Outbound sales is when the seller of a product or service proactively contacts the prospective customer to make a sale.
Outbound selling a process where, rather than waiting for the user reaching out to enquire and buy, the vendor connects with the prospective user to inform them about the product, educate them about the benefits, and gently nudges them to buy the product. Sales representatives use tactics such as cold calling or emailing, social selling, or targeted ads to reach prospects and engage them in sales conversations.
Understanding sales development representatives (SDRs)
At the centre of the outbound sales process are SDRs. In most B2B companies, they sit at the beginning of the outbound sales cycles, and are the ones that initiate the sales conversation with the prospect. Core to an SDRs job is sales prospecting, which involves connecting with and engaging prospects, educating them about the product capabilities and benefits, and making the initial sales pitch.
Outbound sales is all about volumes, i.e., reaching out to as many ideal prospects as possible, because only a fraction of the prospects actually convert into customers. So, SDRs are key to the success of an outbound sales motion in any B2B company, because they are the ones that find prospects and bring them into the sales funnel.
Key attributes of successful outbound sales reps
Writing a job description for SDR roles can be interesting because unlike many other positions, being an effective SDR requires a strong foundation in soft skills rather than purely technical expertise. Outbound sales demands a unique blend of personal qualities and attributes. When hiring for this role, here are some key qualities to look for:
Relentless passion and persistence
- Pursues goals despite obstacles
- Handles rejection constructively while remaining motivated
- Achieves results through consistent effort
Splendid communication skills
- Clear, confident communication
- Articulates complex ideas in simple terms
General cognitive ability
- Quick learner who grasps new concepts
- Asks insightful questions that reveal prospect needs
- Understands your product/service value proposition
Leadership and accountability
- Takes responsibility for outcomes
- Track record of meeting or exceeding goals
Active listening skills
- Truly hears what prospects are saying (and not saying)
- Asks thoughtful follow-up questions
- Identifies pain points from conversation
Empathy and emotional intelligence
- Builds rapport and establishes trust quickly
- Recognizes when to push and when to give space
Creative thinking
- Finds new approaches to connect with prospects
- Crafts personalized, attention-grabbing conversation starters
Time management and organizational skills
- Manages high volume of leads efficiently
- Follows up consistently
Adaptability and resilience
- Adjusts strategies based on results
- Resilient in the face of rejection
- Pivots quickly when conditions change
Outbound sales vs. inbound sales: Key differences and when to use each
As we’ve seen, outbound sales involves the vendor or the company reaching out to the user. On the other hand, inbound sales is when the customer reaches out to the product company or vendor and initiates the sales process.
Inbound sales: characteristics and benefits
Inbound sales is a type of B2B sales where the user or customer is actively looking for a product or solution, and reaches out to the vendor to enquire about the product and initiate the sales process.
Here are some key characteristics of inbound sales:
- The sales process is initiated by the customer or end user.
- The prospect is already aware of your product and actively searching for solutions.
- Inbound leads are generated through channels such as advertising and branding, social media, search engine marketing, organic SEO, content marketing.
- Inbound marketing requires an initial upfront investment but once the processes and the engine is in place, there could be a steady flow of leads.
Benefits of inbound sales:
- There are higher chances of conversion as inbound leads often have interest and are actively looking for a solution.
- There is stronger engagement between the customer and the vendor because the prospect proactively reaches out to the company. This indicates that the prospective user trusts your content and is interested in working with you.
Outbound sales: characteristics and benefits
Here are some key characteristics of outbound sales:
- The sales process is initiated by the company rather than the customer or user.
- Lead generation channels include cold calls, emails, social media engagement.
- Outbound sales is a volume game and the process is time-consuming.
- Scaling outbound sales typically requires a large team as they’re driven by SDRs.
Integrating outbound and inbound sales
Most B2B companies run inbound and outbound sales motions in parallel, to optimize conversions and balance the pros and cons of each and because outbound sales can often feed off of inbound interest from leads.
The skills required to successfully convert an inbound lead to a customer and to close a lead the outbound way are quite different, so it is important to have a combination of the two as part of your overall go-to-market strategy.
Benefits of outbound sales: Why it matters for your business
Reach customers before customers do
You have the advantage of reaching your customers before your competitors do, unlike inbound sales where your prospects might already have reached out to your competitors.
This ensures that you’re the first to introduce your product, making it easier to influence buying decisions. Sales intelligence platforms like Highperformr provide buying signals and intent data in real time, enabling SDRs to reach out to the right prospects at the right time to initiate a sale.
Target and spearfish high-potential customers
Outbound sales gives you more control over who you reach out to, allowing for precise targeting. You can identify exactly who you want to reach out to, prioritize leads using signals and buying intent data, and focus on high-potential leads to maximize response rates and chances of conversion.
Convert and close deals faster
With outbound sales, you get to choose when to reach out to your leads and initiate a sale. This enables you to reach out to leads quickly, rather than waiting for leads to reach out to you and book demos or sign up for trials.
Personalize outreach messages and tailor pitches
SDRs can use buying signals and other insight about leads to customize sales pitches and outreach messages. Outbound sales motions can help position the product better and offer better solutioning for unique use cases.
Effective for new brands/new markets
Outbound sales can be quite effective for products entering new markets, where prospects may not be familiar with the brand.
Immediate feedback
Whether it is positive or negative, you get feedback from your leads almost instantly when you reach out to them.
The outbound sales process: Step-by-step
Outbound sales is a multi-step long-drown process. Here’s a breakdown of the multi-step process that SDRs take before getting a lead into the sales cycle.
Lead generation
The first step, of course, is generating leads. One of the unique things about outbound sales is that you get to choose who you reach out to with your sales pitch. You first need to have your ICP (ideal customer profile) charted out, and then you can focus on generating targeted leads. Over the last year or so, we’re seeing many B2B companies investing in AI lead generation to scale efforts while managing limited budgets. In most B2B companies, the marketing generates leads, qualifies them, and passes them on to the SDRs.
Identifying and prospecting high-potential leads
Even after the leads are qualified, SDRs could still be swimming in a massive pool of thousands of leads. Prospecting every one of them can be cumbersome for sales teams, and can also be a drag on overall effectiveness of the outbound sales process.
A smarter way of prospecting is to prioritize leads using buying signals, and reach out to the ones that have the highest chances of converting. This helps you convert more deals faster.
Sales prospecting tools such as Highperformr give first-party intent signals in real-time, helping sales teams identify the right leads to go after.
Initial contact
In outbound sales, the initial conversation is crucial. Unlike inbound sales, where prospects already have buying intent, SDRs must capture attention and pique their interest. To achieve this, SDRs should understand their prospects well and engage them with relevant conversations. Sales intelligence platforms like Highperformr can help by providing not just contact information but also AI-driven insights into prospects' interests and recent activities. These platforms can even craft personalized conversation starters to assist SDRs scale their outreach efforts.
Qualifying leads: ensuring quality over quantity
After the initial conversation comes the key step of qualifying leads. This involves evaluating the lead to check if they’re a right fit for your product at this point in time. A lead might be an ideal one for you, and they too might need a product like yours, but the timing might not be ideal. Or, they might not have the budgets they need to buy your product. This lead qualification process helps further filter the leads to focus on the ones that are more likely to buy.
Crafting the perfect sales pitch and product demo
Up next is the big step of making the actual sales pitch. This is where you get into the details of how your product can help the prospect make their work easier and better. Here again, as with the initial conversation, it is important to understand the prospect well and tailor the sales pitch to their business. Highperformr, for instance, provides you with real-time first party insight about the prospect and the company, enabling you to understand their current tech stack, hiring trends, business focus areas, etc. and position your pitch in a manner that resonates with them. Preparing a customized demo of your product and giving them a preview on what they can gain from your product can take you a step closer to closing a deal quickly.
Handling objections
No matter how good the product and the pitch is, prospects are bound to have questions, doubts, and objections they will come up with before taking the sales process forward. An SDR owning the sales process should be able to handle such objections effectively, and convince the prospect that the product will be able to meet their requirements. Sharing testimonials and case studies from other happy customers and demonstrating the value of the product can be a great way to handle objections.
Closing the sale
The next crucial step is closing the deal. This involves assuring the prospect that buying your product is certain to bring them high ROI, and that it will have an outsized impact on their business. This stage also includes agreeing on the scope of work and negotiating the terms of the contract.
Post-sale follow-up and customer nurturing
The outbound sales process doesn’t end with closing the deal. Working with the customer on implementing the tool, onboarding all users, and training them to use the product effectively is extremely important. This phase will determine how loyal the customer is, help prevent churn, and will also lay the foundation for you to upsell or cross-sell products to the customer down the line.
Examples of outbound sales tactics: strategies that work
Outbound sales can be tricky to track, but once you do, it’s a gift that keeps on giving. There are many many outbound sales tactics that SDRs can use, from pitching to industry peers and acquaintances to striking a conversation with someone at a party and turning them into a prospect. If you’re new to outbound sales, here are a few strategies that have worked for most sales reps that you can use to get your outbound sales engine started.
Cold calling
This is perhaps the oldest trick in the book, but is something that still is the most reliable. It refers to making phone calls to potential customers to initiate a conversation and potentially convert them into leads. These are people who haven’t engaged with you before but are ones you consider an ICP fit. Cold calling is all about volumes because only a tiny fraction of the ones you call will even answer or respond. To increase chances of response, research and understand the lead well and have a sharp and gripping conversation starter that will hold their attention. Once you do, be sure to keenly listen to what the prospect says and tweak your conversation accordingly to keep the conversation going and draw them into the sales funnel.
Cold emails
Like cold calls, cold emails are written conversations you initiate with a prospect you consider to be a high-potential one. Thanks to marketing and sales automation tools, this tactic can be scaled easily. You can send out thousands of cold emails at once. While a lot of cold emails are ignored, you can increase chances of response by crafting personalized emails and embedding videos or screenshots of what they can gain by buying your product.
Social selling
This is an outbound sales tactic that has gained prominence over the last couple of years. In most cases, the people you’re attempting to reach out to are hanging out on social media platforms such as LinkedIn. Engaging with them regularly can help you nurture relationships with them that can later be turned into a sales opportunity. Social engagement platforms such as Highperformr can help you build a strong social presence, engage with your social audience, identify high-intent leads from your social audience, and generate hot leads from social media with no additional spends.
Networking events
Tradeshows and B2B events are excellent places to meet and engage with highly targeted leads because in-person interactions can help build stronger relationships with prospects.
To make the most of events and maximize ROI, you can use Highperformr to identify audiences attending events relevant to you, find people that match your ICP, get intent signals about those ICP attendees, and even book meetings with them ahead of the event.
Partnerships and affiliate selling
While outbound sales is primarily handled by SDRs and account executives (AEs) within a company, partnering with other companies or agencies is also a good way to reach out to ICP prospects. Collaborating with influencers or other companies through partnerships and affiliate selling can expand your reach and help you scale, especially in new markets or in regions that require local language knowledge or familiarity with local cultural nuances.
Customer advocacy and referrals
Customer advocacy is an extremely effective channel to increase outbound sales. Rather than taking a completely new or cold channel for outreach, working with existing happy customers to reach new prospects can help drive sales. Building and fostering communities for customers and prospects can open up another channel to effectively drive outbound sales.
Best practices for enhancing outbound sales performance
Here are some best practices you can use to maximise success of your outbound sales efforts.
Ensure effective communication
Outbound selling is an art, and your team needs to hone a few key skills to master outbound sales. Effective communication is at the top of the list, especially when it comes to cold calls. Communication needs to be sharp, clear, and engaging, especially on cold calls because the SDR must be able to grab the prospects’ attention in a matter of seconds after the call is connected. While setting up an outbound sales team, make sure your members have strong communication skills and can build relationships with prospects. They should be able to listen actively and empathetically to understand the prospect's needs and find the best solutions.
Personalize outreach
Every outreach message or call should be tailored to the specific prospect. While it takes time to personalize each interaction, the payoff is well worth it as conversion rates tend to increase significantly when prospects feel like you're speaking directly to them.
Monitoring and measuring performance
Monitoring and measuring your outbound sales efforts is essential. Tracking and documenting details can help you identify what's working and what needs improvement, allowing you to adjust your strategy accordingly. Here are some metrics to track outbound sales effectiveness:
- Number of calls made
- Call response rate
- Conversion rate
- Cost per lead
- Average sales cycle
- Average deal value
- Customer acquisition cost
Automate basic outbound sales tasks and workflows
Automating repetitive and routine tasks gives your sales team more time to focus on activities that require a human touch like crafting product solutions and building relationships. By automating workflows, you can scale your outbound efforts more efficiently and effectively.
Spearfish leads rather than taking a spray-and-pray approach
Use buying signals, intent data, and other kinds of sales intelligence to prioritize leads and target the ones that are most likely to convert. Given that outbound sales can be time consuming, it is essential to choose the right leads to go after, and platforms like Highperformr can help you use first-party real-time signals and reach out to the right prospects at the right time to drive sales effectiveness.
Essential tools for outbound sales
With AI coming into the mainstream, there are now several products to automate parts of an outbound sales workflow. Here are some tools you need to have in your techstack to run an effective outbound sales engine and scale growth.
Sales intelligence software to help spearfish high-value leads
Sales intelligence platforms have transformed how teams identify and reach out to prospects. With Highperformr, for instance, you can use first-party real-time signals that help you prioritize leads so you can reach out to the ones most likely to buy, and use buying intent data to help you focus on leads most likely to convert. In addition, you get AI insight on aspects like firmographic data or tech stack information to help you tailor your pitch.
AI-Native sales assistants to save time
This includes Sales AI agents and automated research assistants that provide comprehensive prospect data in seconds. They can put together social activity insight, competitor insight, and other publicly-available data to give you effective conversation starters. These AI tools reduce hours of manual research, enabling your sales folks to focus more on tasks that require human effort and skill.
Modern Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to centralize outbound efforts
The CRM system will be your single source of truth and a robust CRM will help track contact and company data across the sales cycle. You can easily manage activity of multiple sales reps across different channels. CRMs can also help track team performance and give you detailed analytics.
Workflow automation platforms to streamline processes and improve efficiency
Workflow automation is an easy way for companies to improve efficiency of sales teams while restricting excessive spending on scaling outbound sales. Sales automation tools can take care of automating sequenced email outreach campaigns, followups to prospects, etc.
Social media management software to enable social selling
Platforms such as Highperformr can help sales and marketing teams with creating and scheduling posts consistently so as to elevate social presence and grow their social audience. Sales teams can then identify high-intent profiles from their social audience, engage with them, and generate their own leads. This can help build credibility and nurture relationships before the official sales process begins.
Calling software to help scale outreach
Modern calling tools that offer features beyond basic telephony need to be a part of any outbound sales team’s tech stack. It should offer features such as local presence dialing, call recording and transcription, voicemail automation, and call analytics to help you maximize efficiency of cold calling efforts.
Challenges in outbound sales and how to overcome them
We’ve seen the many benefits of outbound sales, but cracking this mode of selling isn not easy. There are many challenges that sales teams will face. Here are some common challenges and what you can do to overcome them:
Low response rates
Outbound sales is a volumes game, and response rates on cold outreach can be frustratingly low.
Solutions:
- Automate basic tasks and use modern tools for orchestrating multi-channel outreach, email sequences, follow ups, etc.
- Prioritize leads using real-time signals and intent data to focus on prospects more likely to convert.
- Ensure personalization to increase response rates.
Maintaining consistency
Outbound sales is a long-drawn process that requires persistent follow-through. This can be difficult for sales teams that aren’t used to the grind.
Solutions:
- Use technology and AI tools to help with consistency. Email automation products can manage follow-up schedules and offer templates for common scenarios.
Time management
Outbound sales is time-intensive by nature. A smart way to manage this is to use resources effectively.
Solutions:
- Use AI for prospect research and even writing personalized conversation starters.
- Optimize outreach by prioritizing your lead list and focusing on high-value prospects.
Key metrics to measure outbound sales success
Here are some key metrics you can track to quantify the success of your outbound sales efforts:
Activity metrics
Number of calls made
- Track both total calls and connects or conversations
- Break down by rep, time of day, and day of week
Email metrics
- Open rate: Percentage of prospects who open your emails
- Response rate: Percentage who reply (both positive and negative)
- Click-through rate: Percentage who click on links in your emails
- Unsubscribe rate: Monitor to ensure messaging isn't alienating prospects
Social engagement
- New connection request acceptance rate
- Audience engagement (likes, comments, shares)
- Direct message response rate
Pipeline metrics
Conversion rate
- Calculate both overall and stage-by-stage conversion rates
- Compare conversion rates across different outreach channels
Cost per lead
- Calculate total costs divided by number of qualified leads
- Include personnel costs, technology, and other overhead
- Compare cost per lead across different sources and campaigns
Average sales cycle
- Measure time from initial contact to closure of the deal
Revenue metrics
Average deal value
- Initial contract value and expansion opportunities
Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
- Calculate total sales and marketing costs divided by new customers acquired
Customer lifetime value (CLV)
- Estimate total value of a customer relationship over time
- Calculate CLV:CAC ratio to ensure profitability
Churn rate
- Calculate both logo churn (customers lost) and revenue churn
Scale your outbound sales efforts using real-time signals from Highperformr
Highperformr has been built to help B2B businesses drive sales effectiveness and improve their outbound sales engine using AI. With Highperformr, you can find and enrich leads with real-time data, prioritize leads for outreach using first-party signals, and automate outbound workflows. To learn more about how revops and sales teams can enhance outbound sales with Highperformr, schedule a demo with our GTM engineer here and feel free to play around with the tool in the meanwhile!
