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2020 EDITION

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
03 INTRODUCTION

05 THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF A SALES CADENCE

11 CALLS

14 VOICEMAIL

17 EMAIL

21 SOCIAL

25 DIRECT MAIL

27 TEXTING

29 EXAMPLE CADENCES

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INTRODUCTION
Every sales representative executes a ‘cadence’ when they reach out Because these cadences are built purely on intuition, the answers to
via email, phone, sms, or social media to initiate a conversation with the above questions introduce a variety of answers – many of which
a potential prospect. The art of a cadence is determined based on a limit a sales rep’s ability to effectively turn prospects into potential
myriad of factors, fueled primarily by sales reps’ intuition regarding buyers.
the company and contact being pursued. However, there are a lot • Place one call too many, and you tick off your lead or contact.
of questions that aren’t always clear when initiating a conversation
• Give up too soon on someone, and you will turn up short on quota.
and creating a successful cadence.
• Use the wrong the communication method and you’ll get a
• How many times should I attempt contact?
response
• How long should I wait between attempts?
So, what is the right cadence and how should companies begin
• What methods are most likely to result in a conversation?
building them?
• What messaging will resonate with my potential buyer?
The research and best practice arm of XANT spent the last 12 months
• When should I give up?
cracking the code on cadence, producing a more clear definition and
These are only a few of the many questions sales reps consider uncovering the five critical components for a successful cadence.
when creating their optimal cadence.

Playbooks™ is the enterprise-grade cadence solution from XANT built around these best practices and powered by AI.

Playbooks™ guides sellers to connect with buyers faster by improving their productivity, enhancing visibility, and
promoting stronger sales effectiveness.

To learn more, visit www.xant.ai/playbooks/

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THE DEFINITION OF A SALES CADENCE

A sales cadence is vital to your sales strategy. It’s the path a sales rep follows to success, and
when it’s implemented correctly, a sales cadence can nearly double your contact rates. Our
definition of a sales cadence is a sequence of activities that increases contact and qualification
rates.
When cadences are performed correctly, they not only increase a rep’s ability to engage with a
prospect, but they also educate buyers further down the sales pipeline.

INBOUND CADENCES OUTBOUND CADENCES

An inbound cadence, is when a rep reaches out to someone An outbound cadence, is when a rep reaches out to someone
who knows your company with a certain sequence of sales who doesn’t know your company via email, phone or other
activities. In our research, we’ve studied over 14,000+ methods of communication. In our research we’ve studied
cadences, made up of 144,000+ total activities, across more than 1.5 million activities across 479,140 outbound
nearly 9,000 companies. (Please note the inbound leads cadences.
we studied were considered high scoring leads as they
came from web forms such as contact us, free trial, and
demo request. Not all inbound leads are created equal so
the findings in this paper will focus on what reps do and
should do to optimize their interaction with high priority
inbound leads).

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The Five Elements of a Sales Cadence1

Most sales leaders measure their sales teams’ productivity
by the number of contact attempts per lead. While volume
is an important part to a sales rep’s success, when it comes
to effective cadences, the number of attempts is only one
piece of the puzzle. Here are the five key elements of a
successful sales cadence:

ATTEMPTS The total number of touch points made

MEDIA The type of communication methods used
DURATION The time between the first and last attempt
SPACING The time gap between contact attempts
CONTENT The messaging used

Let’s dive into each of these briefly to understand them in

more detail.

1
Note this book is focusing on a sales cadence and not a marketing cadence.

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IN PLAYBOOKS™

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THE STRUCTURE OF A SALES CADENCE

When deciding the structure of a cadence you need to review five elements:

ATTEMPTS
This is the total number of touches on a lead or contact. We It’s important to note the data we studied, only included
performed a survey and asked over 1000 companies how phone, voicemail, and email. With that said, it is our belief
many touches they executed on a lead or contact and the that including other mediums such as social, mailers, and
total number was 15.4. text messages is extremely helpful. As a recommendation,
That 15.4 breaks down to 4.7 calls, 4.6 emails, 2.9 we would suggest the following which includes all
voicemails, 1.8 social touches, 0.8 mailers, 0.7 text communication methods:
messages. But that’s what they ‘said’ they did. What did Inbound:
they really do, and how many attempts should someone
actually make? Phone, VM, Email = up to 10 touches

When we examined what reps actually did by analyzing Phone, VM, Email, Social, Direct Mail, Text = up to 10
big data from XANT, we found that the typical inbound touches
cadence has 4.05 attempts and the typical outbound
Outbound:
cadence has 3 attempts. There is clearly a disconnect
between what people say they do, versus what they Phone, VM, Email = up to 6 touches
actually do.
Phone, VM, Email, Social, Direct Mail, Text = up to 8
What should be the total amount of touches? The data touches
tells us for an inbound cadence you can do up to 10 total
attempts, with six attempts as the sweet spot, and for
an outbound cadence up to six total attempts, with three
attempts as the sweet spot. Doing more is not necessarily
bad, it’s just less effective.

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MEDIA
This is the media pattern used. You can get very creative When we looked at most optimal cadences, for inbound
with media. You can only use phone calls or only send the most successful cadence was Call - Voicemail - Email
emails or you can use a combination of the two as well as repeated between 6-10 touches. Unfortunately this
other forms of communication. The key with media is to combination was only used 4.7% of the time. The idea of
remember there are six types of communication methods using multiple communication methods to see success is
you can use for prospecting: not new.
Our research has shown time and again that using multiple
communication methods is always more effective than
Phone Texting Voicemail Email Video Social Direct using just one:
Calls Media Mail
• one communication method: 9.5% success rate
Voicemail and video have been debated as communication • two communication methods: 22.5% success rate
methods as they both use other mediums to communicate • three communication methods: 25.1% success rate
their message. Although that may be true, both of them
play a big role in how reps communicate to prospects so we That’s a big difference in your ability to have a conversation
opted to put both them in. when using a single communication method versus three
communication methods (165.9% higher).
When we examined inbound cadences, we found the most
used media was a single email with 31.6% of all cadences When we examined outbound sales cadences, it was
following this approach. It’s boring, I get it but this is where completely different than inbound when it came to media.
most sales reps stop. The five most popular inbound The most utilized outbound sales cadence was a single dial
cadences were: with 26.5% of all cadences following this pattern. But, just
because it was heavily used, doesn’t mean it was optimal.
Email
Call - Voicemail
Email - Email
Call - Voicemail - Email
Email - Email - Email

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Here are the top five most optimal outbound sales cadences: You’ll note that the above examples only include phone,
voicemail, and email due to lack of data for other forms
of communication. Using social, video, direct mailers, and
Call - Call - Call - Call - Email - Call text messages can be very effective in both inbound and
Email - Call - Call - Call - Call - Call outbound cadences.
Call - Call - Call - Email - Call - Call
Call - Call - Email - Call - Call - Call
Call - Email - Call - Call - Call - Call
Transactional vs. Relational Sales

When it comes to using different communication methods, Transactional

you should figure out what works best for you and your In this sales model, the sales rep gets in touch
audience, but here are a couple principles you should with a lead and simply tries to close a sale
without trying to build a relationship with the
consider: prospect. Every deal has a small number of
• Phone is 2x more popular than email (65.6% of all activities decision makers (1-3), deals have a shorter
for phone versus 31.8% all activities) sales cycle of < 90 days, and deal sizes are
under $32,000.
• More communication methods, typically the better
• Reps who follow up on inbound leads should focus more on Relational
aggressive methods such as the phone. This is especially Relational sales are better suited for sales in
large companies with over 100 employees, and
true if this is a transactional sale where deals are smaller where deal sizes are over $32,000. The sales
and sales cycles are faster. rep needs to build relationships inside the
• Reps who go outbound to target contacts and accounts company, which means that the sales cycles
are a bit longer (>90 days), and you need to
should start with more passive communication such as build rapport with more decision makers (4+).
email or social, followed by more aggressive communication
like the phone. This is especially true if this is a relational
sale where deals are larger and sales cycles are slower.

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DURATION SPACING
Duration is the time between the first and last attempt. Spacing is the time between activities. Spacing is the
1000+ companies reported the average duration was most overlooked element of a cadence.
29.3 days for a sales cadence. Again, when we analyzed In our study, companies reported the average spacing
the XANT data set for inbound leads we found the actual for cadence activities was 1.9 days. Most sales reps
duration was at 4.89 days but when looking at outbound believe cadence spacing should fall between one and four
cadences the duration 20.8 days which was much closer days but some feel it should extend to a week or two.
to the perceived average. When we studied the data, for inbound leads the typical
When analyzing what cadences performed the best for spacing was 4.23 days which is quite a bit higher than
inbound and outbound leads or contacts, the durations people believed they were doing. Reps often feel they are
were not far apart. bugging prospects so we were not surprised to see the
disconnected in what people do versus what they say
For inbound leads, reps should have cadences that last up they do. Interestingly, the time gap after the first contact
to ten days while outbound target accounts should last up attempt was the shortest (16 hours, 45 minutes) and
to twelve days. Like attempts, it is not necessarily bad to each gap got longer until reps finally settled into a weekly
go past these date ranges, it is just less effective. spacing pattern.
To stay in optimal spacing ranges on inbound leads, reps
should have spacing up to two days.

OPTIMAL DURATION IN BUSINESS DAYS Outbound cadences acted similar to inbound cadences
when it came to spacing. For outbound cadences, the
average spacing was 4.5 days and like the inbound
INBOUND
LEADS 10 cadences, the optimal spacing was up to 2 days.

IN PLAYBOOKS™
OUTBOUND
LEADS 12 Steps within Plays can be flexibly spaced by days or even
by hours, and Playbooks™ automatically accounts for
weekends so your reps don’t miss steps without even
knowing it.

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CONTENT
Content is the messaging used within a cadence.
Don’t confuse content with what you say when you PROSPECTING EMAIL
actually make contact with an individual. Content in
this instance is the messaging used in emails, texts,
voicemails, videos, and direct mailers to initiate contact TYPICAL
LENGTH 362words
or educate your buyer. Content can be the x-factor in a
cadence as a rep can send one really good email and the
rest of the cadence may not be necessary. OPTIMAL
LENGTH <300words
When it comes to optimal content structures and
strategies, we will review those in details in the below
sections but let me discuss some data points regarding
content that might be of interest.
The typical prospecting email is 362 words and nearly
half of voicemails were over 30 seconds. When analyzing VOICE MESSAGES
best practices across both inbound and outbound, the
optimal length of an email varied but emails with less
than 300 words did perform better than emails with over
300 words. There is a debate among many sales reps
TYPICAL
LENGTH >30seconds
about the optimal length of an email. Some argue for
extremely short emails while others argue for long-form
emails. At this point, we do not have the best answer for
OPTIMAL
LENGTH <30seconds
this using data.
When it came to voice messages, the data showed under
30 seconds is more optimal than over 30 seconds.

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CONTENT
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CALLS
With the sequence in place, we’re ready to focus on step
five - plays. Let’s first look at phone call plays as part of your
cadence. The average lead is only called 1.5 times. That’s not
going to cut it, but what is? We did a study in conjunction
with the Harvard Business Review that examined over
100,000 phone calls. The purpose of the study was to
determine what are best practices around calling cadences.

The study answered five key questions:

What is the best day to call?

What is the optimal time to call?

How fast should you respond to inbound leads

Is an out-of-state area code better or worse than a local area code?

What is the optimal number of phone calls?

Let’s review the answers.

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PHONE BEST PRACTICES

WHAT IS THE BEST DAY TO CALL? WHAT IS THE OPTIMAL TIME TO CALL?

Believe it or not, it’s Wednesday and Thursday. There is a 4 to 6pm is the best time to call to make contact with
49.7% difference in contact rates between Thursday and a lead. It is 114% better than calling at 11 to 12pm, right
the worst day Tuesday. Interestingly, Wednesdays and before lunch. 8-9am and 4-5pm are the best times to
Thursdays are also the best days to call to qualify leads. call to qualify a lead. 8-9am is 164% better than calling at
Wednesday was the top day and it was 24.9% better 1-2pm, right after lunch. That’s a big difference!
than the worst day, which was Friday. Why is this? When
I’ve talked to busy decision makers they say Monday and
Tuesday are spent digging themselves out of the weekend
traffic and Friday they try to get out of work early.

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HOW FAST SHOULD YOU RESPOND TO IS AN OUT OF STATE AREA CODE BETTER OR
INBOUND LEADS? WORSE THAN A LOCAL AREA CODE?

The magic number is 5 minutes. You are 100x more likely What does this mean? It means when you call a prospect--
to contact a lead and 21x more likely to qualify a lead if you how big of an advantage is it to have a local area code
contact that lead in under five minutes. This data scares number display on the prospect’s caller-id? The answer
people and truthfully makes some people uncomfortable. is, it’s a pretty big deal. A local phone number has as much
“If I contact a lead too fast won’t I scare them?” No, as 25% better contact rates than long distance or out of a
actually the most common word when reps respond state area code. That’s huge!
quickly to a lead is, “Wow”. People like to buy from people
who hustle and responding in five minutes is hustling. WHAT IS THE OPTIMAL NUMBER
OF PHONE CALLS?
One note here. Not all leads are created equal. You have
to find the balance of speed and priority. If you don’t have Most sales reps get nervous because they don’t want to
the capacity to respond to all leads quickly, you should bother people. The average prospect is only called 1.5
respond to your best leads first. times. How many times should you call?

But our data shows that busy decision makers expect to be

contacted a lot because they are busy and difficult to get a
hold of. As a sales rep, best practice says you want to make
six phone calls per lead over the length of your cadence to
put your chance of contact up to almost 90%.

Call three is where the magic happens. At call three

you increase your chance of contact to almost 80% so
truthfully calls four, five, and six do not yield that much
more value. For this reason, our foundational cadence
recommends you start your cadence at three phone calls.

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CALLS
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VOICEMAIL
With phone calls discussed in the last section, next is voice
messages. Can you believe that 50-75% of reps don’t leave
voice messages?

You may not only believe that, but you may be a sales rep
who doesn’t leave voice messages. Is voicemail dead? It’s a
fair question, but remember one study on communication
methods found that 66.3% of business professionals said
they were likely to respond to voicemail.

So the data says it isn’t dead, but I do believe some reps

have a misconception about what voicemail should and
shouldn’t do. What is the purpose of a voicemail? Michael
Pedone from SalesBuzz says the purpose of the first
voicemail is to get a callback and advance the sale.

Reps tell me all the time that when they leave voicemail no
one calls them back so it’s not worth leaving them anymore.
I tell them to remember that the purpose of a voice mail
is not just to get a callback but also to advance the sale.
It’s another touch in the process of gaining visibility and
educating your audience.

Decision makers get hundreds more emails a day than they

do voicemails. A voicemail can be a great way to convey a
message and advance the sale.

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VOICEMAIL BEST PRACTICES

BE PERSISTENT REPEAT YOUR INFORMATION STAND /UP AND SPEAK
The magic number of voicemails is With an office phone, leave your name You need energy and enthusiasm and
three. Create a cadence and find a and number twice and write your the best way to do that is stand-up
way to spread three voicemails over number on a piece of paper so you say when leaving a voicemail.
a 10-business day or 20-business it slowly enough that someone else
day period. Why three voicemails? could write it down or an automated PROVIDE JUST ENOUGH /
We did an internal research study system could transcribe it. If you know INFORMATION
to determine what was the optimal it’s a mobile phone: Don’t leave your Only disclose enough information to
number of voice messages. We number at all. They have it. get a call-back. Don’t give your whole
analyzed thousands of phone calls sales pitch.
both with and without voicemail and PERSONALIZE THE MESSAGE
we compared the contact rate. After Use the prospect’s name two times in START DIFFERENT
the third voicemail if you continue your message. Don’t start with your name and
leaving messages, you hinder your
company name. It’s a sure sign of a
ability to contact your prospect. Your KEEP IT SHORT
sales person. Rather end with that
contact rate is better if you don’t leave
Keep your voicemail short. 18-30 information.
voice messages after that.
seconds is the rule. Respect your
prospects time. REFERENCE OTHER
USE CONTEXT/RESEARCH
COMMUNICATION
Use information gathered in your pre- WRITE IT DOWN
Reference other forms of
call research or information gathered
Winging it only leads to trouble. Write communication such as an email.
from their inbound inquiry.
your voicemails down and practice
leaving a professional message. USE AUTOMATION
ASK WHAT YOU WANT
Sales reps have a lot to do. Using a
Don’t be afraid to ask for what you
mix of pre-recorded voicemails and
want and don’t beat around the bush.
personalized voicemails can increase
effectiveness.

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VOICEMAIL STRATEGIES
Okay, with our best practices in place, let’s discuss voicemail strategies.
Identifying different strategies provides a framework when thinking about your
voicemail that can be really helpful in building a cadence.
There are 12 common voicemail strategies, let’s discuss just a few of them:

A REFERRAL VOICEMAIL CASE STUDY CLIFFHANGER STRATEGY

This is when a colleague, friend, or This is when you use recognized proof This is when you only provide enough
acquaintance is connected or referred stories to help illustrate how you information to get a callback. The
you to this prospect. Here is an can assist your prospect. Here is a cliffhanger strategy can be very
example: sample voicemail using the case study powerful if you do it right.
strategy.
Here is an example:

“John, “Hi John. “John,

Ben Johnson and I connected and We recently helped ABC company I saw on your website an issue with
your name came up as someone double their revenue in 60 days your compliance statement. Can we
who could benefit from the XANT and I wanted to see if we can do the discuss it? {Gabe Larsen here with
Sales Acceleration Platform. Let’s same for you. I can be reached at XANT. I can be reached at {Your
connect. It’s Gabe Larsen with {Your Number} Again, my name is Number}. That number again is
XANT. {Your Number}. Again, {Your {Gabe Larsen}, with XANT at {Your {Your Number}. ”
Number}.” Number}.”

Remember these are just three of multiple strategies we’ve identified to be helpful.

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EMAIL
With voicemails and phone calls covered, now let’s discuss
emails. Did you know there are over 205 billion emails sent
each day? The typical office worker receives an average of
121 emails each day, and 70% of unanswered emails stop
after one attempt.
Email is an important part of your cadence, so we have to get
it right. The key with emails is finding the balance between it
and other forms of communication. With a lot of automation
and the ease of scheduling campaigns, reps are leaning more
and more on emails. Resist the temptation to become an
email marketer and find a way to use email as just one of the
tools in your prospecting tool belt.

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FIVE PART EMAIL STRUCTURE

Let’s get into the basics of creating SUBJECT BODY
an email. We like to keep it simple. The purpose is to get your email Purpose is to ignite action (click on a
There are five parts to structuring a opened, so: link or reply to your email).
successful email.
• Do - keep your subject lines short • Do - make it brief
Here are the do’s and don’ts for each. (around 65 characters)
• Do – use the email strategies we
• Do - consider using images,
discuss in the next section
hashtags, glyph and emojis but do
so sparingly • Don’t – be generic
SUBJECT
• Don’t – use salesy words • Don’t – make it unbelievable
Most importantly test your subject
INTRO CALL TO ACTION
lines. This is of the best benefits of
email engagement tools in the sales Purpose is to elicit a next step.
BODY acceleration space – the ability to • Do – ask direct questions
test what works and what doesn’t is
extremely powerful. • Do – have a clear call to action
• Don’t – be soft
INTRO
Purpose is to catch attention. SIGNATURE
CALL TO ACTION
• Do – personalize. Make it about • Do – standout
them, not about you • Don’t – distract
SIGNATURE
• Do – use the email best practices
we discuss in the next section
• Don’t – begin with your name and
your company name. It’s too salesy.

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EMAIL BEST PRACTICES

We discussed in the last section the TEMPLATES PICTURES
basics of structuring your email. Let’s
Using templates allows you to actually Pictures and gifs should be used
now move to email best practices.
test your strategies which is key to sparingly.
Here’s what research shows about success.
email best practices: NUMBER
LINKS
In our Labs we’ve found three to be
Don’t go overboard with links and the optimal number of emails. Other
BEST DAY attachments, these can get your studies such as Lead Genius indicate
According to an analysis of 500,000 emails filtered out as spam. One link that persistency pays off even up to
sales emails, emails sent on the and one attachment should be enough five emails.
weekend are opened 73.6% versus to get your point across.
FIRST CALL SEQUENCE
66.3% during the week and the reply IDEAL LENGTH STRUCTURE
rate is much higher on the weekend as
well. We’re not saying you should only The shorter the better. A Boomerang Utilize your first call sequence to help
send emails on the weekend, but it is a study showed that emails between you structure your emails which we’ll
strategy you should test. 50-125 words had the best response discuss in later sessions.
rate at just above 50%.
BEST TIME
SOPHISTICATION Proof is always in the pudding. These
Email follows a similar pattern as
phone calls – reply rates are good We all love our buzzwords and are some of the best practices we’ve
early in the morning and late evening. industry terms, but the same witnessed. What are the best practice
6-7am and near 8pm were the most Boomerang study showed that emails for your product, industry and
effective at getting a response, with written with a third-grade reading audience? Test and you’ll find them.
reply rates hovering around 45%. level performed 36% better than
those written at a college reading
level.

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EMAIL STRATEGIES
Now that we’ve covered best practices, let’s move to email strategies. Voicemail and email strategies are very similar.

COMPETITION STRATEGY PAIN ELIMINATION RESEARCH

Here is an example of an email Explains how your service solves Use relevant info from external
strategy for competition: specific challenges: sources to personalize your message:

Subject: Some Ideas for Subject: Sales Forecast Driving Subject: Gallup Research for Your
Generating More Revenue With You Crazy? Sales Team
Fewer Deals. Hi John, some of the VPs of Hi John, a Gallup poll reported that

Hi John, ABC Company, one of sales I have worked with have employee engagement on the sales
said, “I just want to know floors is at an all-time low at 29%. A
your competitors, was able to
what is going on with the sales lot of sales leaders know they have an
generate more sales revenue
pipeline.” We’d love to discuss engagement problem, but they don’t
while working less deals. We’d
how more visibility into the know how to fix it. We have hundreds
love to go into the detail with
sales pipeline can improve your of clients who are now using TVs
you some time in the next
sales forecast. When would be with stack rankings and real-time
couple of days.
a good time to connect? competitions to drive engagement &
When could we find 5 minutes productivity through the roof.
to connect? How’s your team’s engagement? Do
you have time this week to discuss?

These are just examples, of course, it’s up to you to personalize to industry and company.
To learn more about email prospecting strategies, see this infographic.

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IN PLAYBOOKS™

EMAIL
In addition to traditional email capabilities like click-to-email, templates
and threaded emails, Playbooks™ offers powerful insights to guide
engagement, like Smart Send, which schedules emails to auto send when
customers are most likely to open; Email Suggestion, which recommends
a better email address; Verified Email, which identifies whether or not an
email successfully connects.

LEARN MORE >

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SOCIAL
With phone, voicemail and email covered the last piece, we’ll
discuss social. We ran an internal study in the XANT Labs
and it showed that LinkedIn InMail had a 3x response rate in
comparison with email. That’s powerful!
But how do you engage with a prospect via social in a
cadence strategy? There are six key skills you need to
master.

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THE SIX SOCIAL SKILLS (6Cs)

Before you begin using social in a cadence strategy, you need to get the basics of social selling.
We believe the 6C’s are the basic skills you need to start with.

COMPLETE CONTENT COMMUNITY

The first C is complete. But which If you are a good writer, speaker, You need to connect and target your
platform should you complete? or videographer, you can generate communities. The best communities
LinkedIn is for B2B business. your own content. If not, you can do are those that already exist with
Facebook is for personal use and just fine by curating other people’s common interest or common
consumers, though consumer content. You can also collaborate with experience; here’s just a few examples:
companies use it well for business. other strong content generators, for
• University or alumni groups
Blogs are the true platform for serious improved results.
authors and thought-leaders. Twitter • Work groups
Value is key. What value do you offer?
amplifies your message. Pinterest • Relevant industry groups
What stories can you tell? What
and Instagram are visually-focused. • Trade groups or associations
content can you share to help others?
Choose wisely.
Help people, and respond when others
Purpose: If your purpose on LinkedIn ask questions. If you’re not producing
is to promote your business, then a lot of content yourself, you can use
don’t make it look like an online content curation sites:
resume that is trying to get you a job. • BuzzSumo • Feedly.com
• Bufferapp.com • Flipboard
• Reddit.com • Social networks
• Hootsuite themselves

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COMMENT Practice by leaving comments on CALL TO ACTION

Facebook posts, blogs, books reviews
Prospects have to know you exist. As the conversation continues,
on Amazon, and articles on Forbes.
You have to capture your prospects you have to bridge over to a
Invite others to join the conversation.
attention by making yourself visible commitment. A Call to Action could
A conversation is the key to
to them on social channels. You do mean moving to a more assertive
engagement.
this by providing LUV or Leaving form of communication, such as a
Unsolicited Validation. CONNECT phone conversation. You can ask
Each social channel has its way them for small commitments, like
Connecting to other people is a skill
to subtly get on the radar of your joining a webinar or downloading a
all on its own. When I first started as
prospect. On LinkedIn you can resource-- or bigger ones like events,
a newbie on my own LinkedIn account
connect, mention, like, share, or joining a presentation. Too often
years ago, I almost got banned for
comment, recommend, endorse, reps get stuck at this step because
trying to connect to too many people. I
follow, or send an InMail. On Twitter it’s uncomfortable. Get out of the
soon learned that to connect I needed
you favorite, reply, retweet, and friendzone and move them to a real
an existing connection or relationship.
mention. prospect by giving them a strong call
They needed to be aware of who I
to action.
If you choose to comment, always was. You can bridge from other media,
be thoughtful. Show that you have messaging, or meetings, voicemail,
read or viewed their content. Don’t even email to an immediate follow up
just make what we call a “drive-by in LinkedIn. One of the key ways to get
comment.” people to connect is to offer content
around a mutual common interest or
How do you get others to comment? experience.
• Ask a question.
• Request feedback.
• Stir the pot.
• State a strong opinion.
• Prime the pump with a first comment.

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APPLYING SOCIAL IN YOUR CADENCE

Okay so how do you apply the 6cs in your cadence strategy? Focus on the last three Cs.
Comment, Connect, and Call to Action.

Feel free to tailor your interactions

INTERACTION 1 to your business. Sometimes you
won’t be able to find your prospects
COMMENT
on LinkedIn so you may have to skip
Find your prospect on social and show them LUV. Focus on commenting your social interactions as part of your
on a post or comment, like something they posted or have done. cadence. Find what works for you and
test it.
The thing I love about social is it’s
INTERACTION 2 different than phone and email.
Here is an example:
CONNECT John, I saw you were speaking With phone and email, you often are
on the 20/20 panel. I’m excited asking for something. On social, you
Request to connect. Don’t leave the to tune in as I’m passionate
can listen and respond. Listening
message blank. Ideally, reference some of about the topic of ‘The Future of
Sales.” with intent means you are more
the LUV from your initial interaction. Or, likely to be able to start a meaningful
See you on Wednesday. Gabe
use an email strategy for an introduction. conversation with your prospect.
Learn more about how to fit social
INTERACTION 3 selling into your cadence strategy. See
this ebook!
CALL TO ACTION
Once they have accepted your connection request, you can move to the
call to action. Now you can share valuable content and propose a meeting.

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IN PLAYBOOKS™

SOCIAL
Playbooks™ includes
a native integration
into the LinkedIn Sales
Navigator Application
Platform (SNAP).
Send InMail and view
insights, like Related
People, directly from
the Playbooks™ panel.

LEARN MORE >

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DIRECT MAIL
These days, it seems like every other sales rep is in love with
email. I don’t discount its powerful ability to drive business;
however, email is just one component of a healthy sales
cadence. Our research shows that a full 65% percent of
leaders said they are likely to respond to direct mail, and its
perceived response rate is higher than that of email.
Direct mail consists of a physical item (note, gifts, etc)
mailed to a prospect or customer to initiate a conversation
or build a relationship.
Direct mail is useful when you’re targeting a select group
of people (usually high-ranking executives, managers or
directors) in an attempt to create a relationship with the
prospect – one that surprises, brings joy or elicits other
emotion. It’s an outreach tactic for your more sophisticated
targets.
Here’s some ideas for effective Direct Mail:
• Handwritten cards
• Printed cards
• E-gifts (electronic gifts)
• Small gifts with company branding
• Small gifts without company branding

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APPLYING DIRECT MAIL IN YOUR CADENCE

Here are a few tips for creating a rocking direct mail campaign:

YOUR GIFT DOESN’T HAVE TO PERSONALIZE

IN PLAYBOOKS™
BE EXPENSIVE
One of the most successful sales
Some of the most popular and strategies is personalizing the gift –
cost-effective direct mailers are and the message for your campaign to Add custom steps into your Plays for
handwritten cards, pens, and mugs. make sure it fits your target audience. tasks like direct mail to expand your
This shows you don’t have to break You can do this by segmenting your channel reach, increasing your odds
the bank to get through to a client. target audience, using references to of connecting with and engaging
industry terms, or simply speak loudly customers.
BUT NOT TOO CHEAP, EITHER to their pain points.
The one practice which was most Example: If you’re selling financial
likely to reflect poorly on response services for example, and you’re
rates and the company sending the sending a Starbucks coffee gift card,
gift was sending gifts with a perceived your message could read something
value of under $11. like:
MAKE IT USEFUL “Enjoy a coffee on us, while we work on
Useful gifts were much more likely your accounts.”
to get a response in our study (47%
chance of response) when compared
to edible gifts (3.7% chance of a
response).

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TEXTING
Text messages are no longer just for close friends. Texting
can be just as important as any other communication
media, when creating a sales cadence. It’s a convenient
form of communication, that’s usually read instantly due to
notifications, and allows emojis to make it more personable.
Text messages are very popular outside of the workplace,
but they have been gaining ground in the work space as
well. Around 62% of people now use texting daily at work,
according to a 2017 study, the “Evolution of Business
Communication.”
Over half of respondents (56%) say they recommend texting
as a good way to get ahold of them at work. Texting is more
popular among Baby Boomers than Millenials -- but it does
carry a sense of urgency, as 3 out of 4 texts are read outside
of work.

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APPLYING TEXTING IN YOUR CADENCE

So, how do you make texting a part of your sales cadence, without seeming like a creep?
Because texting is so common when talking to family and friends, you need to be careful not to
over-use text messages as business communication.

DO’S OF TEXTING IN SALES: DON’TS OF TEXTING IN SALES:

• Spell-check each and every one of your messages. • Don’t overuse jargon, slang, or get sloppy with your
Nothing’s more lame than getting a text from a writing. It’s supposed to be brief, not bad. One smiley
salesperson about ‘premium a offerting.” face is OK, but using a lot of emojis is unprofessional.
• Be relevant, concise and to the point. Text messages • Don’t cold text your prospects. Texting is more
carry a sense of urgency, so don’t over-communicate. personable and urgent, so use it with people you already
• Send your text at an appropriate time. Every text have a relationship with.
message has a sound notification, so don’t wake up your • Don’t spam your prospects. Make sure they are opted in
prospect with a text at 5AM. for your messages and provide an exit, or you’ll fall foul
of the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act).

You can use text messages when you’re already in contact with somebody, and you’re
coordinating logistics to make sure your deal progresses.
Examples:
• “Just wanted to let you know I’ll be meeting you in the lobby”
• “I sent you the updated quote you requested by email, wanted to make sure you saw it”

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IN PLAYBOOKS™

TEXTING
While new to the sales cadence, SMS texting can be a powerful channel
for getting through to customers. Incorporate texting steps in Plays or
send texts ad hoc.

LEARN MORE >

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IN PLAYBOOKS™

VISIBILITY WHO IS WORKING? WHAT IS WORKING? DATA INSIGHTS FOR THE

ENTIRE ORGANIZATION
• What are reps spending • Which Plays have the
See how your team is time on? best results? Empirical data insights for
performing and where they • Who’s adhering to Plays? • Which emails perform
everyone, not just sales, to
make better decision
can improve with direct CRM • How does everyone the best?
integration and reporting. compare with each other? • Which Plays have the
highest contact rate?

LEARN MORE >

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IN PLAYBOOKS™

PRIORITIZATION
Target and prioritize your ideal accounts and buying groups​.
Work smarter with scoring and customer engagement insights
to know where to focus and when to act.

AUTO ENROLL
Enroll accounts, people and opportunities; set up triggers
to mark an effort successful, update CRM fields, alert to
additional required actions, and more.

CUSTOM SORTING
Custom sort daily tasks with multi-tiered rules
using customer data.

TASK FILTERING
Multi-object filtering by task, type, status and time zone.

INTELLIGENT PRIORITIZATION
Prioritize your daily sales tasks by the accounts, people and
opportunities most likely to lead to accelerated revenue
growth.

LEARN MORE >

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EXAMPLE CADENCES
Now that we’ve discussed the five steps on how to build an optimal cadence, let’s look at a few examples.

EXAMPLE ONE

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
• Lead with Email - Email can be a strong • Same Day - An obvious problem is that reps are encouraged to set a task every week. If
and less intrusive way to kick off this you reach out on the same day every time this can be problematic.
cadence based on the audience and the • Spacing - The spacing of activities is too wide. Keep in mind the law of immediacy: if
role. you’re trying to educate your buyer and you hit them only once a week, they are much
• Voicemail - Voicemail is one additional, more likely to forget about you.
low effort touch point to encourage • Length - This cadence is too long. Marketing should enforce rules to enroll contacts like
action on the part of the customer and this in drip campaigns rather than have the rep maintain them on their radars for 77 days.
teams should opt to include it. • Social - In this type of role (relational outbound) social needs to play a part in the
cadence.
• Mix - Combining multiple channels like phone calls, voicemails, and emails is a strong
approach, but don’t do the same thing every time.

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EXAMPLE TWO

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
• Start - The first three days in this Play • Touches - This is a little weak in the overall number of touches. Target at least 10.
are strong. • Social - Include social in the cadence. That’s a major oversight for this company and
• Mix - There’s a good mix of phone calls target customer.
with voicemails and phone calls without • End - Ending with two emails is weak. Be more aggressive. Phone calls don’t represent a
voicemails. dead channel; they still perform quite well.

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EXAMPLE THREE

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
• Social - Good to see social as part of • Touches - For a transactional business, the number of touches is a little low.
the cadence. • Email - Leading with email can be effective but begin with three emails and plan a phone
• Email - They’ve incorporated a strong call step on day three.
push with emails. • Mix - This is not enough phone calls. I’d do a minimum of three.
• Length - This is too short. Push it to over two weeks.
• Voicemail - They should include another voicemail as part of the last step.

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SALES CADENCE TEMPLATES

Ideally, every sales cadence will be customized based on your type of sales environment, product
and target audience characteristics. Of course it helps to have some kind of standard cadence to
start with.
We put together seven sales cadence templates that will help you double your contact rates in
20 days. Each is tailored for a specific type of sales development team, so you can play to your
individual strengths.
Download your free templates here:

GET THE TEMPLATES

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