Borrowed Wisdom

This week: Build an outbound sequence that works

Your sales sequence is dying because you're sending emails to ghosts.

Most reps run the same tired playbook. 8 emails spread across 28 days. Maybe throw in a call on day 14. A LinkedIn message somewhere in the mix.

Here's why this doesn't work.

By day 21, they've forgotten who you are. You're just another "check in" email that gets archived or deleted.

Single-channel outreach is easy to ignore. And saying the same thing eight different ways isn't a strategy.

You want to compress the timeline by cutting it to 14 days. If they're going to respond, it happens in the first week.

Ian Koniak, former #1 Enterprise AE at Salesforce, runs 10 touches across 20 days. Long sequences create overdue tasks that kill your momentum.

Most of your activity needs to happen in the first 5 days.

Days 1 and 3 should be heavy. Anthony Natoli from LinkedIn calls this the "Triple Touch."

Three channels in one day, repeated. By day 3, they've seen your name six times.

For example: Email in the morning, then a call 2-3 hours later. End the day with a reach-out on LinkedIn.

The call reinforces the email. They've seen your name twice in hours. Now you're not cold anymore.

Now most email sequences look like this. Email 1 pitches your product. Email 2 says, "just checking in." Email 3 says "bumping this up."

That's one email sent three times.

Here's what each touchpoint should look like:

• Touch 1: Your point of view on their problem

• Touch 2: How you help teams like theirs

• Touch 3: Case study

• Touch 4: ROI data

• Touch 5: Third-party research

• Touch 6: Demo offer

Even if they never reply, you become unignorable.

You can also use their job postings as intel. Job postings tell you exactly what they're struggling with.

Hiring 3+ SDRs?

• They're scaling outbound.

• Pain points: ramp time, list building, tech stack.

Hiring RevOps?

• They're fixing the process.

• Pain points: data hygiene, reporting, tool consolidation.

Their first VP of Sales?

• They're building structure.

• Pain points: playbooks, forecasting, accountability.

Check sites like LinkedIn Jobs, their careers page, Indeed, and Glassdoor.

Then use something like this:

Around day 5-7, if they haven't responded but connected on LinkedIn, a video can break through the text fatigue.

Darren McKee books C-suite meetings with 70% acceptance using video DMs.

His rules: Record on your phone walking outside. 30-90 seconds max. No edits or script. Reference something specific about them.

When you're calling the prospect, break the pattern in your opener. Their brain is expecting a sales pitch, so don't give them one.

Chris Cozzolino shares openers that work: "I know this is random..." or "You seemed like the best person to reach out to for this..."

These work because they don't sound like the other 47 messages in their inbox.

Here's what the outreach could look like:

Day 1: Email + Call + LinkedIn view

Day 3: Email + Call + LinkedIn connect + Video

Day 5: LinkedIn DM or video

Day 7: Email with proof

Day 10: Breakup email

10 touches over 10 days through a multi-channel approach.

Most reps stick with the 28-day sequence and wonder why nobody responds. The best reps compress the timeline and become impossible to ignore.

To-Go Bites

1. Become unignorable

2. 14 days beats 28 days

3. Front-load your activity

4. Break up emails can WIN

5. Breakthrough with videos

6. Each touch needs new value

7. Hit three channels in one day

8. Use calls to reinforce the email

9. Use a pattern interrupt on calls

10. Use job postings to your advantage

Worth The Open

My favorite content from surfing the web this week

1. Gotta love the Waste Management tournament

2. Turn a content partnership into your biggest win

3. Weekly planners outperform non-planners by 33%

4. Delve’s co-founder sent out doormats. Spent $6k and generated $500k

Thanks for reading

— Cam