Building an Outbound Sales Pipeline
Why is building a strong sales pipeline important?
Sales pipelines are the origin of potential revenue – if you don’t have a robust pipeline, you can’t have confidence in your ability to convert new accounts in the future. Any business that experiences churn or plans to scale needs a strong pipeline that provides a steady influx of potential deals and opportunities–especially if you target large accounts.
Outbound marketing can compensate for the declining effectiveness of inbound marketing – over the last two years, the effectiveness and volume of inbound marketing leads have decreased significantly for larger mid-market and enterprise accounts. As the deal size and churn from inbound leads continue to decrease and increase respectively, companies can maintain healthy pipelines by shifting their focus to outbound prospecting.
Well-curated pipelines generate better leads – an actively managed pipeline makes it easier to target fiscally and strategically important accounts. If your pipeline focuses on reaching the right companies (and the right stakeholders within those companies), you can utilize your team’s time more efficiently, improve conversion, and increase deal value.
Outbound Prospecting Strategy
What are the most important things to keep in mind when choosing your prospecting channels?
The best channel is where your target audience is most active – choose your channel mix based on where your prospects are. Different individual targets from the same company can be reached on different platforms and prioritize different features, so it’s critical that you understand the perspective of each individual you target.
Match the channel to the content – different types of information are best communicated in different ways. Note that while engagement is important, the channels where you first engage with your customers are probably not the channels that will allow you to present the information that will ultimately close a deal.
Always employ a mix of at least 3 channels at any given time – even if you’re primarily invested in 1-2 campaigns, regularly testing performance across multiple channels ensures that you always have access to new learnings that you can leverage to optimize future campaigns. Most campaigns ultimately drive to securing an in-person meeting over a phone call, but it’s important to invest in testing other channels to mitigate the risk of relying too much on one way of reaching new customers.
Messaging can make or break channel performance – if your messaging doesn’t resonate with your audience, your channel strategy doesn’t matter. Make your message relevant and demonstrate that you understand the challenges and priorities of your target persona. Use terms that matter to your audience and explain how your product will help solve their problems.
What are the different outbound prospecting channels and their pros and cons?
| Channel | Pros | Cons | |||||
| Phone | Most effective – currently the easiest way to reach targets and get a response Immediately builds rapport – phone calls allow for immediate, real-time conversation that lets you build rapport quickly | Requires training – agents must improve their phone skills, communicate confidently, and write/ use effective pitches that immediately capture the prospect’s attention Seen as “rude” – directly calling a target can feel intrusive | |||||
| Scalable – campaigns can expand and be executed quickly Ideal for detailed content – email is the easiest way to share detailed information | Becoming less effective – effectiveness has decreased as the channel has become saturated over the last few years Hard to measure – spam filters and inadequate performance measurement tools make it difficult to accurately gauge performance | ||||||
| Easily targets certain demographics – LinkedIn is a convenient way to reach Sales and Marketing personas Brand building – the platform’s social nature allows you to build relationships and present your personal brand to prospects | Limited reach – not all personas use LinkedIn Mixing personal + professional limits performance – if you use LinkedIn personally and professionally, you risk sending mixed messages to your prospects (for example, your target is likely to respond more favorably to research or results tied to your company’s product –not the fact that you’ve converted a record number of leads this year) Note: CFOs are notorious for not using LinkedIn except to accept connection requests. | ||||||
Note: factor geography and high priority clients into your channel strategy – phone alternatives like WhatsApp are popular across many regions, so take the time to identify which aspects of your channel strategy must be adjusted based on market or even specific individuals at important prospects. Occasionally, an unusual content strategy can attract the attention of a high priority prospect and get your foot in the door, even if that strategy wouldn’t make sense on a larger scale.
What are the different outbound prospecting models? How does prospecting differ by model?
| Account-based marketing (ABM) | |||
| Description | A coordinated company-wide effort to pursue multiple individuals at target accounts. This orchestrated company approach involves: • Marketing • Sales • SDRs • Executives from relevant functions (e.g., if you’re targeting a Finance executive, your CFO might reach out to them) | ||
| Key Channels | All channels that can help you reach your customers, including phone and email. Customer-specific channels (e.g., Instagram for eCommerce targets) before ultimately inviting the key decision-maker(s) to an in-person meeting at an event, dinner of their industry peers, etc. | ||
| Who This Works Best For | Companies targeting a small number of high-value accounts (usually 5-10, max 50 accounts) because it is so high-effort | ||
Important considerations:
Internal communication is key – over-communicate amongst your team to ensure that your pursuit of each account comes across as thoughtful, not “creepy”. If you reach out to too many individuals at the same target, their servers might treat future emails as spam.
Clarify the purpose of each outreach – every individual must understand their role and how it relates to the bigger picture. For example, SDRs might focus on building groundswell amongst people who report to the CFO to increase the likelihood that the CFO learns about your product from multiple touchpoints.
| Full-cycle account executives (AEs) | |||
| Description | AEs handle the entire sales process from prospecting to close. | ||
| Key Channels | All channels that can help you reach your customers. | ||
| Who This Works Best For | Companies that: • Leverage marketing to generate high inbound lead flow (AEs cherry pick promising accounts to close within 30-40 days) • Have a strong inside sales model where inbound leads are organically requesting demos • Use AEs’ strong existing networks to target strategic accounts Note: companies that find success with an AE model often have an average account size of $2-3k. | ||
Important considerations:
Expect streaky sales cycles – AEs usually do just enough prospecting to support their pipelines. The majority of this outreach occurs in the 1st month of each quarter, and AEs focus primarily on closing deals in the 3rd month.
AEs need extensive training – assume that your AEs don’t know how to prospect. If you pursue a full-cycle AE model, be prepared to teach AEs how to apply SDR prospecting best practices.
| Sales development representatives (SDRs) | |||
| Description | SDRs prospect and set up initial meetings between AEs and targets. 3 parties contribute to pipeline development: • SDRs (40-60%) • AEs (20-25%) • Marketing inbound (15-40% – they fill in the gaps for the other 2 teams ) This approach creates a consistent, qualified pipeline that reduces the “hockey stick effect” of a full-cycle AE model. | ||
| Key Channels | All channels that can help you reach your customers. Note: traditional marketing channels become more important in an SDR model due to the role of inbound leads. | ||
| Who This Works Best For | Companies that rely on targeted outbound prospecting to convert new clients in the $50-100k range, including: • Commercial clients • Mid-market clients • Enterprise clients | ||
Important considerations:
Marketing is more important for smaller SDR accounts – inbound marketing programs are more effective with clients in the $50-75k range. SDRs should nurture targets who’ve engaged with marketing content, visited your website, or requested product demos. If the target is qualified, they should be passed onto an AE.
High-value SDR accounts need a personal touch – if your average contract value is closer to $100k, SDRs should initiate individual conversations instead of using marketing to make first contact.
| AI-supported SDRs | |||
| Description | AI tools help SDRs work more effectively by: • Developing more relevant messaging • Building better lists • Making outbound prospecting less time- and research-intensive | ||
| Key Channels | All channels that can help you reach your customers – though AI tools currently have the greatest impact over email. | ||
| Who This Works Best For | Companies looking to better utilize their SDRs (AI tools can’t yet effectively replace an SDR). | ||
Important considerations:
Use caution when you give tools access to potentially important contacts – carefully test these tools before using them with real prospects. They are more likely to spam your customers, increase your risk of irritating potential clients, and cause filters to flag your company’s future outbound email campaigns.
How should your approach to prospecting change depending on your customer segment? What are the main customer segments?
More complex customer needs require more personalized prospecting strategies – as targets become larger and the sales process becomes more nuanced/ less transactional, personalized touchpoints and 1:1 interactions become critical to closing a deal. In contrast, a high-touch model model isn’t feasible if your sales model relies on casting a wide net to convert high volumes of small accounts.
Factors to consider before selecting a prospecting model:
- Available resources (team size, budget)
- Nature of your sales cycle (length, product complexity, custom requirements, number of stakeholders per target)
- Value of new leads (average deal size, revenue model)
| Small Office/ Home Office (SOHO) | |||
| Deal Size | Very small (often in the $100s) | ||
| Relevant Outbound Approach(es) | • Primarily inbound marketing-driven • Website and product should be easy to understand and use • Might require a self-serve model | ||
| Volume/ Automation/ Personalization Tips | Hands-off marketing tactics are key to profitable expansion – if your average deal size is small, you must be able to cheaply prospect significant volume in order to hit revenue targets. | ||
| SMB | |||
| Deal Size | Slightly larger than SOHO deals (in the $1,000s) | ||
| Relevant Outbound Approach(es) | • Mix of inbound marketing and light outbound prospecting • Website and product should still be easy to understand and use • Full-cycle AEs might be appropriate | ||
| Volume/ Automation/ Personalization Tips | Sales reps can get involved, but they can’t replace marketing – once your average deal size is $7k+, you can start to afford SDRs. However, it isn’t fiscally feasible to build out a full-fledged prospecting team. | ||
| Mid-Market/ Commercial | |||
| Deal Size | Larger deal sizes ($50-$100k+) | ||
| Relevant Outbound Approach(es) | • More focused outbound prospecting • Might use SDR-supported model | ||
| Volume/ Automation/ Personalization Tips | SDRs and AEs work together – since larger accounts are more relationship-based, SDRs prospect and AEs close. Product knowledge is mandatory – at this level, the solution you’re offering is generally more complicated and requires a higher level of skill on the part of the sales team. SDRs and AEs need to understand exactly how their product can be tailored to benefit each type of target. | ||
| Enterprise | |||
| Deal Size | Very large deal sizes | ||
| Relevant Outbound Approach(es) | • Highly targeted outbound prospecting • Might use ABM for top accounts | ||
| Volume/ Automation/ Personalization Tips | Prepare for long cycles – large deals, hard-to-implement offerings, and small target markets all contribute to a lengthy sales cycle. Converting an account could take years, especially if your entire target market consists of a very small number of accounts. Specialize roles – specialized SDRs and AEs can better sell complex products. Executives might also play niche roles in helping to convert strategic accounts. | ||
Optimizing Prospecting Models
What metrics should you track to gauge the success of an outbound program?
Evaluate overall effectiveness instead of focusing on isolated metrics – while metrics are a useful way to keep your team on track, it’s equally important to prioritize allocating your resources more effectively. If all of your metrics focus on increasing activity, you might miss opportunities to increase the value of those opportunities and improve big picture performance.
| Metric category | Examples | Tips | |||
| Meeting success rate | • Number of meetings set by sequence • Number of meetings set by channel | First meetings – this is your most important touch point. Make sure you understand how to maximize the number of first meetings. | |||
| Cadence success rate | • Conversions by cadence | Measure success in multiple ways – certain cadences might be more effective than others, regardless of the success rates of individual activities. Optimize cadence, channel, and messaging to improve overall pipeline performance. | |||
| Conversion rates | • % of phone pickups that lead to a meeting • % of meetings that lead to reaching the next stage of the pipeline • Closed-won/closed-lost rates • Conversion by customer type • Conversion by buyer type | Optimize for conversion before optimizing for activity – if you have high activity but low conversion, you are either using the wrong messaging, targeting the wrong people, or using bad data. | |||
| Activity metrics | • Number of outbound calls made • Number of emails sent • LinkedIn activities performed | Monitor utilization, not performance – use benchmarks to keep your outreach on track, but don’t use activity metrics to evaluate overall performance. | |||
| Response rates | • % of emails responded to • % of LinkedIn messages responded to | Evaluate your messaging – response rates can indicate the effectiveness of your messaging, even if a specific tactic doesn’t directly lead to a meeting. | |||
| Pipeline quality indicators | • % of initial meetings that move into the pipeline (>50% indicates a high quality pipeline) • Alignment with ideal customer profile and buyer personas | North star – many of the above metrics don’t matter if the prospects you’re pushing down the pipeline aren’t converting. Regularly assess pipeline quality indicators to make sure you’re going after the right people. | |||
Don’t neglect your messaging strategy – you can utilize the right channel at the right frequency and still perform poorly if your messaging isn’t tailored to your target audience and what they need to hear. Don’t shut down poorly performing channels without first trying to optimize your messaging.
How should lead scoring be incorporated into outbound prospecting? How do you make sure you’re building a qualified pipeline?
Qualified pipelines focus on your ideal customer profile (ICP) and promising buyer personas – when doing outbound prospecting, prioritize prospects that match your ICP as closely as possible. By filling your pipeline with the right buyer types from the right kinds of companies, you should be setting your AEs up for success. If your pipeline quality indicators are low, you need to revisit your initial outreach and messaging strategies.
Use engagement-based scoring to identify the most promising inbound leads:
- Score inbound leads based on propensity to buy – estimate by actions already taken such as requesting a demo, asking about pricing, or asking to talk to somebody. “Hot leads” have taken at least one of those actions.
- Factor in customer fit – if a prospect matches your ICP and the individual matches your ideal buyer persona, they are a strong fit.
- Invest most of your team’s resources on the highest scoring leads – prioritize leads that are both “hot” and strong matches. Leads who meet neither criteria might not be worth pursuing at all.
What enablement resources make an outbound program successful?
| Enablement resource | Description | |||
| Sales playbooks | Detailed guides outlining the prospecting process, number of touchpoints, messaging strategy, and overall best practices so that SDRs and AEs clearly understand how each stage of the prospecting journey works | |||
| Buyer personas and ideal customer profiles (ICPs) | Comprehensive descriptions of target buyers and accounts that inform messaging, outreach strategies, and prioritization of leads | |||
| Messaging frameworks | Tailored messaging created by Marketing, Sales leadership, and Product for SDRs to use when contacting different buyer personas as each stage of the outreach process | |||
| Target account lists | Curated lists of accounts and contacts that match your ICP and are regularly updated and refined based on performance data | |||
| Contact data | Accurate emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn information, etc. that your SDRs should use to contact individuals on their target list | |||
| CRM and technology training | Training on CRM usage (including proper stage management) and training on all relevant sales engagement and prospecting tools | |||
| Performance dashboards | Real-time visibility into individual and team performance metrics to help SDRs benchmark themselves against team averages and goals | |||
Tools and Data Sources
What are the different categories of tools available to support building an outbound sales pipeline?
The most important tools are the ones that you actually use — focus on using your existing tools correctly and as effectively as possible instead of looking for new tools to solve long-standing problems. If a leader frequently asks to update their tooling, this could be an indicator that there are more significant problems at play within the department. Encourage “tool-happy” leaders to dig deeper to see if improving outreach or messaging strategy could solve their problems better than a new tool.
| Critical tools | Worthwhile upgrades | “Nice to haves” | |||
| • Contact data and account intelligence (build targeted lists) • Sales engagement tools (manage outreach sequences) • Conversation intelligence (record and analyze calls) | • Dialer (lets you call contacts faster, or call multiple at once) | Everything else Note: chatbots can be helpful tools, but often fall under Marketing instead of Sales | |||
What are the different data sources available to support prospecting?
Predictive prospecting tools help SDRs and AEs research potential customers, generate leads, and improve their approach to specific conversations – ZoomInfo is the most common and most expensive prospecting database, but there could be better options available depending on your needs. For example, Modigie is the best provider for mobile numbers.
Intent data has the potential to you qualify buyers based on how actively they’re researching a specific solution online – solutions like 6sense can theoretically improve how you score leads or prioritize reaching out to different targets, but so far, implementation hasn’t lived up to those expectations. Keep an eye on intent data as those tools continue to advance and become more affordable.
Outbound Team Management
What should the typical day of an SDR look like?
The day-to-day of an SDR is determined by the cadences they’re using – on average, SDRs must complete 104 activities per day to maintain a healthy pipeline. The platforms they use depend on where a prospect is in the pipeline, but daily activities are generally split 50-50 between phone calls and emails, with a few LinkedIn activities thrown in.
Example of the activities that compose a typical cadence:
- Make phone calls (including leaving several messages)
- Send 3-4 emails
- Send 2-3 LinkedIn messages
- Pass the prospect along to an AE
Who should be writing the messaging SDRs use?
Cross-functional teams tailor messaging to the specific needs of each recipient – Marketing, Product Marketing, and Sales collaborate to refine the messaging framework and (as needed) the copy, scripting, and rebuttals that SDRs can use when communicating with prospects. Highly experienced Sales leaders can develop messaging quickly.
Outbound call openings should be heavily vetted by experienced Sales leaders before SDRs use them – many SDRs aren’t confident speaking on the phone and lack experience with getting people–especially executives–to stay on the phone after they’ve answered. Leaders with strong outbound calling experience are responsible for crafting call openings that set the rest of the pipeline up for success.
How should you think about scaling your outbound sales team?
Scaling is about building on your current objectives, not necessarily increasing headcount – more headcount doesn’t always help a team perform better. The first question any leader should ask is “Can I meet our new objectives with my current team, or have those objectives increased so much that I need to add people?” If, for example, a team needs to double its pipeline size due to anticipated win rate decreases, it’s worth considering whether improving messaging, increasing productivity, adding more bodies, or a mix of these options is the right answer.
Overall
What are the most important things to get right?
Tap into Sales expertise for guidance on 1:1 messaging strategies – marketers can be excellent copywriters, but they specialize in writing 1-to-many messages. Because entrance to your pipeline relies on 1:1 messaging, seasoned Sales leaders should be heavily involved in developing the differentiated messaging strategies the rest of the team will implement.
What are common pitfalls?
Not giving SDRs the tools they need to succeed – SDRs have an important job—and a systematic lack of experience. Don’t allow inexperienced managers to provide improper (or no) coaching to equally inexperienced SDRs. Instead, invest in the training and upskilling that will allow your SDRs to strengthen your pipeline and set your AEs up for success. If you treat SDRs as a volume play, you leave significant potential on the table.
Assuming channels don’t work without challenging assumptions around messaging – over the past few years, it’s become increasingly difficult to get prospects to reply to emails. However, this doesn’t mean that email as a channel is a lost cause. Instead of continuing to email huge volumes of prospects as part of a cadence that isn’t working, reduce your volume and test a more personalized, relevant approach or pair it with phone and LinkedIn touchpoints. Don’t give up on a channel without thoroughly testing whether other strategies might work better content.
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