Sales Cadence Guide to Increase Revenue (With Examples)

Feeling like a pushy salesperson? Do you ever wonder if there’s a better way to engage with potential customers without sounding like a robot? Well, you’re not alone. In today’s world, traditional sales tactics simply don’t cut it anymore.

That’s where the concept of a sales cadence comes in. But what exactly is a sales cadence, you ask? Think of it as a rhythmic dance, a carefully orchestrated sequence of interactions that guides you and your prospects towards a successful sale.

It’s a human approach that emphasizes building relationships, understanding customer needs, and delivering value.

In this article, we’ll explore the art of sales cadence, uncovering practical tips and techniques to help you connect with your audience in a genuine and effective way.

Say goodbye to pushy sales pitches and hello to a more authentic sales journey. Let’s dive in!

Understanding Sales Cadence and Its Importance

What is a Sales Cadence?

A sales cadence is a structured sequence of sales activities that a sales rep follows to contact prospects. It consists of multiple communication channels like phone calls, emails, LinkedIn messages, or even social media outreach to engage leads. A well-defined sales cadence helps guides the sales reps on when and how to reach out to potential customers.

Sales cadence is not just a series of phone calls or emails; it’s a combination of different outreach methods, carefully designed to keep potential buyers engaged.

Your sales cadence could include a phone call on day one, a follow-up email on day three, a LinkedIn message on day five, and perhaps a voicemail on day seven. It’s all about leveraging multiple channels to engage your target audience effectively.

The Role of Sales Cadence in Sales Process

Understanding the concept of a sales cadence is one thing, but its significance in the sales process is the real game-changer for any sales team.

A good sales cadence forms the backbone of your outbound sales strategy, helping to move leads through the sales funnel and into the sales pipeline.

It’s an essential part of your sales strategy that helps keep leads flowing in and ensures that no potential customers fall through the cracks.

An effective sales cadence can take the guesswork out of the sales process for sales reps. By knowing exactly when and how to engage with leads, sales reps can focus on what they do best – solving the pain points of customers and offering value.

The Impact of a Great Sales Cadence

What makes a sales cadence great? It’s its ability to balance persistence with respect for the prospect’s attention.

It recognizes that while consistent follow-ups are crucial, every contact attempt should offer value, address a pain point, and respect the prospect’s time.

For example, let’s say a sales rep makes a phone call on day one. Instead of making another phone call the next day, the rep could send a personalized email highlighting the prospect’s pain points and how their product or service could solve them. This way, even if the prospect missed the phone call, they still get valuable information through email.

This balance is the essence of a great sales cadence. It not only helps increase response rates but also builds trust with potential buyers. In fact, an excellent sales cadence can significantly boost conversion rates.

By now, it should be clear that sales cadence is not just a concept; it’s a vital part of your sales process.

Building a Winning Sales Cadence

Setting the Foundation: Understanding Your Target Audience

The first step in creating a winning sales cadence is understanding your target audience. Knowing who your potential buyers are, their pain points, and their preferences in communication channels, sets the stage for an effective sales cadence.

Take the time to develop a buyer persona, considering factors like job title, target industry, and company size. Knowing your target audience intimately allows you to tailor your outreach strategy and sales cadence to meet their specific needs and preferences.

Designing Your Sales Cadence: Contact Attempts and Channels

When designing your sales cadence, consider the number of contact attempts and the communication channels you want to use. A good sales cadence will utilize a mix of different outreach channels and methods, from phone calls and follow-up emails to LinkedIn messages and social media outreach.

When considering the number of contact attempts, keep in mind that persistence pays off. Sales reps often give up too soon, but research shows that it often takes more than one phone call or email to get a prospect’s attention.

As for the communication channels, ensure you use multiple channels in your sales cadence. Not all of your potential customers will respond to phone calls, and not all will read their emails.

Diversify your outreach channels to increase the chances of reaching your target audience. LinkedIn messages, for example, can be an effective communication channel even for reaching mid-level managers, while social media platforms may be better for reaching a younger demographic.

Timing Your Communication

After deciding on the contact attempts and communication channels, consider the timing. When should you make that first phone call? How soon should you send a follow-up email? Timing is crucial in a sales cadence, and it’s important to get it right.

A general best practice is to start strong, with several contact attempts in the first few days after a lead enters your sales pipeline. You could start with a phone call on day one, followed by a follow-up email the next day. From there, space out your contact attempts to give your prospects time to respond.

Don’t forget to consider your target audience when planning the timing of your sales cadence. A phone call in the middle of the day may work for some prospects, but not for others. Tailor your timing to suit your target audience’s schedule and preferences.

Leveraging Technology: Sales Cadence Software

Finally, leverage technology to make your sales cadence more effective. Sales cadence software, like Mailarrow, can automate parts of the process, freeing up your sales reps to focus on engaging with potential buyers.

For example, a sales cadence software can automatically send follow-up emails or LinkedIn messages at predetermined intervals inbound lead. This ensures that no prospect falls through the cracks, even when your sales reps are busy.

The above steps provide a general guideline on how to build a sales cadence.

Sales Cadence Examples and Best Practices

Understanding the theory of building a sales cadence is a significant first step. However, putting it into practice may feel daunting.

This section will introduce you to some real-life sales cadence examples and best practices, equipping you with actionable insights to design a sales cadence best practices that fits your sales process perfectly.

Sales Cadence Example 1: B2B Outbound Sales Cadence

Let’s take the example of a B2B outbound sales cadence for a company that targets mid-level managers in the technology industry.

• Day 1: Initial phone call
• Day 2: Follow-up email with a value proposition tailored to tech managers
• Day 4: LinkedIn message introducing the product and addressing potential pain points
• Day 7: Second phone call attempt
• Day 9: Send a personalized email with a calendar link to schedule a phone call
• Day 12: LinkedIn message check-in
• Day 14: Third phone call attempt
• Day 16: Follow-up email summarizing the value proposition
• Day 19: Breakup email expressing hope to connect in the future

Sales Cadence Example 2: B2C Inbound Sales Cadence

For a B2C inbound sales cadence, the communication channels may differ. Here, the focus might be more on social media channels and less on LinkedIn messages and phone calls.

• Day 1: Initial text message or email thanking the potential buyer for their interest
• Day 2: Follow up with a value-filled social media message
• Day 4: Send a personalized email addressing the prospect’s pain points
• Day 7: Send a text message offering a special discount or promo
• Day 10: Follow-up email with testimonials and social proof
• Day 14: Breakup email or text

These are just examples. Remember, your sales cadence will depend on your target audience, the nature of your product or service, and your overall sales strategy.

Best Practices in Designing Sales Cadences

Now that you’ve seen some sales cadence examples, let’s explore some sales cadence best practices.

1. Mix Up Your Communication Channels: As seen in the examples, a good sales cadence incorporates various communication channels. By utilizing different outreach methods, you maximize the chances of connecting with your prospect.
2. Provide Value at Every Touchpoint: Each contact attempt is an opportunity to provide value. Whether you’re addressing a pain point, providing information, or offering a solution, make sure every touchpoint delivers value to your prospect.
3. Don’t Forget the Breakup Email: The breakup email is your final chance to engage your prospect. Keep it professional, polite, and open-ended, expressing hope for future opportunities to connect.
4. Monitor and Optimize Your Sales Cadence: Finally, use your sales cadence software to track the performance of your cadence. Use the data to fine-tune your cadence for better results.

A well-structured sales cadence can work wonders for your sales process. Armed with these examples and best practices, you’re now ready to design your own winning sales cadence.

And remember, our cold email outreach software, Mailarrow, can provide the automation and analytics you need to execute your sales cadence effectively.

The Role of Sales Cadence in Your Sales Process

Having established a clear understanding of sales cadences, their creation, examples, and best practices, it’s time to delve into the integral role they play in your sales process.

A great sales cadence doesn’t operate in a vacuum; it’s a cog in the larger machine that is your sales strategy.

Driving Leads Through the Sales Funnel

One of the critical roles that a sales cadence plays in the sales process is driving leads through the sales funnel. Your sales cadence creates a funnel starts with a large pool of potential buyers, and the objective is to progressively narrow down this pool into quality leads and, ultimately, conversions.

A structured sales cadence, whether it’s an inbound sales cadence or an outbound sales cadence, provides a roadmap for your sales reps to follow as they move leads from one stage of the sales funnel to the next.

It stipulates when and how the various sales teams and reps should contact prospects, ensuring that leads keep flowing through the sales funnel at a steady pace.

Maintaining Consistency and Predictability

Another essential function of the sales cadence is to provide consistency and predictability in the sales process. Sales teams that lack a well-defined sales cadence often find themselves in an ad-hoc and reactive mode, which can lead to missed opportunities and inefficiencies.

A good sales cadence, on the other hand, provides a predictable and repeatable pattern of actions. This allows your sales reps to plan their days and weeks more effectively, knowing exactly when they should be making phone calls, sending follow-up emails, or crafting personalized LinkedIn messages.

Enhancing Customer Experience

In addition to driving operational efficiency, a great sales cadence can also significantly enhance the customer experience.

By maintaining regular and value-driven contact with potential customers, your sales team can build relationships, demonstrate empathy, and provide solutions to the target audience’s pain points.

A sales cadence that aligns with the buyer’s journey and preferences in communication channels can significantly improve the buyer’s experience, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates.

Nurturing Leads and Cultivating Long-term Relationships

Beyond immediate sales objectives, an effective sales cadence is also instrumental in nurturing leads and cultivating long-term relationships.

Not every lead will convert right away, but with a consistent and engaging sales cadence, your sales team can keep the lines of communication open, nurturing these leads until they’re ready to make a purchase.

Sales cadences also serve as a platform for providing continuous value to potential customers, setting the stage for long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.

To facilitate all these functions, utilizing sales cadence software is highly beneficial. A platform like Mailarrow provides the necessary tools to build, execute, and monitor your sales cadences, ensuring that your sales team is always performing at their best.

Understanding the Sales Cadence vs. Sales Sequence Debate

Despite the apparent similarities, sales cadences and sales sequences are not the same. Understanding the difference between the two is crucial for implementing a comprehensive sales strategy.

In this section, we’ll examine the key distinctions and how they can shape your sales process.

Sales Cadence Vs. Sales Sequence

To start, let’s define these terms clearly.

A sales cadence is a strategic approach to outreach that defines when and how sales reps should engage leads.

It includes communication across multiple channels like phone calls, emails, LinkedIn messages, and more, and schedules these interactions in a structured way, as we’ve discussed throughout this article.

A sales sequence, on the other hand, is a series of pre-planned communications or tasks that a sales rep follows to contact a lead. It often exists as a component within the broader sales cadence, outlining the chronological order of outreach attempts for a particular prospect.

For instance, an outbound sales strategy may involve a sales cadence that defines the best days and times for outreach, with build a sales cadence sequence defining the type and order of that outreach—day one might involve a phone call, followed by a personalized email on day three, and so forth.

Interplay of Sales Cadences and Sales Sequences

The effectiveness of your sales process depends on the seamless interplay between your sales cadences and sales sequences.

Sales sequences provide the structure and specific steps your sales reps need to follow, while sales cadences offer the broader strategy that includes timing, frequency, and multiple outreach methods.

For example, within your sales cadence, your sales reps might reach out to a mid-level manager at a target industry company.

The sales sequence would then guide the rep through a set of actions: perhaps beginning with a LinkedIn message, followed by a phone call, a follow-up email, and so on.

How Sales Cadences and Sequences Impact Your Sales Cycle

An optimized interplay of sales cadences and sales sequences can have a profound impact on your sales cycle, reducing the length of the cycle and increasing the speed of conversions.

As we’ve mentioned before, a well-defined sales cadence ensures that leads are consistently moved down the sales pipeline, while an effective sales sequence ensures that each contact attempt is meaningful and progresses the sale.

The combination of a strategic sales cadence with a targeted sales sequence can guide a potential buyer through the sales cycle more efficiently, addressing their pain points at the right time, and ultimately closing the deal faster.

In the upcoming section, we will answer some frequently asked questions about sales cadences and sequences, providing you with additional insights to streamline your sales process.

Don’t forget, with a powerful tool like Mailarrow, creating and implementing your sales cadences and sequences has never been easier.

Advantages of Sales Cadence and Overcoming Common Obstacles

A well-planned sales cadence offers numerous benefits for both sales teams and potential buyers. But creating such a winning sales cadence can present challenges.

In this section, we will outline the advantages and address common obstacles you may encounter in building your sales cadence.

Advantages of a Winning Sales Cadence

A winning sales cadence, comprising a series of well-planned outreach methods, can be instrumental in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of your sales process.

1. Improved Response Rates: The right combination of phone calls, LinkedIn messages, and follow-up emails at the right frequency can significantly increase your response rates.
2. Better Lead Engagement: A good sales cadence can keep leads engaged over time, addressing their pain points at the right moment, and leading to higher conversion rates.
3. Greater Sales Rep Efficiency: With a defined structure for outreach, sales reps can focus on the quality of their engagement, rather than scrambling to decide on the next course of action.
4. Higher Conversions: A great sales cadence can expedite the buyer’s journey, boosting conversion rates and driving higher revenue.

Overcoming Common Obstacles in Building a Sales Cadence

Despite the clear benefits, building your own sales cadence can present challenges. Here are some of the most common obstacles and how to overcome them:

1. Understanding the Target Audience: A sales cadence must be tailored to your target audience’s preferences. This requires an in-depth understanding of your target audience’s behavior, communication preferences, and pain points. Investing time in crafting detailed buyer personas can address this challenge.
2. Balancing Persistence and Intrusion: Striking the right balance between persistent follow-ups and respecting your leads’ space can be tricky. Here, experimentation and analysis of response rates can provide actionable insights to refine your approach.
3. Consistency in Follow-Ups: Maintaining consistency in follow-ups is crucial but can be challenging, particularly for busy sales reps. Sales cadence software like Mailarrow can automate this process, ensuring no potential customer is overlooked.
4. Crafting Personalized Communication: Generic communication can limit engagement. However, crafting personalized emails or LinkedIn messages for every lead can be time-consuming. A good practice here is to create templates that can be easily customized for each lead.

In Conclusion

Whether you’re an experienced sales rep or a newcomer to the field, a structured, tailored sales cadence is a powerful tool to engage leads, boost conversions, and ultimately achieve your sales goals.

By understanding your target audience, experimenting with different outreach methods, maintaining consistent follow-ups, and leveraging the power of sales cadence software, you can create an effective sales cadence that drives your success.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you create a sales cadence?

Creating a sales cadence involves several steps. Start by defining your target audience, including their pain points, preferred communication channels, and when they are most likely to be receptive to your outreach.

Next, create a sequence of communication across multiple channels, such as emails, phone calls, LinkedIn messages, etc.

Vary your outreach strategy to avoid monotonous interaction. Your sequence could start with an introductory email, followed by a LinkedIn message, then a phone call, and finally a follow-up email.

Define the frequency of your outreach attempts as well. You could start with daily contacts and then space them out as time goes on.

Remember, a good sales cadence will vary based on your industry, your product, and your buyer persona. Make sure to test and adjust your sales cadence as you gain more data about what works best.

What is the difference between sales cadence and sequence?

A sales cadence refers to the strategic approach to outreach that outlines when and how sales reps should engage with leads. This includes the use of multiple channels and a timeline for these interactions.

A sales sequence, on the other hand, is a subset of the sales cadence. It is a series of pre-planned communications or tasks that a sales rep executes to contact a lead.

The sequence details the chronological order of outreach attempts, such as a phone call on a phone call day one, followed by a personalized email on day three, etc.

Sales sequences operate within the larger framework of a sales cadence, ensuring that every step of structured process contributes to moving the lead through the sales pipeline.