9 Best Outbound Sales Strategies for Maximum Results

Jaspar Carmichael-Jack

Dec 13, 2024

12 minutes read

Outbound sales strategies don't always get the best press. It’s far more common to see inbound methods—that don’t “interrupt” prospects—presented as the gold standard.

Yet outbound sales strategies are often more powerful than inbound alternatives. This is because of the simple fact they’re easier to measure and scale. 

By its nature, inbound is variable. It’s dependent on factors like Google rankings and social media algorithms that change faster than the UK weather. Not the case with outbound. 

Done well, outbound strategies can provide large quantities of consistent leads with a clear return on investment (ROI). It’s also possible to scale winning strategies quickly and see the results within days. 

In addition, with the advent of AI tools that match and often exceed human input, outbound has become even more of a cost-effective strategy for businesses. 

With all that in mind, let’s look at the best outbound sales strategies for maximum results. 

What Is Outbound Sales?

Outbound sales is a sales strategy where you reach out to potential customers in the hope of turning them into leads. This can be direct, in the form of a cold call or email. Or it can be more indirect, like an ad in a newspaper. In either case, your brand is initiating first contact. 

Inbound sales, on the other hand, involves customers coming to you. For example, they may find one of your blog posts through Google or sign up for a webinar that a colleague has shared on social media.

Here are the most common outbound sales strategies:

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  Paid ads

  
  
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  Cold calling 

  
  
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  Cold emails

  
  
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  Social selling 

  
  
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  Traditional mail 

  
  

The two main benefits of outbound selling are that it delivers measurable results and it’s scalable. The clarity around performance makes working towards a positive ROI relatively straightforward. And once you’ve found a winning strategy, scaling is often just a case of further investment. 

When it comes to roles, members of outbound sales teams tend to fall into one of three roles: BDRs (business development representatives), SDRs (sales development representatives), and AEs (account executives). To simplify a little, BDRs find the leads, SDRs initiate first contact, and AEs close the deal. 

The Difference Between Inbound Sales and Outbound Sales 

The key difference between inbound sales and outbound sales centers on who initiates first contact. 

Outbound sales involves reaching out to prospects “cold” and initiating a relationship. Conversely, inbound sales is about creating opportunities for potential customers to find your brand, for example through a lovely blog post like the one you’re reading now as part of a content marketing campaign.

Outbound and inbound tend to use different mediums. Outbound sales relies on email, phone calls and SMS, direct messaging, and in-content ads. Inbound sales tactics use organic mediums like search engines, social media posts, and referrals from existing clients. 

Here are the main benefits and challenges of inbound vs outbound sales:

5 Popular Outbound Sales Approach to Get Qualified Leads 

According to research by databox, the most popular B2B outbound sales strategies are (in descending order) referral marketing, paid advertising, and cold outreach.

Let’s take a look at these and other outbound strategies for driving lead generation and filling your sales pipeline. 

1. Cold Calling 

Cold calling involves reaching out to prospects by phone “cold” or with no prior contact. 

Phone numbers are typically collected either by scraping (using software to collect data from websites and online directories) or from lead databases. For example, Artisan’s lead database has over 300 million entries, most of whom have up-to-date contact numbers. 

Here’s what a simple cold-calling workflow looks like: 

1. 

   Build a list of leads that includes phone contact details. 

   
   
2. 

   Check the “hygiene” of contact numbers.

   
   
3. 

   Qualify leads to identify the most promising prospects. 

   
   
4. 

   Reach out by phone, using a tool like RingCentral for international calls. 

   
   

While cold calling is still effective, it has declined in recent years as B2B leads become more resistant to the practice. Two-thirds of salespeople cite it as their least preferred activity. 

2. Sending Cold Emails 

Cold email outreach involves reaching out to leads by email to pitch your services or products. Most cold email campaigns include follow-up after the first email, which have a 40% higher response rate compared to initial emails. 

Here’s what a simple cold email workflow looks like: 

1. 

   Build a lead list of prospects, including email addresses.

   
   
2. 

   Validate email addresses. 

   
   
3. 

   Write personalized emails (often with the assistance of an automation tool). 

   
   
4. 

   Send initial outreach and follow-up. 

   
   
5. 

   Track open and reply rates and test different variations. 

   
   

An AI tool like Artisan streamlines cold emailing significantly. Artisan’s virtual sales rep, Ava, can create hundreds of personalized subject and opening lines on autopilot. She will also optimize your campaigns to increase open and response rates.

3. Social Selling 

Outbound social selling uses direct messaging tools on social media platforms to contact leads. Most B2B sales reps use LinkedIn as their primary social selling platform, but platforms like Twitter and Facebook are also viable. 

Here’s what a simple social selling workflow looks like: 

1. 

   Build a lead list and identify those suitable for social outreach. 

   
   
2. 

   Where appropriate, connect with leads.

   
   
3. 

   Draft personalized messages and use direct messaging tools to initiate contact.

   
   
4. 

   Follow up with additional direct messages. 

   
   

Often, outbound sales teams will use social selling in conjunction with cold emails and phone calls as part of an omnichannel strategy. 

4. Paid Digital Advertising

Paid digital advertising covers several different types of ads, including on-site display ads, social ads, and even account-based ads, where one company is the target of an entire campaign.

Google search ads are generally categorized as an inbound medium because they target leads actively looking for a solution. 

Here’s what a simple paid advertising workflow looks like: 

1. 

   Pick an ad platform like Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Bing Ads, Taboola, Outbrain, and so on. 

   
   
2. 

   Define your audience using your ICPs.

   
   
3. 

   Build advertising infrastructure, including creative assets, copy, and landing pages. 

   
   
4. 

   Run split tests to optimize conversions. 

   
   

5. Traditional Print Media 

You’d be forgiven for thinking, “Print media! Does that even work anymore?”

Many digital marketers overlook traditional print media like newspaper ads and direct mail. Yet traditional ads boast a response rate of 9% and are nearly twice as memorable as digital alternatives. 

Here are some of the most common types of traditional print ads: 

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  Magazine display ads

  
  
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  Editorials and sponsored features

  
  
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  Direct mail (flyers)

  
  
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  Catalogs and brochures

  
  
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  Posters and billboards

  
  

If you’re not already, it can be worth experimenting with more traditional advertising as part of your outbound strategy. It tends to be underused and still offers a solid ROI when done well. 

9 Outbound Sales Techniques for a Higher Conversion Rate 

Let’s look at how you can streamline your sales cycle and maximize your conversions with proven outbound sales strategies.

1. Define and Continuously Refine Your Target Audience

You’ve built the perfect ICP that captures the essence of your prospects’ souls. 

Job done, right? Well, hold up a second. 

Ideal customer profiles (ICPs) are not static documents. Using multiple, dynamic ICPs that evolve with new information is a much firmer foundation for finding leads and closing deals than having a single ICP. 

Here are the main components of a complete B2B ICP:

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  Industry 

  
  
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  Sub–industries 

  
  
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  Location 

  
  
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  Budget 

  
  
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  Employee count 

  
  
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  Technology stack 

  
  
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  Title of contact (CEO, CTO, Sales Director, etc.)

  
  
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  Pain points 

  
  
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  Desires or benefits they’re searching for

  
  

Continuous refining of your ICP will give you a distinct competitive advantage. Many companies fail to update ICPs based on the changing needs of their current clients and insights from the market. 

Conduct regular reviews of your ICPs, incorporating data from client feedback, industry studies, and the experiences of your sales team. 

2. Data-Driven Prospecting and Lead Scoring

Qualification is about using data to filter leads who have the greatest likelihood of converting. 

Most qualification works on a scoring basis, with outbound sales reps assigning points to potential clients based on whether or not they meet certain criteria. 

Use this data-point checklist to score and qualify early-stage leads:

Often, this information will be gathered through email from a lead by a sales-development representative (SDR) prior to a meeting, or otherwise be publicly available. 

Most qualification occurs relatively early in the sales funnel. A lead that has expressed some level of interest is called a marketing-qualified lead (MQL) and is ready for further qualification from an SDR. 

Sales-qualified leads (SQLs) are leads who your sales professionals have deemed likely to buy and represent the highest-priority opportunities. Account executives (AEs) will be eager to meet with SQLs. 

3. Automate Personalized Email Outreach for Your Ideal Customer

According to Bluecore, email personalization increases open rates by 23%, clickthrough rates by 81.5%, and conversions by 133%. 

Yet it’s time-consuming and costly, with many sales teams hiring copywriters exclusively for the task of personalizing cold outreach, mainly cold email and social media messaging. But the stats don’t lie—it works. 

All of the following col email elements should be personalized:

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  Subject line

  
  
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  Opening line

  
  
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  Description of product or services (offer)

  
  
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  Case study (or evidence of past success)

  
  

This is one area where AI can make a big difference, personalizing hundreds of outreach message subject lines, openings, offers and case studies in a fraction of the time it would take a human being. 

For example, Artisan’s virtual AI assistant, Ava, uses up-to-date lead data to craft highly personalized content. This content mirrors human text in a way that’s previously not been possible with traditional automation. 

4. Take an Omnichannel Approach for Maximum Reach 

When it comes to outbound sales, more channels is usually better. 

Don’t rely exclusively on one channel to connect with leads during the outreach phase. Instead, use a mix of carefully chosen channels to maximize your chances of a successful connection.

An omnichannel outreach sequence might look like the following:

1. 

   Run a cold email sequence with follow-up

   
   
2. 

   Connect and message on LinkedIn and Twitter

   
   
3. 

   Reach out with a cold call if there is no reply by email or social

   
   
4. 

   Run an account-based ads campaign (for high-priority leads)

   
   

By reaching out to your prospects across multiple touchpoints, you’re more likely to find a means of communication that works for them. They might prioritize LinkedIn messages over email, for example, or ignore all cold pitches apart from when they’re made on a phone call. 

5. Focus on Giving Value and Benefits

Should you go straight for the sale or butter your leads up with valuable freebies?

As with so many things in the outbound sales game, it depends. Prospects in certain markets might prefer a more direct approach. Others will have a longer sales cycle.

Always conduct your own A/B test to see which approach works best. It’s also worth mentioning that follow-up messages are a good place to provide value, especially if your first message was a direct pitch and received no response. 

Here are some ways you can offer value by solving your clients’ problems before they buy:

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  Exclusive content (white papers, reports)

  
  
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  Templates and practical checklists

  
  
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  Webinars 

  
  
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  Guided free trials and demos

  
  
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  Free consultations

  
  

In addition, try reframing sales meetings as free strategy sessions or audits. You’ll have ample opportunity to provide benefits to your leads while highlighting the benefits of your product. 

6. Develop Strategies to Handle Common Objections

Overcoming objections is a big part of a successful outbound sales process. Counterintuitively, objections are a good thing. According to GTMnow, discussing objections in a sales call can lead to a win rate increase of 30%, assuming they’re handled well. 

Objections tend to fall into three categories:

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  Price. Prospects will often have limited or frozen budgets. The solution is some form of discount, trial or money-back guarantee. 

  
  
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  Trust. This objection centers on the question, “How do I know you can deliver?” The solution is to show more social proof and testimonials. 

  
  
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  Internal bottlenecks. B2B purchases often require sign-off from multiple people in an organization. The solution is to equip your point of contact with the resources they need to convince stakeholders. 

  
  

Ongoing training is invaluable in ensuring your team is equipped to deal with objections. Also create readily-accessible standard operating procedures (SOPs) with prospects’ most common objections. 

7. Follow Up Strategically

Follow-up has a huge impact on outbound sales conversions. For example, sending just one cold follow-up email can increase response rates by 220%. 

In addition to email, phone, social media, and even SMS messages are all effective, for both cold leads and those that have expressed interest but become inactive. 

See follow-up outreach as an opportunity to build your social proof and expertise while offering value. 

Include the following elements in your followup where appropriate:

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  Case studies to build trust

  
  
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  Testimonials from clients in similar industries

  
  
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  Exclusive content like a white paper

  
  
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  An invitation to a webinar

  
  
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  A free strategy session 

  
  

Email automation tools have made it possible to run follow-up sequences on autopilot, but personalization has always been an issue. With AI, however,  this is no longer an issue. 

8. Measure and Optimize Outbound Sales Strategy

You can’t optimize your outbound campaign if you don’t have a crystal-clear understanding of how it’s performing.

The following sales KPIs are most important for outbound sales:

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  Open and response rates (email and direct messages)

  
  
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  Lead-to-customer conversion rate

  
  
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  Meetings booked

  
  
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  MQL to SQL leads

  
  
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  Win rate (percentage of won deals out of all closed deals)

  
  

Together, these metrics provide a full-funnel overview of your outbound sales activities, allowing you to target areas for improvement. 

However, remember that it’s easy to get swamped with unnecessary KPIs. Always ask whether or not a KPI will truly help drive revenue before incorporating it into your analytics strategy.

9. Use Sales Enablement Tools

Your team could be world-class at sales prospecting. They could be medal-winners when it comes to closing deals. But without the right tech stack, running an effective strategy will always be harder than it needs to be. 

The following tools are must-haves for outbound sales teams:

1. 

   AI workflow automation. AI tools like Artisan build on traditional if-then automation and allow you to streamline swathes of your outbound sales process, including personalization and ICP filtering.  

   
   
2. 

   Customer relationship management (CRM). Your CRM is the place where you’ll store lead contact data and track their status as they move through your funnel. HubSpot, Zoho, and Salesforce are all well-known examples.

   
   
3. 

   Analytics. The analytics included in your CRM and workflow automation are usually sufficient for detailed tracking. Dedicated sales analytics can provide an additional layer of insights in some cases.  

   
   
4. 

   Scheduling. A meeting booking tool like Calendly lets team members schedule pitches and calls quickly. 

   
   
5. 

   Cold calling software. Outbound call platforms like RingCentral allow sales teams to make cold calls and send SMS messages cost-effectively.  

   
   

Optimize Your Outbound Sales Strategy With AI

How can AI optimize your outbound sales  and email marketing strategy? 

Let’s look at Artisan as an example. 

Artisan is a full AI-driven outbound platform. Its virtual SDR, Ava, can handle all aspects of outbound sales campaign execution and optimization right up to the moment a meeting is booked. 

Here’s an overview of the core functionality:

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  ICP and buyer persona creation 

  
  
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  Database of over 300 million leads with up-to-date contact information

  
  
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  Lead data hygiene checks

  
  
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  Automated mail warmup for enhanced deliverability and multi-inbox management

  
  
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  Automated personalization of email outreach and follow-up

  
  
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  Playbooks that allow for replication of successful email campaigns

  
  
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  Integrations with your existing tech stack 

  
  

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Author:

Jaspar Carmichael-Jack