Is this the same as hiring a marketing agency?

No. Helix Stax builds the technical automation layer under your sales motion: CRM configuration, outreach sequences on authenticated sending domains, lead scoring workflows, booking automation, and event tracking. We do not write ad creative, manage paid campaigns, or run social media accounts. That is marketing agency work; this is systems work. The practical difference is ownership. A marketing agency retainer keeps the relationship: when you leave, you lose the account access and the institutional knowledge about what worked. We build the systems, hand them to you, and document how they work so you can operate them independently. You keep ownership of every account, configuration, and data source after the engagement closes. Whether you continue with us or not, the CRM, the outreach sequences, the workflows, and the data are yours.

What stack do you use for marketing and sales automation?

We build on Twenty CRM for the pipeline, n8n for workflow automation, Saleshandy for cold outreach on authenticated sending domains, Cal.com for booking, Resend for transactional email, and PostHog for event tracking. This is the same stack running our own business pipeline, not a set of tools we recommend to clients and configure from documentation. When we suggest a configuration decision, it reflects something we have handled in production. The advantage is that the build is faster, the edge cases are known, and the hand-off documentation is written by people who operate the system daily. If your business uses different tools, we can work with your existing stack. The workflow patterns apply across tool choices. The free call is where we assess your current setup and figure out what to build, extend, or replace.

Do you buy lead lists or send bulk unsolicited email?

No. Cold outreach runs only on prospects you have identified through your own research or discovered through our Places prospecting engine, which pulls from public Google Places data based on business category and geography. We do not purchase contact lists or send to contacts whose source we cannot identify. Campaigns run on a separate authenticated sending domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configured, an opt-out link on every email, and send volume managed to stay below the thresholds that trigger inbox provider scrutiny. The sending domain is separate from your primary domain so deliverability issues from outreach never affect your transactional or internal email. Every campaign includes a suppression list and bounce handling so contacts that opt out or hard-bounce are removed before the next send and never re-enrolled without an explicit action.

What is Places-based prospecting?

Our Places prospecting engine queries Google Places API by business category and geography, scores each result by website quality, review count, and online presence signals, and loads the scored prospects into your CRM with human-readable gap reasons attached to each record. It surfaces net-new leads from public data, not purchased lists. The scoring identifies businesses that match your target profile and appear to have the kinds of gaps your services address. Each prospect record in the CRM includes why it was surfaced so your outreach can be specific from the first email. The engine runs deduplication so contacts already in your system are never duplicated. Prospects you have already worked or marked as not a fit are excluded automatically. You control the geographic radius, business categories, and scoring thresholds.

Service · Marketing & Sales Automation

Marketing and sales automation built on the stack we run for our own business.

Most marketing and sales tools are configured once and left to drift. The CRM has duplicate contacts nobody cleaned up. The outreach sequences stalled after the first campaign. The booking link is disconnected from the pipeline. We build the automation layer that connects lead capture, outreach, CRM, and booking into a system that runs without someone pushing it through every step. The engine we build for you is the one we run for our own business and for the service businesses we already manage it for.

Helix Stax builds marketing and sales automation for service businesses that need a working pipeline, not a stack of disconnected tools. The work covers CRM configuration and cleanup, cold outreach sequences on an authenticated sending domain, lead scoring, Places-based prospecting, booking automation, and PostHog event tracking. Every build is proof-led: we test the flow before we call it done. We run Twenty CRM, n8n, Saleshandy, Cal.com, Resend, and PostHog in production, both for our own operations and for the client businesses we manage this for. When we recommend a tool or a configuration, it is because we operate it day to day, not because we read about it.

This is not marketing strategy or brand creative. It is the technical layer under your sales motion: the integrations, the automations, the tracking, and the data flows that make your existing marketing spend work harder. If you are an ai automation agency looking to hand off operational build work, or a service business whose tools are not talking to each other, this is the engagement.

Workflow and CRM automation code open on a laptop during a marketing pipeline build

Key service areas

What the work looks like.

CRM configuration and data cleanup: Twenty CRM or existing CRM structured so leads move through a defined lifecycle, duplicates removed, fields standardized, and pipeline stages matching the way deals actually close
Cold outreach automation: sequenced email campaigns on a separate authenticated sending domain, Saleshandy-managed sequences, opt-out and volume discipline baked in so deliverability is not a quarterly fire drill
Lead scoring and qualification automation: rules-based or n8n-driven scoring that surfaces high-intent leads to your team before they go cold, tied to CRM stage changes and outreach triggers
Places-based prospecting: Google Places API discovery piped through the n8n enrichment engine to identify and score net-new prospects by geography, category, and presence signals
Booking and calendar automation: Cal.com embedded in your funnel, prefilled from lead data, with CRM write-back on booking, reminder sequences, and a no-show follow-up that runs automatically
Event tracking and pipeline analytics: PostHog events tied to lead form submissions, CRM stage changes, and outreach opens so you know which campaigns move deals and which do not
n8n workflow integration: the connective tissue between every tool in the stack, webhook receivers, HTTP calls, and data transformation flows that handle the handoffs your team currently does by hand

Named engagements inside this capability

How this shows up as a scoped engagement.

CRM and Pipeline Build

A CRM that actually reflects how deals close is the foundation every other automation layer depends on. We configure or clean up your CRM, define lifecycle stages that match your sales motion, and build the n8n flows that keep contact records current without anyone doing manual entry. The result is a pipeline you can read at a glance and a CRM the team actually uses.

Lifecycle stage design: stages named and defined to match how your deals actually progress, not a default template nobody believes in
Data cleanup and deduplication: contact and company records audited, duplicates merged, required fields enforced, and import hygiene documented for the next batch
CRM-to-outreach sync: Twenty CRM or existing CRM wired to Saleshandy or your outreach tool so enrolled sequences and reply events write back to the record automatically
Pipeline health dashboard: PostHog or CRM-native reporting set up to show stage conversion rates, average deal age, and the contacts sitting in each stage past their expected close date

Cold Outreach Automation

Cold email works when deliverability is maintained, sequences are honest, and the sending domain is separate from your main business domain. We build outreach sequences on Saleshandy, configure the sending domain with full SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication, and set volume and opt-out discipline from the start. We do not buy lead lists or send spam. Prospects come from your own research or the Places prospecting engine.

Sending domain setup: dedicated outreach domain provisioned and fully authenticated (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) so your primary domain deliverability is never at risk from cold volume
Saleshandy sequence build: personalized multi-step sequences with A/B variants on subject lines and step timing, built to the volume and cadence your prospect list supports
Opt-out and compliance wiring: one-click opt-out in every sequence, suppression list synchronized with the CRM, and volume capped below the thresholds that trigger provider scrutiny
Reply routing and CRM handoff: positive replies flagged in Saleshandy and written to the CRM as a qualified lead with the conversation context attached so no context is lost at handoff

Places-Based Prospecting

The Places prospecting engine discovers net-new prospects from Google Places API data, enriches them with presence scores and gap signals, and loads scored leads into the CRM ready for outreach. We built this for our own prospecting operation and run it in production. The engine works best for service businesses targeting other local service businesses by geography and category.

Google Places discovery: category and geography queries returning business name, address, phone, website, and place ID for every matching location in scope
Presence scoring: each prospect scored on website quality, review count, review recency, and social presence signals to rank by likely need and outreach priority
Gap-reason enrichment: human-readable gap signals computed per prospect so the first outreach email references something real about their current posture
CRM upsert with deduplication: scored leads loaded into Twenty CRM via REST with place ID deduplication so the same prospect is never created twice

Booking and Calendar Automation

A booking link that is not connected to your pipeline is just a scheduling tool. We embed Cal.com in the right place in your funnel, prefill it from lead data already in the CRM, write the booking back as a CRM event, and build the reminder and no-show sequences that run without anyone managing them. The result is a booking flow that captures intent and follows through automatically.

Cal.com event configuration: event type, duration, buffer, confirmation email, and timezone handling set to match the way your sales call actually runs
Funnel embed with prefill: Cal.com embedded in the step where intent is highest, prefilled with name, email, and phone from the lead record so the friction is as low as possible
CRM write-back on booking: n8n webhook receiver captures Cal.com booking events and writes the appointment date, attendee, and booking ID to the CRM contact record
Reminder and no-show sequences: automated reminder at 24 hours and 1 hour before, no-show follow-up fired 15 minutes after a missed call, all running through n8n with CRM stage updates attached

How we engage

The stack we run ourselves.

Marketing and sales automation runs at every engagement tier. The vCIO Retainer advises on stack decisions. The Engagement builds the pipeline. The Operate tier runs and evolves it as the business grows.

vCIO Retainer

Advisory on which CRM to run, which outreach tool fits your volume, and where the n8n automation layer should live. We review your current stack, name the gaps, and give you a written recommendation with the build sequence. We advise; your team or a contractor builds.
Helix Engagement

We build the pipeline. One defined engagement: CRM cleanup and pipeline configuration, outreach sequence build on an authenticated domain, Places prospecting setup, Cal.com integration, and event tracking. Scoped, built, tested, documented, and handed off.
Helix Operate

Ongoing operation and evolution of the full stack. New sequences as you enter new markets, scoring model updates as the prospect data grows, Places prospecting runs on a schedule, and the monthly analytics review that tells you which campaigns are moving deals. Built for businesses where the pipeline is a continuous growth lever.

What you walk out with

Concrete deliverables.

A CRM audit and cleanup report: duplicate contacts merged, lifecycle stages defined, and required fields enforced with a data hygiene runbook for the next import
A built and documented outreach sequence on an authenticated sending domain, with A/B variants, opt-out wiring, and CRM reply sync confirmed working on a live test
A Places prospecting run: scored prospect list loaded into the CRM, gap-reason fields populated, and a deduplication check confirming no existing contacts were duplicated
A Cal.com booking integration: funnel embed, CRM write-back, and automated reminder and no-show sequences tested end-to-end before handoff
An n8n workflow map: every automation built, the data it moves, the error handling, and the named owner after the engagement closes
A PostHog event tracking setup: lead form submissions, CRM stage changes, and outreach engagement events flowing into PostHog with a session replay confirmed active

Honest scope

What we do not do.

We are not a marketing agency and we do not write ad creative, manage paid campaigns, or run social media accounts. We do not buy lead lists or send unsolicited bulk email; cold outreach runs on prospects you have identified, on a separate sending domain, with opt-out and volume discipline. We do not build custom e-commerce or subscription billing logic; scoped pipeline and CRM automation is the engagement, not a full commercial platform build. We do not guarantee lead conversion rates or sales outcomes; the automation runs correctly and tracks accurately, but the pipeline produces results only when the offer and the outreach message are right. See /services/it-projects-automation for general workflow automation and AI builds outside the marketing and sales context.

Industries we apply this to

Where this service shows up most.

You can have the number by Friday.

The free call is free, and the only thing you walk out with is your CTGA score and the three gaps that cost you the most. If we are not the right fit, you keep the score and we both move on.

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