How Aligned Built a Data + Engagement Machine to Convert 40%+ of All Cold Calls

When it comes to groundbreaking solutions in B2B tech, Aligned isn't just part of the conversation—they're leading it.

Offering the #1 customer collaboration software for sellers through their digital sales room, mutual action plan, and revenue intelligence platform, Aligned is on a relentless growth trajectory.

It’s what compelled Saad Khan to join as the Director of Sales, recognizing the huge opportunity to expand sales pipeline for a company powered by premium content and a world class product.

“Aligned creates a lot of content and I had ideas about how that could become, not just a brand play, but a pipeline generator,” Saad says.

This is the story of how Saad executed on this vision, building an all-in-one outbound machine in Apollo and how taking Aligned’s sales team achieved to 40%+ conversion on all cold calls with unlimited growth potential on the horizon.

Building a generational GTM motion for a generational product

Before Aligned, Saad was the Head of Business Development at Dooly, where the sales team was juggling a massive number of monthly sign-ups while battling activation problems. 

And they were trying to do it all out of ZoomInfo.

“We had bought ZoomInfo, but for what I had wanted to build, it just wasn’t capable,” said Saad, “We were a product-led growth company, we had a lot of product sign-ups and I had to find a way to automate all of these tasks.”

So, when Saad moved to Aligned, he looked to Apollo to become the sales team’s source of truth; to centralize their data and automate outreach from end-to-end.

The first thing he did was build a customized dashboard for an at-a-glance view of email and call performance, job-change alerts, and team tasks and activity.

Apollo was to be “an extension” of all of the work his reps were doing and this data hub was going to quickly and accurately tell him where they were winning and where they could improve.

“Tracking email opens and engagement on Apollo dashboard saves me and my team loads of time.”

Next, he created three strong outbound Sequences—pre-built outbound campaigns that not only deliver personalized messaging across a variety of channels, but automate those touchpoints to hit astronomically more leads.

He built one for cold outbound, another for product sign-ups, and one more for event and webinar leads.

A perfect starting point.

“I wanted to set up that baseline,” says Saad, “We needed to get some people in there to start testing and tweaking our messaging.”

Psst...Check out this helpful how-to video on how to build a Sequence like Aligned!

Finally, Saad pulled Aligned’s strong inbound lead pipeline into Apollo to centralize all leads.

“If you set up Apollo the right way, all that data gets pushed back into the CRM, whether it’s activation failures or how much customers are using the product. That is the meat and potatoes for a company like Aligned that’s building their PLG motion.”

Aligned built an “inbound to outbound” Apollo Play that captures all the demos that are coming into their CRM and, based on the rules Saad set up, automatically prospects into the companies to set reps up for success.

“I love the fact that everything is in there together,” says Saad, “I don’t have to go evaluate other tools. I don’t have to talk to multiple CSMs and stakeholders. It’s all streamlined and connected.”

A sales tool that grows and learns alongside your team

With an entire outbound playbook locked and loaded, the sales team was ready to iterate and perform.

Like all great sales managers, Saad gives his AEs the freedom to make outbound their own. His team is encouraged to clone any sequence from their library and personalize the messaging to fit their own voice.

They also experiment with their messaging through A/B tests to uncover which type of value resonates best with their target audience.

Saad gives an example of a test he ran with a value-based closing line that reads:

P.S. In my next email, I’ll send you a screenshot of how {{competitor}} is doing the above…

(And yes, he does in fact, send a screenshot right after).

At the end of the day, Saad says the heart of his sales team’s outbound success is having quality data on quality prospects.

With access to a comprehensive, verified database and the tools to translate it into action, Saad and his team are booking meetings on over 40% of all cold calls.

And it’s simpler than it sounds…

Saad tracks high-priority leads like website daily visitors and demo requesters and feeds those contacts into targeted campaigns in Apollo.

Those campaigns start with an email and a personalized video on day 1 to set the stage and familiarize the audience with Aligned to show how they can streamline complex deals . Shortly after, reps make the call.

“By the time we call them, they recognize us and the problems we solve,” he says.

Saad likes to think of every touchpoint with a prospect as “charging their battery”, and, once it’s at the optimal level, they push for that phone sale.

“It’s a full-story picture. Apollo helps us turn data into action…we are living and breathing inside the tool.”

If you’re interested in bringing sales data and engagement together in one place like Aligned, reach out to the Apollo team today.