Outbound and inbound aren't opposites
Outbound is the company going after the customer; inbound is the customer arriving on their own, drawn in by content or ads. Treating the two as mutually exclusive is a common mistake.
In practice they feed each other: people who've already heard of the company respond better to outreach, and outreach reveals which pain points the content should address.
The list matters more than the script
The variable that moves prospecting results the most isn't the wording of the message — it's who it was sent to. An average pitch to the right company beats an excellent pitch to the wrong one.
That's why defining the ICP (ideal customer profile) comes before building the cadence. Without it, more volume just means a higher rejection rate.
- Company size, industry and current stage
- Title of who decides and who influences
- Signs that the pain exists now, not in theory
- Disqualification criteria — just as important as the entry criteria
Prospecting is an ongoing activity, not a campaign
The most expensive structural mistake is prospecting only when the pipeline runs dry. Since there's a gap between outreach and close, prospecting in response to a sales slump produces revenue in waves — and the bad month was already set weeks earlier.