Outbound Prospecting Techniques

I managed a 70 person recruiting team, hired thousands of engineers, and was told that the facebook recruiting team had an internal blog breaking down my outbound approach bc so many engineers had shared it internally... These are my outbound sourcing maxims. 1. get good at email - use the prospect's personal email (NEVER INMAIL!!!!) - subject line must be about THEM (but not basic "go trojans!") - declare your intent ("I think you fit for our team") - 90% of message should be about THEM - people like to be liked - list why you are impressed by them - humor helps most of the time - DO NOT TALK ABOUT YOURSELF - DO NOT LINK JOB DESCRIPTIONS - SERIOUSLY STOP WTF - ... sell the conversation, not the job Two main takeaways here. One, approaching someone and telling them that you are amazing "gives the ick." This is as true in recruiting as it is in dating. Two - don't force existential consideration early. If you give lots details about the opportunity, people will find every reason to find that it's not a fit. Also, you're coming on too hard. 2. you need to contact WAY more people than you think - good response rate = >20% - good interested response rate = >10% - only a fraction of those who take a call will actually be a fit - == >50 outreaches per day for most roles ... seriously, LOTS OF OUTBOUND, and it's gotta be good. I used to not even check my email until I'd sent 50 outbounds every day. Each outbound had to meet my conditions above. 3. people are most honest at the outset - take advantage - more time in process == candidate is more likely to WANT the job - people who WANT something are more covetous of it - and people who want something might not be entirely open ... the stakes are low on the first call - so candidates are more likely to be open about their needs - so you should do everything you can to get them NOW. 4. STOP TALKING!!! ("god made you with two ears...") - people love to talk about themselves (if it feels safe!) - 30 minute call? Candidate should be talking for 27 of them - ask good questions, think "Hot Ones" quality - goal: figure out what they care about - ... then spend 3 minutes delivering a supremely tailored pitch Bad recruiters pitch at the outset, with no idea what the candidate cares about. Great recruiters find the buttons, then push them. 5. move as fast as possible once you have the right one - people want to feel wanted... - time is typically interpreted as disinterest (even if that's not accurate) - so, move fast as you possibly can, give clarity about next steps, etc ------------------------------------------ The succinct version... - Write great emails - Write a lot of emails - Ask deep questions early - Listen before speaking - And don't dilly dally when you have the one Easy to write. Hard to do. But this is 100% my blue print.

The answer to your outbound problems isn't: ⛔️ AI ⛔️ More volume ⛔️ SDR agents ⛔️ More relevance ⛔️ Dialers It's your OFFER. Let me explain... Most reps reach out with something like: “Just want to introduce myself and our company…” “Let’s do a quick call so you know your options when budgeting season comes around...” The problem? You have NOTHING to offer. If there’s no immediate need, there's zero reason to take a meeting with you. So you need a way to entice buyers to meet when they have a problem, but are not actively shopping. Here are three types of offers you can use to entice buyers to meet with you: ✅ Offer #1: Good - Pitch The Blind Date Position who the buyer will be meeting with. Hype up the AE, sales engineer, or yourself. Show them that meeting with you will be worth their while. Example: A client of ours sells an automated welding solution. The manufacturing industry is facing a massive shortage of welding talent. Their SDRs pitched it like this: “I’d love to introduce you to Eric. He’s worked with a dozen manufacturers like Caterpillar, Karavan, and more, who are all facing similar challenges. He’ll walk you through how they’re automating the most difficult welds and dealing with the labor shortage. Even if nothing comes of it, you’ll walk away with a better understanding of how the industry is solving this.” Even if the buyer isn’t shopping, they gain value from the conversation itself. ✅ Offer #2: Better - 1:Many Offers These are high-quality, reusable insights that still feel tailored. Think: competitive benchmarks, industry research, or best practice guides. Example: We have a client that sells to ecomm brands. They conducted a mystery shop of 400 competitors to analyze response times, customer service channels, etc. Their reps used those insights to open cold calls with: “Hey Katie, I submitted a ticket on your site, and it took about 48 hours to get a response. It was about 3x longer than folks like Patagonia and the North Face. Again, it’s Jason. Mind if I share more about why I’m calling?” That’s an offer that feels immediately relevant and valuable. It gets a conversation started immediately. ✅ Offer #3: Best - 1:1 Offers These are custom-tailored experiences or resources created specifically for the prospect. It’s you and your organization putting in serious effort to customize the offer. This works best at the enterprise & strategic levels. Examples: - A cyber risk analysis - A benchmarking analysis - A workshop - A personalized audit of a website checkout flow. - Visiting and experiencing the brand firsthand, then sharing insights. - Offering free data, licenses, or pilots. These take more work, but they convert like crazy. ~~~ Which one's most applicable for you?

Proven Strategies to Supercharge B2B Outbound Lead Generation Let’s be clear: outbound isn’t dead—it just needs to be smarter. In a world where buyers are more selective and inboxes are more crowded, effective outbound lead generation is about precision, personalization, and partnership with sales. Here are 7 strategies I’ve seen drive real results: 1. Laser-Focus Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Before you start reaching out, refine your ICP. Go beyond firmographics—consider buying triggers, tech stack, growth signals, and key pain points. Use intent data and predictive analytics to prioritize accounts most likely to convert. A highly defined ICP ensures your efforts are efficient and relevant. 2. Multi-Threaded Outreach Modern B2B decisions are made by committees, not individuals. Build relationships across multiple stakeholders within a target account. Tailor messages to specific roles—finance, marketing, operations—and connect them to how your solution supports their objectives. 3. Hyper-Personalized Messaging at Scale Generic emails are dead. Use dynamic personalization tools to tailor messaging based on job title, company news, shared connections, or industry trends. AI can help scale personalization while keeping your messaging authentic and relevant. 4. Leverage Warm Channels First Outbound doesn’t have to mean “cold.” Use mutual connections, recent webinar attendees, or social media engagement as warm entry points. Pair outbound efforts with LinkedIn nurturing, retargeted ads, or personalized video messages to increase response rates. 5. Sequence with Strategy Use automated sequences (email, phone, social touches) designed around your buyer’s journey. Ensure every touchpoint adds value—share relevant case studies, industry insights, or pain-point specific content. A well-structured sequence improves both response and conversion rates. 6. Align with Sales for Speed and Feedback Marketing and sales alignment is critical. Share real-time feedback loops so messaging can be optimized based on what's resonating. SDRs should be armed with the right content, timing cues, and conversation starters to accelerate qualified conversations. 7. Test, Learn, and Optimize Relentlessly Outbound is not set-it-and-forget-it. Track metrics like open rates, response rates, and meeting conversion. A/B test subject lines, messaging, and timing. Leverage attribution insights to refine outreach and double down on what works. 💡 Outbound done right isn’t about volume—it’s about velocity and value. When marketers shift from “spray and pray” to precise, personalized, and data-driven outreach, outbound becomes a true catalyst for sustainable B2B growth. #B2BMarketing #OutboundLeadGen #GrowthStrategy #MarketingLeadership #RevenueMarketing #ABM #CMO #DemandGeneration

Outbound has changed. A lot. Here's what I've learned in the last 12 months: (after coaching 700+ SDRs & AEs) 1. The best reps are the best callers - They use a script - Deliver it exceptionally - Optimise it once a month → No shying away from the phone. No ego stopping them from using a script. 2. A personal brand gets you more leads (long term). - 15 comments - 30 cold DMs - 1x post → Small inputs, executed daily compound. 3. Reps that rushlessly prioritise time, win. - Ignore aimless KPIs - Decline internal meetings - Prioritise list building activities → The best do lots of work on top accounts only. Not just lot of random work. 4. Reps that ask for referrals, build more pipeline. - Ask their networks - Ask their prospects - Ask their customers → If you don't ask, you don't get. 5. Reps who can identify and nurture ''not right nows'' win. - Not right now does - Not mean - Never → Maybes ARE Money. The best reps know this. 6. They use rule of 1 observation per sequence - 1 observation - 10 touch sequence - 10x less research time → A good observation doesn't stop being good if you've used it once in a sequence. The riches are in the repetitions. 7. High performers spend time reviewing their performance. - 1 hour per week - What worked? - What didn't? → The best review how they did and optimise for the next week to be better. You see... Being great at outbound = HARD. It's harder in 2024 than 2023. But it ain't impossible. LFG. PS. Do you do all of these things? [Yes/No]

We didn’t know them. They didn’t know us. Four messages later, they were a client. Two months later, they were one of our biggest advocates. Here’s what worked: 🔹 Message 1: Lead with insight, not a pitch We started with a real observation about their onboarding. Something specific enough to matter. Not a copy-paste opener. That’s what earned the first reply. 🔹 Message 2: Share proof that matters Next, we sent a short case study from a company like theirs. No product talk. Just outcomes. That built credibility without forcing it. 🔹 Message 3: Ask a sharp question Instead of chasing a call, we asked a direct question tied to a pain point they were likely feeling. That’s what shifted the conversation from selling to problem-solving. 🔹 Message 4: Give value with zero pressure We shared a quick teardown of one of their workflows and suggested changes they could use straight away. No ask. Just value. Their response? “Let’s talk.” This didn’t happen by luck. It happened because every message was relevant, useful, and focused on them, not us. Outbound works when you stop trying to push and start trying to help. Curious to hear: What’s the single move in your cold outreach that almost always gets a reply?

Most outbound advice tells you to hit prospects on every channel at once. Email. LinkedIn. Call. Text. Gift. All in the first week. "Multi-channel is king." Here's what the data actually shows: when a prospect is reachable by phone, sending them an email or LinkedIn message first decreases your odds of having a completed conversation. You gave them a warning shot. Now they know you're coming. They've already decided they're not interested BEFORE you even had a chance to talk to them. Ryan 🏋️☎️ Reisert dubbed this the "don't be known until you want to be known" rule. If you can reach someone on the phone, the phone should be your first touch until you have a completed conversation. • No email • No LinkedIn • No voicemail You only call. Have a real-time conversation. You learn something. Multi-channel is not wrong. It's just out of order. Here's when multi-channel works: after the first conversation. Once you've spoken with someone and collected real information, their situation, their timing, their objections... NOW you have context for a follow-up email that actually means something. Now a LinkedIn message isn't spam, it's a continuation. And here's the other scenario where multi-channel makes sense: Only about 10-25% of your total addressable market is ever going to be reachable by phone. After you've worked through the phone-ready contacts, all those people you couldn't reach? That's your email and LinkedIn list. Not before... after. The order of operations matters: → Phone-ready contacts get called first. No warning shots. → After the conversation, layer in email and LinkedIn for nurture. → Unreachable contacts get worked through other channels. The companies that figure out this sequencing don't just get more conversations. They get better conversations because they're talking to people who haven't already decided to ignore them. Stop wasting real at-bats with multi-channel. PS: our outbound playbook is based on Ryan's best seller "Outbound Sales, No Fluff" free of on our website 👉 https://lnkd.in/gknDseQt

Your customers should be writing your outbound messaging. I had a bit of an epiphany last week. It’s something that all the best outbound sales people do but I’ve never really been able to break it down this simply in a single sentence before: People that are great at outbound are very good at finding the *repeatable phrases* that prospects use to describe a problem and use those exact words to describe the problem to other similar prospects in their outreach. Example: When we were selling RFP Response Software at Loopio in the early days, sales leaders would consistently talk about how they: 1. "Already answered this question in the past but it was lost in a Google Doc somewhere and impossible to find again" 2. "Had to Ctrl + F in a word doc, copy the answer and paste it into the RFP over and over again" We heard these phrases like clockwork. Hundreds of times... -------- So here's how you use those repeatable phrases in an email to resonate: Hi Mindy, It looks like the team is looking to go up-market with the new job posting up for an Enterprise AE. Going up-market usually means responding to more RFPs. Most enterprise sellers I talk to consistently mention how annoying it is to spend HOURS having to go back to an old RFP, Ctrl + F to find an answer and copy/paste back in...for hundreds of questions. Loopio could help you answer all those questions with one click so you can focus on selling. Sound interesting? ---------- This type of email got us hundreds of meetings because it clicked with everybody that responded to RFPs. So the question becomes.... what are your repeatable phrases? #sales #outbound #prospecting

Why I treat outbound like a "machine"? At first, outbound felt like a "never-ending" task. Write a message. Find leads. Follow up. Repeat. It was a chore. But then, I had a thought: What if outbound wasn’t just a task? What if it was a system? Here’s how I built it: 1. Input: → I start by gathering trigger data. Things like job changes, funding rounds, tech usage. Tools like Apollo.io, BuiltWith Clay And then, I add new triggers: → Track Website Visitors: I use RB2B / Vector 👻 to see which companies visit our site. This tells me who’s interested and what pages they’re checking. → Track LinkedIn Engagement: With Trigify.io / Teamfluence™, I monitor engagement. I see who’s liking, commenting, and sharing my posts. These signals help me spot warm leads who are already interacting. 2. Logic: → Now that I’ve got the data, I ask, "What’s the signal?" I personalize around that. Example: If a company visits our pricing page but doesn’t convert, I reach out with content specific to their pain points. 3. Output: A message that hits the right person at the right time. It doesn’t feel like a cold email. It feels personalized and relevant. The system works in layers: → One layer pulls live data from Clay to enrich leads. → Another layer checks intent based on digital breadcrumbs. → One path sends a cold email when there’s a signal. → Another waits, tracks engagement, and then strikes. It’s simple. It’s quiet. It works. Why is this approach powerful? It’s not about replacing people. It’s about getting rid of the noise. I don’t wake up to endless tasks. Instead, I see a dashboard with what needs fixing. I focus on the gaps, and the system keeps rolling. Building outbound this way isn’t just smarter Building outbound this way is more fun. It gives me time to focus on what truly moves the needle. That’s where the magic lies. What tools are you using to track leads? ______________________________ Like this? Repost to help others. Follow Arpit Singh & tap 🔔 for more.

Teams who take a “boil the ocean” approach to outbound will fail. Here’s how to fix it and build sequences that actually drive results: Step 1: Focus your team on accounts most likely to buy now, invest at a premium, and become long-term customers or referral sources. This means moving beyond “anyone who fits the ICP” and zeroing in on high-priority targets. Step 2: Create deeper, more meaningful segments from that refined group. Traditional segments are great for organizing territories but fall short for crafting sequences that resonate. Instead, you need segmentation that helps your team speak the language of specific sub-groups. Use multiple layers of data—firmographics, intent signals, and contact-level insights—to break your TAM into smaller, actionable groups. Step 3: Launch micro-campaigns that target those precise segments with messaging designed to feel tailor-made. When you take this approach, personalization becomes scalable because it’s rooted in segmentation. Your reps don’t waste time on one-off customization, and your messaging feels 99% relevant to the prospect. I've been teaching this process as #ValueBasedSegmentation for the better part of a decade. It’s the key to building sequences that drive higher CTRs, replies, and engagement without tedious manual effort. ➡️ With this approach, you’ll: - Improve email performance - Write copy that prospects actually care about - Give your team a clear roadmap for focused outbound 📌 How are you helping your team build relevance into their outbound sequences?

Outbound doesn’t usually fail because of bad messaging. It fails because momentum dies between channels. Here’s what that looked like for us before. Before: Lead opens an email. Maybe clicks a link. Maybe even replies “sounds interesting.” Now the chaos begins. Rep checks Instantly. Then checks LinkedIn. Then checks the CRM. Then Slack pings someone to see if anyone already called. By the time someone actually dials… The moment is gone. Interest was there. Conversation never happened. That gap kills pipeline. Now here’s what it looks like with SmartDialer inside Smartlead. Email warms the lead. LinkedIn nudges them. Then the system shows intent signals. Opened multiple emails. Clicked the link. Engaged on LinkedIn. That’s the moment someone calls. But the call doesn’t start blind. Before dialing, the rep already sees: • Every email sent • LinkedIn touches • Any replies • Notes from previous outreach • Full prospect context So the call starts like this: “Hey John — saw you checked the case study we sent yesterday about pipeline generation for Seed A SaaS teams…” Not: “Hey… uh… just checking if you got my email.” Big difference. And when the call ends: Notes are written. CRM gets updated. Follow-ups get scheduled. No manual logging. At A-SALES, we’ve learned something simple after thousands of campaigns. The right call at the right moment beats 100 random dials. Email creates interest. LinkedIn reinforces it. Calls convert it. Cold calling isn’t dead. Calling without context is.