Outbound Sales
A sales cadence is a structured, multi-touch outreach sequence that systematically moves a cold prospect toward a meeting. Here's the 10-touch, 28-day framework and how to build it into your outbound motion.
Multi-channel. Systematic. Built to run without the founder managing every follow-up.
Reference a specific trigger event, recent news, or shared connection. No product pitch. One clear problem statement and a single low-friction ask.
Send a connection request with a brief, non-salesy note. Reference the same trigger event from your email. Keep it under 300 characters.
Leave a 20-second voicemail that references your email and creates curiosity — not a product pitch. End with a specific follow-up commitment: "I'll send one more note Friday."
Send a piece of relevant content — a short case study, a framework, or a stat that speaks to the problem. Ask if it's useful. Do not pitch.
Comment meaningfully on something they've posted in the last 30 days. Not a like — a thoughtful comment that shows you read it.
Leave a voicemail referencing the value you sent. Offer a specific meeting time: "I have Tuesday at 2pm or Wednesday at 10am — 20 minutes to see if this is relevant to you."
Use a short, different-format email: 2–3 sentences max. Try a direct question instead of a pitch. "Is [problem] something you're actively working on right now?"
Same voicemail structure as Day 14 — slightly different framing. Reference a new data point or development in their industry if possible.
Reply to your original email thread with a single line: "Did this fall off your radar, [Name]?" High reply rates. Keeps the thread context visible.
The final touch. Be direct: "I've reached out a few times and haven't heard back — I'm guessing the timing isn't right. If that changes, here's how to reach me." Often generates replies.
A sales cadence solves one of the most common problems in founder-led outbound: inconsistency. Without a cadence, outreach quality and follow-up frequency depend entirely on individual rep motivation and memory. Some prospects get six touches over a month. Others get one email and never hear from you again. A cadence replaces that randomness with a system — every prospect in the sequence gets the same disciplined outreach regardless of whether the rep is having a good week or a bad one.
The 10-touch template above is a starting point, not a fixed rule. The right cadence for your business depends on your ICP, your ACV, and your sales cycle. A founder selling $100K enterprise contracts needs a different sequence than a team selling $15K SMB deals. What doesn't change is the principle: systematic, multi-channel persistence that respects the buyer's time and earns the meeting through relevance and value, not volume alone. To see how this fits into a complete outbound system, read the full outbound system guide →
The difference isn't effort level — it's whether the system runs when the rep is distracted.
I'm Louie Bernstein — I have 50 years in business experience, including 22 as a bootstrapped founder. My Fractional Sales Leadership business has been helping founders since 2017.
Building cadences is one of the first operational things I do when a company's outbound is inconsistent. In most cases, reps are abandoning prospects after 1–2 touches because there's no system telling them to persist. Installing a cadence and measuring reply rates at each step typically doubles meeting-booked rates within 60 days — not because we're doing more, but because we're doing it systematically.
Research consistently shows that 80% of deals require 5 or more touches before a prospect responds. Most reps stop at 1–2. A 10-touch cadence over 28 days is the right starting point for most B2B outbound programs targeting mid-market buyers. For enterprise buyers with longer research cycles, 12–15 touches over 45 days is more appropriate. The goal isn't more volume — it's systematic, multi-channel persistence that earns the meeting.
For most B2B sales teams, a 10-touch cadence breaks down as: 4–5 emails (the highest-volume, lowest-effort channel), 3 phone attempts (the highest-conversion channel when done well), and 2–3 LinkedIn touchpoints (research, connection, and content engagement). The exact mix should be adjusted based on your ICP — senior executives are harder to reach by phone but more active on LinkedIn; operational buyers often respond better to email.
Start with one company cadence that every rep uses. Variation before you have data is noise, not strategy. Once you've run the cadence through 100+ prospects and have reply rates and meeting rates at each step, you can test variations — different subject lines, different value props, different sequencing. Reps can personalize within the cadence, but the structure should be consistent. Consistency is what makes the data meaningful.
For a team of 1–4 reps, Apollo.io (outbound + sequencing + prospecting data) handles most of what you need at a reasonable price point. HubSpot Sequences works if you're already on HubSpot and your list management is in good shape. Outreach.io and Salesloft are more powerful but designed for larger teams. The tool matters less than the cadence design and the discipline to actually run it — start simple and add sophistication as you learn what works.
In 30 minutes I can assess your current outreach process, identify where prospects are falling through the cracks, and map a cadence that fits your ICP and sales cycle.