstein puts the average office worker at roughly 15 cold emails a week. They’re all relevant. Most are well-written. And they get deleted in 4 seconds — not because they missed, but because they hit, and the recipient has never heard of the sender.
The list was the asset. Now the list is a utility bill.
The scarce thing moved
When everyone can find the right person at the right moment, finding them is no longer a competitive advantage. It becomes table stakes.
The scarce thing has moved — again — and most businesses haven’t noticed where it went.
It went to the 30 seconds after the email lands.
Two things decide what happens in those 30 seconds. The first is what you’re actually offering. Not a demo — nobody wants a demo from a stranger. The businesses winning this channel are offering something the prospect would value even if they never buy: a real assessment, real data, a real result delivered up front. The offer is the filter. If it’s valuable, the right people lean in, and the wrong people select themselves out.
The second thing is whether your name already means something before the email arrives. And this is the one that scales. A perfectly targeted message from an unknown sender is a cold call with better aim. The same message from a name the recipient has seen cited, reviewed, recommended, or referenced — that’s not cold at all. That’s a follow-up to a conversation they didn’t know they were having.
A perfectly targeted message from an unknown sender is a cold call with better aim.
Precision raises the stakes
Here’s the trap. Precision targeting feels like it lowers the stakes of each send. It raises them.
Every email is a trade.
You’re spending a small piece of long-term brand equity for a shot at a short-term pipeline.
An unsubscribe never comes back.
A reputation for noise never fully recovers.
The better the targeting gets, the more every send is a bet on your brand — not on your reach.
Which means the real question in outbound marketing isn’t who anymore. It’s why they would believe me. And that question gets answered long before the campaign starts.
This is one of the best written, most informative email newsletters I’ve ever read!
Thank you for sharing your expertise, and hope you’re doing well.
Beth Zimmerman
Founder, Executive Director
The move
Before you turn on any system that can find your buyer — and you will, because everyone will — do three things.
First, do the math. How many people are actually in your market? How many times a year can you reasonably contact them? If the answer is “a few thousand, three times,” you’re not building a volume channel. You’re building a precision one, and every message has to earn its place.
Second, decide what you’re willing to risk. Write it down. What level of success justifies spending part of your list and part of your name? If you can’t answer that, you’re not ready to send.
Third — and this is the one that compounds — invest in being recognized before you invest in being found. Every citation, every review, every third-party mention is pre-paying for the 30 seconds after the email lands. That work is slow. It’s also the only work in this entire system that your competitors can’t buy next quarter.
Finding them is about to be free. Being worth finding never will be.
Three questions
The better the targeting gets, the more every send is a bet on your brand — not on your reach.
Source: This episode was prompted by “Mastering Cold Email,” a guest post by Kellen Casebeer (The Deal Lab) and Noah Adelstein (GTM Engineer) in Adam Fishman’s FishmanAF Newsletter (January 2026). Their step-by-step guide is written for practitioners; this episode takes only its strategic premise — that the cost of finding and reaching a buyer has collapsed — and asks what a CEO should do about it. The ~15 cold emails per week figure is theirs.
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