How Top 1% Outbound Teams Are Crushing ROI in 2024
(12 Proven Tactics)
Read time: 4 min
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When industry titans like Sam Jacobs say Outbound is “dead” and Jason Lemkin says Outbound is "dying", it gets my attention.
Not because I agree, but because real change often happens when everyone else writes something off.
Here’s the real story: while most dismiss outbound, top teams are mastering it. They’re not just surviving—they’re thriving. After months of insights from GTM leaders and standout BDRs, some patterns are clear.
Consider this your modern outbound cookbook.
Today, we’re diving into 12 strategies from ROI-positive outbound teams like Snowflake, Rippling, Ramp, Owner.com, Pigment, Triple Whale, and Altisales, all proving that outbound is far from dead.
1. Cold Calling as the go-to outbound channel
With inboxes flooded by AI-generated emails, cold calling stands out.
It’s tough, and AI can’t replace that human touch—yet.
Example: Rippling Outbound SDRs books 650 demos monthly through cold calls, making up 50% of their meetings via SDRs. At Nooks, a 75% of meetings come from cold calls.
2. Use ML to Score Accounts & Leads
The first company I saw doing that was Owner.com, Rippling, and Snowfalke.
Here’s the play: GTM teams sync with data and ops to build an ML scoring model based on win rate, ACV, LTV, and customer data. This helps identify top accounts with the highest potential. They add “signals” for accounts likely to face challenges that their solution can address.
Those accounts go straight to SDRs, who aren’t left to randomly pick prospects—they’re handed the best-fit leads with 2-3 solid targets ready to go. No wasted time, more focus.
3. Cutting Non-Pipeline Generating Activities (PGA)
Outbound reps spend way too much time on tasks that don’t create pipeline.
At Chili Piper, this is one of my biggest focuses because when reps are stuck in list-building, researching, and tracking down bad numbers, they’re not actually prospecting.
Example: I worked with a prospect whose team was spending 40% of their time on Non-PGA tasks. Here’s the impact:
If 10 SDRs spend 40% of their time on non-PGA, that’s 16 hours per week each—160 hours across the team—wasted on non-selling activities.
By cutting 80% of those tasks, each SDR could add 2 new opportunities monthly. That’s 20 new opps per month across the team.
With a $70k ACV, that’s $1.4M in new pipeline each month, or $140k in ARR at a 10% close rate.Top GTM teams invest heavily so their reps stay focused on building pipeline.
Here’s what they do to cut out Non-PGA:
Use ML to score accounts and auto-route top accounts to reps
AI tools update CRM data from cold calls (tools like Momentum)
Assign account/prospect research to AI or freelancers
Use 3+ contact data providers to improve prospect quality and reach
Automate asset creation (GIFs, images) per account
4. Branded Caller ID
Altisales and Tito Bohrt do this by showing reps’ names on prospects’ phones, but Zach Rego (CRO of Triple Whale) took it further:
Every cold call number they use shows Triple Whale as the caller ID.
Why? Reps make thousands of calls monthly, turning every ring into “free” advertising, creating instant brand recognition. It’s all about building brand familiarity with prospects, even before they pick up.
5. Are outbound teams more efficient: Remote or in-person?
Surprisingly, both work!
In-office teams:
Pigment
Rippling
Snowflake
Fully Remote Sales teams:
Triple Whale
Nooks
Owner.com’s BDRs? Each rep drives $70-80k ARR monthly (closed won revenue).
6. Inbound and outbound? Separate AEs, separate process.
Why? Different skill sets and processes are needed for each.
Same with the process, in terms of steps and tracking results (win rate, ACV, sales cycle length) to adapt to the buyer journey:
Inbound AEs handle discovery calls with engaged prospects who’ve already shown interest—they’ve visited the site, requested info, and are further along the buyer journey. Discovery is straightforward, with standard questions like BANT or MEDDIC, because these prospects usually have answers ready.
Outbound AEs, however, need a whole different approach: start with a value-focused, educational call. Forget standard discovery—ask problem-based questions. Dive into why they need to change, what the current gaps are, and show examples of how other companies are solving similar problems.
7. Prospecting Days (aka PG Days)
Prospecting days build a strong outbound culture, whether you’re a small GTM team or a big one.
On these days, the whole GTM team (or company!) is laser-focused on generating pipeline. Scheduled in advance, they’re all about creating momentum and making prospecting a top priority.
Just recorded a podcast with Ralph Barsi, who’s led 70+ of these Prospecting Days across three companies—his process is a game changer.
8. Programmatic Outbound + Account-Based Reps
Thought only agencies did programmatic outbound? Think again.
Rippling, Ramp, and Pigment use it to target their tier 2 and tier 3 accounts, while Account-Based SDRs focus on tier 1. Rippling even has “Mech SDRs” managing inboxes for programmatic outbound with targets of 50-60 demos per month.
Why do they use programmatic outbound?
Cost-Efficiency: Scales without needing tons of reps—just a good database and software.
Massive Reach: Reach your full TAM with automated, targeted outreach.
Predictability: It’s a formula: emails x conversion rate = demos.
9. Outbound SDRs can work for the SMB segment too!
LinkedIn “experts” claim: “Outbound SDRs don’t work for SMBs or ACVs under 30k.”
Owner.com, Rippling, Ramp: hold my beer.
Owner’s ACV is $5.5k, and their BDRs are bringing in $72K ARR per month, per BDR.
10. They practice like pro athletes
Reps saying, “I practice on my prospects”? Huge mistake.
You don’t need 10,000 real calls to perfect your opener—you can get those reps in during role plays, solo practice (on your commute or even walking), or using AI tools like ChatGPT (Next week I'll share how you can use it for that).
The best teams don’t waste good leads on practice; they come prepared. Pro athletes don’t step onto the field without prep, and top sales reps shouldn’t either.
11. AEs don’t do cold outreach
But they should only focus on warm leads: closed-lost ops, customer referrals, exec intros, investor connections, etc.
Kyle Norton says it best: AEs doing cold outreach on cold accounts is a waste, and costs the business way more.
At Rippling, they know their outbound SDRs are better at it, so AEs stick to what converts.
12. Hyper-specialized teams
No full-cycle AEs here.
They’ve got Outbound SDRs for cold accounts, customer expansion, and channel partnerships.
They have Inbound AEs, Outbound AEs,
Inbound AEs, Outbound AEs, and even a data + ops team just for outbound.
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Leveraging the phone channel is for me the strongest point! I've proven its potential against e-mail over and over again with every one of my clients. Super interesting article! Cheers!