Sales Cadence Best Practices
How to perfect your sales cadence
A sales cadence is a sequence of activities that increase contact and qualification rates and, therefore, is a vital part of any sales strategy. If a sales cadence is implemented correctly, it can nearly double contact rates.
Types of Cadences
There are several categories of cadences each with its own set of best practices. These categories can be broken into Inbound vs Outbound and Transactional vs Relational.
| Inbound | Outbound |
|---|---|
| The rep reaches out to someone who already knows their company or product. | The rep is doing cold prospecting and thinks the person or company is good fit for their product. |
| The customer has likely already done some research, possibly attended a webinar, downloaded a whitepaper, or filled out a web form. | This cadence should include tools for educating leads. |
| Transactional | Relational |
|---|---|
| The goal is to close a sale or set an appointment and not build a relationship with the prospect. | The rep needs to build relationships with the prospect and inside the company. |
| Is better suited for companies with a smaller number of employees. | Is better suited for companies with 100 or more employees. |
| Deals have a smaller number of decision makers (1-3). | Deals have a larger number of decision makers (4+). |
| Shorter sale cycle (<90 days). | Longer sale cycle (>90 days). |
| Deal sizes are usually under $32,000. | Deal sizes are usually greater than $32,000. |
Six Elements of Cadence
Consider these six elements when creating your cadence.
- Attempts – The total number of contact touch points made.
- Media – The type of communication methods used.
- Duration – The time between the first and last attempt.
- Spacing – The time gap between contact attempts.
- Response Time – How quickly leads are responded to.
- Content – The messaging is attention grabbing, the appropriate lengths and reading level, and relevant.
Cadence Best Practices
Sales reps often think their way of approaching prospects is the best way. Through years of research and data obtained from XANT’s data lake of success metrics, we have identified optimal contact techniques.
| Cadence Element | Optimal |
|---|---|
| Attempts |
|
| Media | 3+ different media types |
| Duration |
|
| Spacing | 1-2 days between attempts |
| Response Time | Within 5 minutes of a new lead being generated |
| Content |
Optimal content per medium:
|
Pre-Built Cadences
We have built seven sales cadences which target the four cadence categories. These cadences can be found in the resource library, in the Play Maker Course, or a the end of this article.
