How I build an outbound motion
For an early-stage SaaS business
Read time: 3 min
3 weeks ago, I began working with Callypso, a new generation of Customer Success (CS) tools, to establish an outbound strategy from scratch.
Today, I’m sharing my process and progress.
Progress so far: 4 positive replies.
The biggest challenges with starting from scratch for Callypso:
No Past Customers: Starting with zero customer base.
No Brand Recognition: Building a reputation from scratch.
No Past Opportunities: Creating opportunities without a history.
No Previous Conversations: Engaging without prior interactions.
Competitive Market: Competing against well-known names in a saturated market.
Today's menu:
Targeting
Buyer personas
Messaging strategy
Triggers
Metrics
Tools Used
Next steps
How I build an outbound motion for an early-stage SaaS business
Targeting
The main ICP is B2B SaaS businesses in North America with CS teams, 50-500 employees.
I'm working on make it more granular:
Who They Sell To: GTM teams, CISOs, CFOs, HR leaders
GTM Motion: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise
Background: Founders and CS leaders' backgrounds
CS Operations: Presence of CS ops or an ops team
CS Team Structure/Size:
Example: 1 VP + 5 CSMs, 1 VP + 3 Directors + 5 Managers + 25 CSMs have different challenges
Tool Usage:
Tools like Gainsight and ChurnZero: Admins love them, users don’t
If using new-gen CS tools, differentiation is insufficient to reach out
Buyer personas
ATL (Above the line) managers:
CS leader
Boss of the CS Leader: CEO, CRO, COO
BTL (Below the line)
RevOps, CS Ops
Various management levels: CS Manager, CS Directors
CSMs
Triggers
Timing: Crucial in a competitive market
I track those key signals:
New CS leader within the past 6 months or currently hiring a CS leader
Recently hired or currently hiring CSMs
Company growth and hiring in other departments
Apollo Intent Data: Currently tracking 3 companies
CSM Slack Communities: Found 3 companies, currently contacting one
LinkedIn posts on CS topics
Messaging Strategy
I'm working on different things that for the messaging.
Main angle:
Account-based: Trigger challenges related to the tool’s solutions. Example: If a new VP starts, reach out to the CEO and CSMs
Challenges: Focus on main challenges the tool can help with
Rational vs Emotional language
ATL vs BTL messaging
Stage 1: Validate the biggest problems for the main persona: CS leader.
Stage 2: Contact other buyer personas and validate what's relevant for them :
CEO/CRO/COO: Boss of the CS leader
Ops team: RevOps or CS ops
CSM: To get insights
Stage 3: Use Clay to gather:
CSM names
Their customers
Size of their customers
Their value prop
This improves messaging with less manual work.
Competitors:
I stopped using G2 to collect bad reviews, I use Reddit instead for more candid feedback.
Metrics
My number one metric right now that I track: Positive Reply.
Then I narrow it down to:
Triggers
ATL/BTL
Channels
Triggers:
New VP: 3
Hiring CSMs: 1
The rest: 0
For wich triggers and if it's ATL and BTL
ATL: 3 replies
BTL: 1 replies
My outbound funnel:
New Account
Working Account
Engaged Account
Meeting Account
Opportunity Account
Won Account
Inactive Account
Tools used
Sales Navigator
Build account lists: companies growing
Build prospect list: new VP that join a company in the past 12 months
Amplemarket (Afiliate):
Export leads AND filter from LinkedIn posts
Find technologies not listed on websites
Filter by company fit and specific hiring roles
Find contact data in the US
Account list building
Find lookalike companies
Account scoring: last week I used Clay for a list of 60 SaaS businesses, and ended contacting 13 on the list to focus only on the one that then I did an analysis
Apollo.io (Affiliate)
Send emails
Find contact data in the US
Build prospect, and account list
Kaspr (Affiliate)
Find contact data in France, and Europe
AI: ChatGPT/Claude
Build an Impact Matrix
Rewrite and simplify messages
Write analogies
Next steps for me:
Scaling my inputs on what I know it's already working: companies with a new CS leader
Test other triggers then when I start getting positive replies scaling this
Use more 2 other channels: LinkedIn and the phone
Work with the co-founders on their content strategy to increase their website traffic and use a tool like RB2B or Common Room to focus on those accounts
As soon as you're ready, I can help you in 3 different ways:
Outbound Private Chef:
Part-time: Build and execute your outbound strategy and team
Coaching/Advising: Tailored guidance for your outbound strategy and team's success
If you are interested, reply to this email, or send me an email at bonjour@elriclegloire.com
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