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[Re-sent] #92 - Outbound is broken

[Re-sent] #92 - Outbound is broken

Outbound is desperate for bold. For different.

November 20, 2022

Reading time: ~1.5 min

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Outbound’s cry for help

Today, I'm on a rant and will finish with a plea.

I’ll start with a LinkedIn post by Geoff Belknap, the CISO at LinkedIn.

"But, there's SO MUCH noise and SO MUCH outreach that sales teams have little hope of getting through to CISOs and other security leaders. Similarly, security leaders have little hope of hearing about up-and-coming solutions that might be great for what we need. The only thing that many of my peers and I agree reliably works to break through the noise is warm referrals and/or hearing about something new from a peer."

Geoff is dead on with this observation. And it's a vicious circle:

The more outbound happens, the more security leaders have to tune it out.

The more they tune it out, the more sales teams have to increase outbound to get even close to the results they are being asked to get.

The more it increases, the more it is tuned out.

... you get the idea!

Prime example from a LinkedIn post by Luke Jackson, Information Security Team Lead at EllisDon

"Beyond Identity looks like an interesting solution, but any chance they ever had of developing a positive relationship with me went out the door thanks to their predatory sales statics. On one day, I received 5 calls from their sales team in less than an hour while I was in a meeting making a presentation. Before and since then, I have received anywhere from 2-6 calls a day from them, despite expressing that I was not interested in their product."

We are at an inflection point. Something has to give.

But what?

Companies cannot half-ass their outbound. If we are honest, too many SDR and sales teams are left to create their own outbound with minimal input and supervision from their leaders. This is proving to be misguided. If you are going to do outbound, do it properly. Staff it. Develop thought-provoking content. Standardize on some cadences. Monitor and coach performance and effectiveness. Weed out lame stuff! Cut every piece of self-centered marketing fluff content from outbound.
Someone needs to be the company evangelist. Whether that’s the CEO, the CTO, or a hired gun…you need someone who is loud and credible, speaking EVERYWHERE about the problems you solve and the category you are in. Note: they should not evangelize the company! It has to be the problem and category. If you want to know how to do this, see how Chris Walker at Refine Labs is helping others do this.
We need new approaches for connecting with prospects. This is the plea! If there are fresh ideas out there, try them. If there are new ways of reaching prospects that don't involve more calls and emails, try them!! And if you find something different, please send them my way, as I'd love to learn what they are doing.

We are at the point where more of the same is failing; it is hurting us!

Now is the time to be bold. Be different. Try fresh ideas.

Want to hear more? Check out episode 171: Outbound is broken>>>

Time for a dad joke break...

Q: How do you fit 100 Pikachu on a bus?

A: You poke em on! 🤣

Toby Welsh, Regional Account Manager @ Fortinet

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