A sales cadence is a structured sequence of outreach touchpoints — emails, calls, LinkedIn messages — spread across a defined period, designed to get a response from a prospect without burning the relationship.
Most reps either have no cadence (they send one email and move on) or a bad one (they send five identical "just checking in" emails over two weeks). Neither works. Here's what a good cadence actually looks like.
Why cadences work
The data on outbound response rates is consistent: most replies don't come from the first touchpoint. Research from RAIN Group and Salesloft both point to the 4th–8th touchpoint as where most responses happen — but most reps give up after two.
A cadence solves for this by removing the decision of whether to follow up from each individual interaction. You follow up because the cadence says so — not because you're waiting to feel inspired. That consistency is what generates pipeline.
"Most reps quit at two touchpoints. Most replies come at four to eight. The gap between those two numbers is your pipeline."
A 10-day cadence that works
Email 1 — personalised first touch
Hook from research, value prop, specific CTA. Subject line personalised to the prospect. This is the one that takes the most prep.
Call 1 — leave a voicemail if no answer
Reference the email you sent yesterday. Short, 20-second voicemail. Don't pitch — tell them what to expect if they call back.
LinkedIn connection request + note
Short personalised note — no pitch. You're warming the channel, not selling via DM.
Email 2 — different angle
Don't follow up on the first email. Start a new thread with a different hook or angle. A case study, a relevant stat, or a different problem statement.
Call 2 — try a different time of day
If Day 2 was mid-morning, try early morning or late afternoon. Decision-makers often pick up at the edges of the day.
Email 3 — the breakup email
Be direct. "I've reached out a few times — I'm going to assume this isn't a priority right now and won't reach out again. If that changes, [specific reason to reconnect]." Breakup emails consistently get the highest reply rate in a sequence.
What makes a cadence break down
The most common failure modes:
- Every touchpoint sounds the same — if all three emails have the same opening and the same CTA, you're not adding new reasons to respond. Each step should offer something different.
- Too many "just checking in" messages — this signals you have nothing new to say. The prospect already knows you're following up. Give them a reason to respond, not a reminder that you haven't heard from them.
- No call step — email-only cadences underperform multi-channel ones. Most people are more reachable by phone than their inbox suggests. The call doesn't have to convert on the day — it keeps the conversation warm.
- Cadence without prep — the cadence is only as good as the first email. If the first touchpoint is generic, no amount of follow-up will fix it.
How long should a cadence be?
For most B2B outbound at the SMB/mid-market level, 6–8 touchpoints over 10–14 days is enough. Enterprise deals with longer cycles warrant longer cadences — some teams run 12–15 step sequences over 30+ days. But for most contexts, more than 10 touchpoints starts to feel like harassment rather than persistence.
A cadence isn't a guarantee. It's a system that ensures no prospect slips through because a rep forgot to follow up or didn't feel like it on a Thursday afternoon. The system generates the output — the prep generates the quality.
Prep every step of your cadence in seconds.
Triage generates email variants, call scripts, and hooks for every contact. So every touchpoint in your cadence has something worth saying.
Try Triage free →