About the Project

The Challenge

A digital agency client needed a complete outbound sales infrastructure built from scratch — one that could scrape targeted leads, enrich and validate contact data, deduplicate against their existing CRM, and automatically push qualified prospects into a GoHighLevel pipeline with full nurture sequences. Every component had to work together as a single automated system, not a collection of disconnected tools. The Challenge Manual outbound was not scalable. The client had no systematic way to source leads, no email validation layer, no deduplication against existing contacts, and no automated follow-up after initial outreach. Cold emails were landing in spam. There was no pipeline structure to track lead progression. The entire outbound process depended on manual effort at every step. What We Built A2P SMS Verification Registered and configured A2P (Application-to-Person) 10DLC campaign verification for the client's outbound SMS channels. A2P registration is mandatory for business SMS in the US market — without it, carriers filter or block messages entirely. We handled the brand registration, campaign use case submission, and carrier vetting process end to end, ensuring outbound SMS messages land in inbox rather than being suppressed. Apify Lead Scraping Set up Apify actors to scrape targeted lead lists from relevant sources based on the client's ICP (ideal customer profile). Configured scraping parameters, output formatting, and scheduled runs so fresh leads were automatically added to the pipeline on a defined cadence — without manual list building. n8n AI Agent Enrichment Built an n8n workflow with an AI agent layer that takes raw scraped lead data and enriches it automatically. The agent cross-references company data, identifies decision-maker names and job titles, fills missing fields, and standardises formatting before the lead moves to validation. This removed the manual enrichment step entirely. Hunter.io Email Validation Integrated Hunter.io into the n8n workflow to validate every email address before it enters the CRM. Hunter checks deliverability, catches invalid and disposable addresses, and assigns confidence scores. Only leads with a passing validation score progress to the next step — protecting sender reputation and keeping bounce rates below thresholds that trigger spam filtering. Supabase Deduplication Before any lead is pushed to GoHighLevel, the n8n workflow queries a Supabase table containing all existing CRM contacts and previously processed leads. If the email or phone number already exists, the lead is flagged and skipped. This prevents duplicate contacts polluting the CRM and ensures the client is never paying for outreach to someone already in their pipeline. GoHighLevel REST API Integration Built direct GHL REST API calls into the n8n workflow to handle two functions: first, checking whether a contact already exists in GHL before creation (secondary deduplication at the CRM layer); second, creating new contacts with all enriched fields correctly mapped to custom GHL fields, assigning them to the correct pipeline stage, and tagging them for the appropriate nurture sequence. No manual data entry, no CSV imports — every qualified lead flows directly from scrape to CRM automatically. Cold Email Infrastructure — Squarespace DNS + GHL Mail Configured outbound cold email sending using GHL's mail system, with full DNS setup on the client's Squarespace domain. This included SPF, DKIM, and DMARC record configuration — the three authentication layers that determine whether cold emails land in inbox or spam. Validated deliverability using mail testing tools before any campaigns went live. Properly authenticated outbound mail dramatically improves inbox placement versus sending from an unconfigured domain. SaaS Snapshot and Auto Client Onboarding Set up a GoHighLevel SaaS snapshot — a pre-configured agency template covering pipeline stages, automation workflows, nurture sequences, smart lists, and reporting — that can be deployed to new sub-accounts automatically when the client onboards a new customer. New client accounts are provisioned with the full system in minutes rather than hours of manual setup. This is the infrastructure that lets an agency scale without proportionally scaling headcount. Smart Lists and Lead Nurturing Pipeline Built smart lists in GoHighLevel that dynamically segment contacts based on engagement behaviour — email opens, link clicks, SMS replies, and pipeline stage movement. Each segment receives a tailored nurture sequence: cold leads get an initial 5-step email sequence; engaged leads that have not booked get an SMS follow-up; stalled pipeline contacts get a re-engagement sequence after 14 days of inactivity. The entire nurture system runs automatically with no manual triggering required. The Result The client went from zero outbound infrastructure to a fully automated system that sources, enriches, validates, deduplicates, and nurtures leads without manual intervention at any step. Cold email deliverability improved significantly following proper DNS authentication. The SaaS snapshot means new client onboarding takes minutes. The pipeline structure gives the client full visibility over lead progression at every stage. What This Means for UK Agencies and B2B Businesses If your outbound process involves manually building lists, copying data between tools, or following up leads by hand — every one of those steps can be automated. ExoraLeads builds outbound systems that run continuously in the background, feeding your pipeline without consuming your time. The stack we used here — Apify, n8n, Hunter.io, Supabase, and GoHighLevel — is the same stack we deploy for UK agencies and B2B businesses looking to systematise their outbound sales.