Sales cadences are your secret weapon for turning prospects into customers. When used correctly, they keep your leads engaged, objections conquered, and deals closed.
In this blog, we’re diving headfirst into the art of crafting sales cadences that convert, giving you best practices, examples, tips and more.
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A sales cadence is a structured sequence of touchpoints/interactions that a salesperson uses to engage with prospects and leads.
It’s a well-planned series of steps designed to move a prospect through the sales process, from initial contact to closing a deal or making a sale.
While cadences and scripts are both important in B2B sales, they serve different purposes.
A sales cadence is a strategic framework that contains several multi-channel touchpoints, while a sales script is a specific tool used within the cadence to guide individual conversations.
A salesperson may use several sales scripts within a single cadence to interact with prospects.
Here are some answers to some frequently-asked cadence questions 👇
Morgan J Ingram, Cognism’s Creative Advisor, recommends a 17-21-day sales cadence.
Why?
You have to give the prospect time to get back to you! A 17-21-day cadence allows you the space to build trust and address prospect objections.
For Florin Tatulea, Director of Sales at Barley, the best sales cadences contain 8-12 touchpoints.
Having fewer touchpoints in a longer cadence means you won’t be bombarding your prospects with requests; the idea is to make your cadence as value-led as possible.
Doing this makes it more likely that your prospects will respond.
Florin told us:
“You should never over-index on one piece of outreach. You need to give people time to see your message and get back to you.”
The 4 key channels are the phone, email, LinkedIn and video.
As your cadence progresses, double down on the channels where you get responses.
As Morgan said:
“You don’t know how people are going to reply, so it’s important to use every available channel.”
Yes - you should always consider regional differences in outbound sales.
Cognism’s SDRs have observed the following:
Morgan’s advice is to stick to 3 cadence templates. They are:
Florin agreed:
“Have 4 to 6 cadences max. As teams get bigger, they should be centrally controlled by management.”
He shared a top tip for sales managers:
At Barley, there is a cadence committee comprised of management and top-performing SDRs. This team reviews and updates the company’s cadences every month/quarter.
Scroll 👇 to see a complete timeline of an ideal B2B sales cadence.
Send the prospect a LinkedIn connection request - but leave it blank!
At this early stage in the cadence, there’s no intent for the prospect. Going in with an obvious sales pitch can turn them away.
Morgan said:
“Lead the cadence with a blank LinkedIn connection request. When I did that, my email and cold call responses increased.”
“The data says that if you don’t include a note, you get a higher acceptance rate.”
Follow up your LinkedIn connection with an email.
The recommended word count for a sales email is 75-100 words, with 75 being the optimal range.
Florin shared this advice:
“Provide context for what you do in one sentence. And don’t ask for a meeting in your first email. Ask for interest.”
What does asking for interest in a sales email look like? Try this wording:
It’s about asking the prospect for their permission to continue the conversation.
What about the subject line?
It’s a good idea to call out the prospect’s direct reports by name. Also, focus on the cost of the prospect’s failure to take action.
Like so:
Subject lines like these spark curiosity and emotion. They’ll compel the prospect to open the email!
Call the prospect.
If they don’t answer, leave a voicemail saying you’re sending an email in the next 5 minutes. Then send the email.
It’s a hyper-aggressive approach:
You’re hitting the prospect with 4 touches in 3 days - but you want to maximise engagement.
Keep trying to catch the prospect on the phone.
If you don’t get through, don’t leave a voicemail. You sent the prospect a voicemail on Day 3, and you have to give them time to get back to you.
If you do get through, it’s likely the prospect will have some sales objections about your product.
Here’s how to combat those objections:
Florin had this to say about video prospecting:
“Invest in a video later on in your cadence. Once you see a prospect is engaged - once they’ve opened an email or clicked on a link. Then go ahead and spend time recording a video.”
“Videos are very good once you’re in conversation with a prospect. After a cold call, after a discovery call - that’s when you want to show your face and stand out.”
Here’s an example of a prospecting video from one of Cognism’s SDRs 👇
This email should be highly personalised and persona-based.
Something like this - but adapt it to the prospect you’re outreaching to.
Give the prospect a few days to mull over your email.
If they don’t reply by Day 13, try calling them again.
We’re getting into the latter stages of the sales cadence.
At this point, send the prospect an email containing a customer quote or case study. A little social proof can go a long way!
Here’s an example from Cognism’s SDRs:
Again, allow the prospect some breathing room to reply to your email.
If there’s still no reply 3 days later, call them.
If they don’t pick up, leave them a short voicemail telling them that, as they haven’t replied, you’ll stop contacting them.
It’s time to close the cadence!
Send the prospect a goodbye email - but don’t make it completely final.
A good idea is to ask the prospect for feedback on your outreach. This can open up a conversation, even at this late stage.
Here are some tips for dealing with rejection in sales:
Personalisation is a hot topic in sales, and rightly so. It’s crucial for building meaningful relationships and increasing your chances of conversion.
Here are some strategies to help you tailor your sales cadence for individual leads:
What does success look like for sales cadences?
These are B2B industry averages:
Florin had this advice for SDRs:
“Take data with a grain of salt. If your email and call rates are super-low, it’s possible that you need to improve significantly. But you should compare your results to other people in your industry and the persona you’re selling to.”
Beyond that, there are some key metrics you can track to measure the success of your sales cadences:
These are the three sales prospecting tools our reps couldn’t do without!
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Yes, you heard us right!
ChatGPT isn’t just for getting quick recipes or holiday itineraries; it also has lots of applications for salespeople and their cadences.
Cognism’s reps use it to research industries, define pain points, and rewrite cadence emails, among many other things.
It’s all about the prompts you give it - for more info on this, don’t miss Cognism’s guide on how to use ChatGPT for sales!