Clay Setup: Day-Zero Path to a Working Outbound Loop

Write five day-one jobs, map each to researched Clay packaging, and pick the cheapest tier that covers all five — including credits if usage-based. 1. List the five things the pod must do on day one.

1. Match each one to researched Clay packaging. Our research does not flag plan-gated capabilities for Clay, but confirm your must-haves — including credits and seats — against the packaging you actually intend to buy.
2. Pick the cheapest package that covers all five.
3. Check seats and credits, not just feature checkmarks. Confirm seat/credit caps for Clay before inviting everyone. Our pricing snapshot records a 14-day trial on Launch and Growth — confirm current terms on the Clay pricing page before you build a schedule around it. Never invent list prices here — confirm seats, credits, and quote terms on /pricing/clay/. Worked example: an 8-person B2B outbound pod needs prospecting, data enrichment, email sequences, and lead scoring plus CRM sync on day one in Clay. They start on Free and note which capabilities would force an upgrade.

Name one stack owner — not a committee — before you invite the pod. 1. Create the workspace with real company identity and timezone.

1. Name one owner with ~2 hours a week for credits, lists, users, and sync hygiene.
2. Agree: new lists, sequences, and credit packs go through that owner only.
3. In Clay, open workspace, team, or billing settings — confirm the current control labels in the product, docs, or trial. Worked example: an 8-person B2B outbound pod makes ops the Clay stack owner, writes the two-hour commitment into the week, and blocks everyone else from buying credit packs for 30 days.

Configure one ICP list that matches how you actually prospect for the next 90 days. 1. Freeze firmographics, personas, and exclusions in writing.

1. Build one saved list / search in Clay. prospecting is researched across every Clay plan we snapshot
2. Add suppressions (customers, competitors, do-not-contact).
3. Spot-check 20 records for title, email/phone quality, and company fit. Worked example: an 8-person B2B outbound pod builds one mid-market SaaS VP Sales list in Clay, suppresses existing customers, and rejects the list until 18 of 20 spot-checks look call-ready.

Finish day-zero by proving a seller can run the loop without screenshots of another tool. 1. Connect CRM sync for contacts and activities. Research names HubSpot, Salesforce, Apollo, Clearbit, and Zapier on the Clay side — confirm CRM sync and the connectors your daily loop depends on.

1. Enable one outreach channel — sequences or dialer, not both. email sequences is researched across every Clay plan we snapshot
2. Have a non-admin: find a contact, enrich if needed, send or dial, and confirm the activity landed in CRM.
3. Write a one-page setup note: package, owner, list, channel, known gaps. Worked example: an 8-person B2B outbound pod connects HubSpot, turns on a three-step email sequence in Clay, and only invites the rest of the pod after Priya completes find → enrich → send → CRM without help.