Solar Outbound Targeted by Load Profile, Not Zip Code
Most solar prospecting lists are built backward. They start with geography — every commercial building in a county — and hope the energy economics work out. But commercial solar payback is driven by consumption: a 40,000 sq ft cold-storage warehouse running compressors around the clock is a fundamentally better prospect than a 40,000 sq ft self-storage facility next door, even though they look identical on a map. The list that wins is the one filtered by load profile first and location second.
That's the specific thing Apollo makes possible. Its B2B database lets you cross industry filters — manufacturing, cold storage, data centers, food and agriculture processing — with location (to stay inside a utility territory whose rates make the math work) and headcount (a workable proxy for facility size). The result is a ranked list of the highest-consumption facilities in your service area, before you've sent a single email. ColdRelay is the infrastructure underneath: the secondary domains, mailboxes, and dedicated IPs that Apollo's sequences actually send from. This guide covers how solar teams wire the two together into a load-profile targeting machine.
Why Run Apollo on ColdRelay Infrastructure
Apollo gives a solar BD team two things in one platform: the contact database with industry, title, and signal filters that builds the high-consumption list, and the sequencing engine — email, call, and LinkedIn steps — that works it. What Apollo doesn't do is mint the sending infrastructure. Sequences send from whatever mailboxes you link under Settings → Mailboxes, and the deliverability of those mailboxes is the infrastructure layer's job, not Apollo's.
That's where ColdRelay fits. You provision dedicated mailboxes on isolated Azure tenants with dedicated IPs — SPF, DKIM, and DMARC pre-configured, ready in about an hour, with no warmup waiting period before sending. Warmup runs continuously as part of each mailbox's 4 sends/day budget (2 outbound + 2 warmup), so the mailboxes you stand up in the morning are sending real outreach that afternoon.
The two layers are complementary, not competing: ColdRelay is the infrastructure, Apollo is the data and sending engine on top. The pairing matters more here than in spray-and-pray motions, because a load-profile-filtered list is small and precious — there might only be 400 cold-storage and food-processing facilities in your utility territory. At 95%+ inbox placement, you actually reach the energy manager at each one. On commodity shared infrastructure, you burn a finite list teaching spam filters your domain.
Visit Apollo →Connecting ColdRelay Mailboxes to Apollo
Provision a focused pool on ColdRelay
Load-profile targeting is an account-quality motion, not a volume motion — size the pool to the filtered list, not to a sends-per-day vanity number. A territory with 400-800 high-consumption facilities is well served by 20-40 mailboxes at 2 outbound sends/day each (4/day total with warmup), on one secondary domain kept separate from the domain you use for proposals and interconnection paperwork. ColdRelay supports 100-150 mailboxes per domain, and everything provisions on isolated Azure tenants with dedicated IPs in about an hour, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC pre-configured.
Link the mailboxes under Settings → Mailboxes
In Apollo, go to Settings → Mailboxes and link each ColdRelay mailbox via SMTP/IMAP using the credentials exported from the ColdRelay dashboard. Each mailbox connects as its own sender, so Apollo can distribute sequence sends across the whole pool instead of hammering one address.
Set per-mailbox daily send limits to match the budget
Apollo lets you cap sends per linked mailbox — set each one's daily send limit to 2 outbound emails per day, mirroring ColdRelay's per-mailbox budget of 4 sends/day total (2 outbound + 2 warmup). Warmup runs continuously on ColdRelay's side as part of that budget, so don't layer any additional warmup tooling on these accounts; the limit in Apollo governs outbound only.
Build the load-profile list with saved personas and searches
In Apollo's database, create saved personas for the buyers who own the energy line item — facilities directors, plant managers, energy managers, CFOs at single-site operators. Then build saved searches crossing industry (manufacturing, cold storage, data centers, agriculture processing), location (the counties inside your target utility territory), and headcount as a facility-size proxy. Saved searches keep surfacing net-new companies that match the profile, so the list maintains itself.
Create the sequence with email, call, and LinkedIn steps
Build an Apollo sequence that opens with two or three emails anchored on the prospect's consumption story, then adds a call task and a LinkedIn step for accounts that engage. Enroll contacts from your saved searches, attach the full mailbox pool, and launch. With 30 mailboxes you have 60 outbound sends/day — enough to put a 600-facility list through a multi-step sequence in a few weeks without ever spiking volume.
The Load-Profile Targeting Playbook for Apollo
Filter by what the building consumes, not where it sits
Rank Apollo's industry filters by energy intensity and work down: cold storage and food processing (refrigeration loads that never sleep), manufacturing (motors, compressed air, process heat), data centers and colocation (constant draw plus cooling), agriculture processing (seasonal but enormous peaks). Cross each with location to stay inside the utility territory where your rate math holds, and use headcount bands as the facility-size proxy — a 200-person plant draws more than a 12-person office in the same building class. The same outreach effort aimed at this list produces multiples of the pipeline a geography-first list does, because every reply is a facility where the payback period is actually short.
Let saved searches feed the pipeline automatically
The high-consumption facility population in a territory isn't static — companies open plants, expand lines, and move in. Save your load-profile searches in Apollo so new companies matching the filter combination surface on their own, and review the net-new matches weekly as a standing BD ritual. This turns list-building from a quarterly project into a background process: the day a new cold-storage operator appears in your territory in Apollo's database, they're in next week's sequence enrollment.
Treat expansion signals as consumption signals
A facility that's growing is a facility whose energy bill is growing — and whose owner is about to notice. Watch Apollo's signals for the expansion tells: hiring surges in plant or operations roles, new location announcements, funding events at industrial operators. Each one is a trigger to enroll that account immediately with an opener that names the change: "adding a second shift usually moves a plant your size into a different demand-charge reality — worth a look at what the roof could offset before the new bills land." An expansion-triggered email arrives while energy costs are top of mind, which a calendar-driven blast never does.
Escalate channels with account size, not engagement alone
A load-profile list has a natural tiering: a regional data center or a multi-line food processor is worth ten times the pipeline of a small machine shop, and your sequence design should reflect that. Use Apollo's email, call, and LinkedIn steps asymmetrically — top-tier consumption accounts get the full multi-touch treatment from step one, with a call task and a LinkedIn touch built into the sequence, while long-tail accounts run email-only until they engage. The mailbox budget math supports this: at 2 outbound sends/day per mailbox, depth on the accounts with million-kWh load profiles beats breadth across accounts where the economics were marginal anyway.
Typical Load-Profile Targeting Benchmarks (Apollo + ColdRelay)
| Metric | Benchmark | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Inbox placement rate | 95%+ | Dedicated IPs and isolated tenants outperform shared Google/Microsoft pools |
| Reply rate on load-profile-filtered lists | 3-6% | High-consumption facilities reply more — the energy line item is already a known pain; geography-first lists typically sit at 1-2% |
| Energy-cost reviews booked per 100 accounts worked | 4-8 | Higher when an expansion signal triggered the enrollment; multi-touch sequences on top-tier accounts at the high end |
| Outbound capacity per mailbox | 2/day | 4 sends/day total per mailbox — 2 outbound + 2 warmup |
| Time to first sequence | Same day | ~60 minutes to provision on ColdRelay, link mailboxes in Apollo, build the saved search and sequence |
What It Costs: Apollo + ColdRelay
You pay per mailbox per month for the infrastructure, with volume tiers that drop as you scale (see the table below). DNS, dedicated IPs, and isolated Azure tenants are included. Load-profile motions run leaner pools than blast motions, so the infrastructure line tends to be modest.
Apollo is billed separately on its own subscription for database access, saved searches and personas, sequences, and dialer features — priced per its current plans, typically per seat.
Infrastructure cost scales with mailbox count; Apollo's cost scales with seats and data credits. They stack cleanly — one bill for sending capacity, one for the data and sequencing engine. Because the targeting does the heavy lifting, a solar team can run this entire motion on a smaller combined spend than a single broad-blast setup.
| Mailboxes | ColdRelay price / mailbox / month |
|---|---|
| 1–199 | $1.00 |
| 200–999 | $0.85 |
| 1,000–4,999 | $0.70 |
| 5,000+ | $0.55 |
Each mailbox sends 4 emails per day — 2 outbound to prospects + 2 warmup. ColdRelay provisions mailboxes on isolated Azure tenants with dedicated IPs; Apollo handles the sending, sequencing, and inbox rotation on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does ColdRelay replace Apollo?
No — they're complementary layers doing different jobs. Apollo provides the contact database, the industry and signal filters that build your load-profile list, and the sequencing engine with email, call, and LinkedIn steps. ColdRelay provides the underlying domains, mailboxes, and dedicated IPs that Apollo's sequences send from. You link ColdRelay mailboxes in Apollo under Settings → Mailboxes and run both together.
Why filter by industry and headcount instead of just targeting every commercial building in our area?
Because commercial solar payback is a function of consumption, and consumption varies enormously between buildings that look the same from the street. A cold-storage warehouse, a food processor, or a data center can consume ten times what a comparable-footprint office or self-storage facility does — which means a shorter payback, a bigger system, and a buyer who already feels the energy line item. Apollo's industry filters crossed with headcount get you a list ranked by likely load before you send anything, so every reply comes from a facility where the math is genuinely compelling.
Our filtered list is only a few hundred facilities — is cold email even worth setting up for that?
That's exactly when infrastructure quality matters most. A small, high-value list can't absorb deliverability waste — every email that lands in spam is a top-tier account you may not get another clean shot at. ColdRelay mailboxes run on isolated Azure tenants with dedicated IPs at 95%+ inbox placement, and a modest pool covers the motion: at 2 outbound sends/day per mailbox (4/day total with 2 warmup sends), 20-30 mailboxes works a 400-600 facility list through a multi-step sequence in weeks. One domain supports 100-150 mailboxes, so there's room to grow if you expand into a second territory.
How quickly can we go from an empty Apollo workspace to sending?
Same day. ColdRelay mailboxes provision in about an hour — isolated Azure tenants, dedicated IPs, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC pre-configured — and there's no warmup waiting period before sending, since warmup runs continuously as 2 of each mailbox's 4 sends/day (the other 2 are your outbound). Link the mailboxes under Settings → Mailboxes, set each one's daily send limit to 2, build your saved persona and load-profile search, and your first sequence can be enrolling facilities directors that afternoon.