In our last conversation with Marelys Garcia, co-founder of Mindslines, we uncovered something many businesses quietly struggle with: first-time managers stepping into leadership without the right systems in place.
It sparked a powerful idea, growth doesn’t come from hustle alone, it comes from structure, clarity, and intentional systems. That theme didn’t end there.
In our latest chat, we pivoted from leadership to something that surprisingly shares the same DNA: lead generation. Because just like leadership, outreach often gets treated as a race to add more tools.
But here’s the kicker: the best tech in the world won’t fix a broken system.
Now, that’s not just a gut feeling, it’s backed by data. McKinsey reports up to 30% of sales activities can be automated, but only top-performing companies succeed when they first redesign their processes.
Harvard Business Review goes further: automation done right can cut costs by 15% and boost customer satisfaction. But what does “done right” actually mean?
That’s exactly what Marelys and I explored. As a founder scaling a relationship-driven business, she’s navigating the fine line between smart automation and genuine connection.
And what we found is that automation should support your strategy, not replace it.
“When we talk about lead generation, it’s easy to get lost in tools, tactics, and templates. But for us, outreach isn’t just about automation, it’s about connection,” Marelys told me. And honestly, that set the tone for everything that followed.
The pain of handcrafted prospecting
Marelys explained that her team currently builds highly specific prospect lists and sends carefully tailored messages by hand.
“We go after a small number of people… we spend more time on the prospecting, making sure that it’s a good match to our ICP and that the message is very specific.”
The approach prioritizes quality over quantity. But without a deliberate, consistent process to follow-up, and no automation or a funnel to manage responses, it creates inconsistency and missed opportunities.
“The second part of it is what we struggle with… unless you’re really on top of it, then you don’t respond for a while and that lead can get cold.”
This highlights a common gap in manual outreach, lack of timely follow-up. Of course, it goes without saying that everyone, business owners, wants to follow-up and be consistent în their communication with leads, but especially when doing outreach-based marketing, messaging thousands of people and receiving replies from a single percentage of those is the norm, not an exception.
So, one of the first challenges that marketers face is that of implementing a system with processes that are able to keep track of thousands of campaigns simultaneously. And of course, it helps with trust and credibility if those campaigns are segmented and targeted to speak to their target audience in a relevant, personalised way.
The second challenge that marketers face is consistency.
Even great leads can fall through if there’s no system to manage momentum. Without a reliable mechanism to guide prospects beyond the first touchpoint, the process becomes dependent on memory and luck rather than design. That makes scaling outreach nearly impossible for busy teams juggling multiple priorities.
Automation can help, but only if it fits
I walked Marelys through a system Serenichron uses for semi-automated outreach. It combines AI-powered lead enrichment with personalized messaging sequences and human-in-the-loop decision points. The system doesn’t just send more messages, it creates infrastructure for insights, testing, and learning.
“We try to make decisions from data… in order to have that data, you need to systematize your process, even if it’s exploratory at first.”, I told Marelys.
She was intrigued, but cautious. She’s been burned by outsourcing Mindslines’ marketing processes before. The real issue, she reflected, might not just be automation, it might be the absence of a reliable structure.
“I don’t know if it’s the lead generation part that isn’t working, or is the back end of that, what do you do with it after you actually get connected to somebody?”
This question cuts to the core of many small business challenges. It’s not just about generating demand, it’s about what happens next. Without a clear plan for nurturing and closing, even strong leads can slip through the cracks. It’s a reminder that lead generation is just one phase of a longer journey.
The strength of your follow-up system often determines whether that journey leads to revenue, or silence.
Step back from the blackboard
One of the most powerful metaphors in the conversation came when Marelys realised just how reactive her business processes had become, constantly chasing opportunities but rarely stopping to zoom out.
“As my professor used to say, stay away from the blackboard… if you’re too close to it, you’re going to miss some pieces of it.”
That one line captured the feeling perfectly. When you’re in the thick of operations, it’s tempting to focus on the immediate task, the next message, the next lead. But that kind of tunnel vision limits progress.
What Marelys was pointing to is a common issue: many business owners get stuck in execution mode. We obsess over tools, hacks, and what’s trending, while the actual architecture of the business remains neglected.
Taking a step back isn’t just a philosophical idea, it’s strategic. It’s about understanding how all the parts fit together: where the bottlenecks lie, which actions create value, and where automation makes sense for you, not based on someone else’s playbook.
Zooming out allows you to spot recurring patterns, break unproductive cycles, and design systems that don’t crumble when things get busy. It’s how businesses move from reactive to proactive, from chaos to clarity.
The bottom line
Automation isn’t magic. It won’t solve a broken strategy or replace meaningful relationships. But when used intentionally, it can eliminate busywork, reveal bottlenecks, and make space for human creativity and connection. It gives you a repeatable foundation, but only if the foundation was solid to begin with. Otherwise, all you’re doing is speeding up the chaos.
We often fall into the trap of believing that if we just find the right tool, everything will click into place. But tools are only as good as the strategy and process behind them. Automation amplifies what’s already there, good or bad.
As I put it, automation should be a tool, not the solution:
“You don’t need to worry about the complexity behind it. You’re only concerned with the input and the output… and you refine from there.”
That mindset changes everything. It means you don’t need to be a technical expert to benefit from automation, you just need clarity. Clarity about your goals, about your current gaps, and about what success looks like at each step of your customer journey.
Sometimes the most strategic move isn’t to add more tools. It’s to pause, step back, and ask: What part of this process is actually broken? Are we tracking the right data? Are we following up consistently? Do we even know how leads are progressing through our pipeline?
When you take time to answer those questions honestly, you don’t just improve one workflow, you begin to unlock leverage across your entire business. You shift from reaction to design, from luck to intention. That’s how sustainable growth happens. One clear system at a time.
Clarity first, automation second: the real path to growth
The future of growth doesn’t belong to the businesses that shout the loudest. It belongs to the ones that stop, listen, and map their next move with intention. That was the quiet but powerful thread running through my conversation with Marelys. Outreach, like leadership, only works when it’s built on clarity, not chaos.
“I had to ask myself, was it really a lead generation problem, or was it what happened after the lead came in?” Marelys shared. That kind of reflection is where true strategy begins.
Automation can absolutely scale your outreach. But if your process is unclear, tech won’t save it, it’ll just make the confusion faster and louder. As McKinsey puts it, “The top organisations redesign their sales processes and thoughtfully automate whatever they can.” That word, thoughtfully, is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
So here’s the big takeaway: don’t start with the tools. Start by mapping the journey. What does success actually look like for your business? Where are the bottlenecks? Which tasks drain your team’s energy without adding real value?
Only once you have those answers does automation become what it’s meant to be, a multiplier, not a crutch.
If you’re feeling too close to the blackboard, it might be time to take a few steps back. That’s usually where the real breakthroughs begin.
About the Author
Vlad writes about automation, operations, and the little tweaks that make a big difference in how businesses run. A former game designer turned founder, he now helps teams fix broken workflows and spot the revenue leaks hiding in plain sight.
About Serenichron
Helping businesses grow by simplifying strategy, streamlining systems, and making tech actually work for people. We bring clarity to chaos with practical tools, honest guidance, and just enough curiosity to question the default way of doing things.
