Who is this field guide for?

A well-executed outbound GTM strategy can be a game-changer, especially for companies targeting enterprise customers or niche markets. It's particularly relevant as the SaaS landscape becomes more competitive and nuanced, requiring founders to proactively reach out to potential customers rather than relying solely on inbound interest.

This playbook, based on insights from Neej Parikh, aims to guide early-stage SaaS founders - particularly those targeting enterprise or mid-market customers, looking to complement their inbound strategy with outbound efforts - in building and scaling an effective outbound GTM motion that addresses key challenges such as when and how to start an outbound GTM motion, building and scaling an outbound sales team, creating a culture of accountability and high performance, and measuring success and identifying leading indicators.

About Neej Parikh:

Neej Parikh brings a unique perspective on how outbound strategies evolve as companies grow. He is currently the co-founder and co-CEO of Exordiom, where he advises companies at various stages on creating and refining their GTM execution. Over the past 15 years, Neej has held multiple Go-To-Market (GTM) leadership positions, including CRO and Head of Sales at renowned high-growth startups such as Zuora, Productiv, and Applied Intuition. At Zuora, he built the Enterprise and Strategic Sales organization which scaled to a $100M+ ARR business and helped the company go public. He drove the GTM engine at Productiv and grew ARR from 0 to $12M+ and set up the GTM engine at Applied Intuition, enabling growth from $20M to triple-digit ARR.

Determining if Outbound is Right for Your Company

Outbound GTM aims to proactively generate interest and convert it into sales opportunities through activities that rely heavily on human efforts and personalized touches, such as cold calling, cold outreach over email, LinkedIn, text messages, hyper-targeted 1:1 campaigns, and relationship-building.

Outbound is making a resurgence, even in PLG-first companies, as a way to accelerate growth. The choice between prioritizing inbound vs outbound depends on several factors.

Before investing in an outbound strategy, it's crucial to assess whether it's the right fit for your company. While outbound can be powerful, it's not universally applicable. Here are key factors to consider:

1. Product Complexity: If your product requires significant explanation, customization, or training & hand-holding to deliver value, a high-touch sales model can be particularly effective.
2. Target Market: Enterprise or niche markets often respond well to outbound approaches. If your ideal customers are not actively searching for solutions online, outbound strategies can help you reach them effectively.
3. Average Contract Value (ACV): Outbound typically makes sense for ACVs of $15,000 or higher. This is because the cost of acquiring customers through outbound efforts needs to be justified by the contract value.
4. Customer Buying Process: If your ideal customers have complex procurement processes involving multiple stakeholders, outbound strategies can help navigate these complexities and build relationships with key decision-makers.

The most effective GTM strategies often combine both inbound and outbound elements. Even companies with strong product-led growth motions often invest in outbound capabilities as they move upmarket or target enterprise customers.

Building Your Initial Outbound Team

Once you've decided to pursue an outbound strategy, the next step is building your initial team. Rather than immediately building out a large team with specialized roles, start with full-cycle AEs who can handle both prospecting and closing. This approach allows for greater flexibility and helps AEs develop a comprehensive understanding of the entire sales process. Look for AEs who have experience in outbound sales, preferably in your industry or with similar products. However, also prioritize cultural fit and the ability to adapt to your company's specific needs.

As your outbound motion proves successful, consider adding specialized roles like Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) to focus on initial outreach and qualification. Hiring offshore talent has also proven to be highly effective. We have seen the combination of remote work and the rise of AI sales tools make international talent very successful while keeping CAC and Opex low.

The success of your outbound motion heavily depends on the commitment and effectiveness of your AEs. AEs who generate their own pipeline through outbound efforts often have higher conversion rates, as they're more invested in the process and have a better understanding of the customer's needs.

Making Outbound a Company-Wide Effort

Involve the entire company in the outbound process, not just the sales team. This includes engineers, product managers, and executives. This company-wide involvement can lead to valuable insights and connections that the sales team might miss.

Set aside one day a week where the entire company focuses on outbound activities. This doesn't mean other work stops, but there's a heightened emphasis on generating pipeline. Encourage participation from all departments. Set specific, measurable goals for the day. This might include a target number of calls, emails sent, LinkedIn messages, or meetings booked. These goals should be challenging but achievable.

Use a dedicated Slack channel (or similar platform) for real-time updates throughout the day. Team members can share successes, ask for help, or provide insights in real time. Start the day with a brief meeting where AEs present the target accounts or companies they plan to focus on. This allows for input from the wider team who might have relevant connections or insights.

Use the day to collaboratively develop and refine outreach sequences and templates. When someone finds a message that resonates, they can quickly share it with the team for broader use. Conclude the day with a brief recap session to share wins and learnings and set goals for the following week.

Recognize and celebrate successes, whether it's booking a meeting with a target account or receiving a positive response to an outreach attempt. It's not just about the activities done on that day, but the habits and culture it builds over time. This approach helps create a shared sense of ownership for the company's growth across all departments.

Establishing KPIs and Accountability

Driving high performance in outbound sales requires clear metrics and a culture of accountability. Set clear, measurable activity goals for your sales team. This might include the number of calls made per day/week, emails sent, LinkedIn messages sent and meetings booked. While activities are important, also focus on outcomes like pipeline generated (in dollar value), conversion rates at each stage of the sales process, etc. Hold weekly and monthly reviews to discuss performance against these KPIs. Use these sessions to identify best practices and areas for improvement.

Make performance metrics visible across the team. This transparency can drive healthy competition and allow team members to learn from top performers. Provide additional coaching and support for team members struggling to meet KPIs. Celebrate wins and recognize top performers. This could be through financial incentives, public recognition, or other rewards that align with your company culture.

Regularly review and adjust your KPIs based on what you learn. What worked last quarter might not be as effective in the next. Stress the importance of rigorous (but not rigid) execution from the head of sales. Consistently holding the team accountable to their metrics is crucial for building a high-performing outbound organization.

This level of accountability can create a challenging environment, but it's necessary for building a high-performing outbound team. This approach naturally creates a meritocracy where top performers thrive, and others either improve or self-select out of the organization.

Sustaining Success

To sustain the success of outbound engine and improve overall GTM efforts, Neej recommends a weekly operating cadence of reviewing performance across the LASER framework dimensions. Here's a detailed breakdown of each component:

L - Lead Generation

• Track sources of leads (inbound, outbound, referrals, etc.)
• Measure lead quality and conversion rates by source

A - Customer Acquisition

• Monitor win rates and reasons for wins/losses
• Track sales cycle length and identify bottlenecks

S - Sustaining Customers

• Measure customer onboarding and time-to-value
• Track customer satisfaction and NPS scores
• Monitor product usage and adoption rates

E - Expanding Customers

• Track upsell and cross-sell opportunities
• Analyze patterns in successful expansions

R - Running the Business

• Monitor overall revenue and growth rates
• Track key financial metrics (CAC, LTV, payback period)
• Analyze team performance and productivity

For each component of LASER, define specific metrics that are relevant to your business. Set up systems to collect data for each metric. This might involve CRM reports, customer surveys, financial software, etc. Hold weekly or monthly reviews using the LASER framework to assess performance and identify areas for improvement. Use insights from the LASER framework to create action plans for improving each area and in executive meetings to ensure alignment on key priorities and challenges. As you collect more data, use the LASER framework toproactively address potential issues.

LASER framework provides both lagging and leading indicators, allowing founders to make data-driven decisions about their GTM strategy.

Conclusion

Building a high-impact outbound GTM strategy is a challenging but potentially transformative endeavor for SaaS startups. Remember, the key to success in outbound is not just in the initial implementation, but in the consistent execution, continuous refinement, exploring offshore resources, and company-wide commitment to the process. With dedication and the right strategies, outbound can become a transformative force in your company's growth journey.