Outbound Sales Questions? Find Data-Backed Answers in Apollo's NEW Book

San Francisco, CA – June 25, 2024 – Apollo.io, a leading go-to-market (GTM) solution for sales and marketing teams, has released its first Amazon Kindle book, “Outbound Sales: A multi-channel approach to growing your business by building relationships.”

As a cornerstone of Apollo Academy, the company's learning hub for world-class sales and GTM education, this in-depth guide delivers unparalleled insights as well as dozens of templates, anecdotes, and actionable frameworks for building a robust pipeline — all designed to aid various sales roles from novices to seasoned leaders. The book highlights the importance of adapting to modern outbound processes and emphasizes the 'Full Cycle Selling' approach to help businesses grow sustainably and profitably. 

“In the process of writing this book, we found that the traditional outbound sales model is fundamentally broken, and those who fail to adapt are being left behind,” said Josh Garrison, Apollo’s VP of Content Marketing and Product Education.

“For most companies, single-channel selling doesn’t work anymore. Unchecked automation will ruin your relationships and deliverability, hampering efforts to grow down the line. Misaligned incentive models create chaos instead of producing results. In short, the industry must evolve. We wrote this book to help readers migrate to the 'Full Cycle Selling' approach and lay out best practices for an outbound process that works today," he said.

Drawing on survey findings from over 250 global sales leaders and sales pros, proprietary data from millions of active Apollo users, and extensive industry interviews with 50+ veteran sales leaders, enterprise VPs, and multi-million dollar business founders, Outbound Sales offers a data-backed blueprint for modern sales strategies.

Here’s a sample of what the data reveals about the state of outbound today and the tactical shifts sales professionals need to consider:

• Low conversion rates: With 71 percent of surveyed sales professionals converting less than 10 percent of their leads to paying customers, there is room for significant improvement in lead qualification processes.
• Time consumed in admin tasks: 41 percent of surveyed sales professionals spend 1-3 hours daily on admin work, time that could be dedicated to core sales activities.
• Multiple touchpoints required: 40 percent of respondents say it takes at least six touchpoints to secure a qualified meeting, reflecting the complexity of reaching and engaging today’s buyers who often require multiple interactions before they engage.
• Concerns about email deliverability: With mailbox providers tightening their spam filters, 60 percent of respondents are concerned about email deliverability. This indicates a need for optimized and compliant email strategies for effective deliverability rates.
• Effective use of LinkedIn: Survey data shows that 58 percent of respondents using LinkedIn as an outbound channel are converting their prospects in five touch points or less. This points to the effectiveness of LinkedIn for personal branding, targeted networking, and direct outreach in sales strategies.
• Automation in pipeline processes: 89 percent of surveyed sales professionals have automated parts of their pipeline generation, reflecting widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to streamline lead generation and management processes. 

The book delves deeper into these issues, proposing actionable strategies and expert-backed methods that have contributed to tripled meeting rates and driven multi-million-dollar valuations, equipping readers with the tools necessary to enhance their sales performance amidst evolving market conditions.

Experts featured in Outbound Sales

• “I met with 20 of the greatest GTM minds on the planet. CROs, VPs of Sales, CMOs, CCOs, trainers, talking heads and 90 percent agreed that the SDR role is basically dead. Why? 1) It’s been used incorrectly 2) The economics are off in most cases 3) It’s a vestige of the ZIRP/Grow-at-all-costs era 4) They aren’t staying with their employer 5) Results are tanking.” — Mark Kosoglow, Former CRO at Catalyst Software

• “A couple of years ago you could get away with lazy pipeline generation. That just doesn’t fly anymore. The core tactical work of personalization — high-quality, human interactions, deep sequences that run long, carry across multiple channels, and reflect a deep level of engagement and research – used to be what the high-performers did. But today, that’s the bar.” — Stevie Case, CRO at Vanta

• “AI-generated copy is so hot. Everyone wants to use it to create messaging, but nobody wants to consume AI content. AI is only as good as the data you have. Use AI as a starting point and then take the time to actually adjust it yourself.” — Florin Tatulea, Head of Sales Development at Common Room

Outbound Sales is available to read for free on the Apollo Academy. A press kit with high-resolution images featured in the book is available here. To sign up for free, visit www.apollo.io. 

Media Contact: Leah Taylor at Cast Influence, Public Relations for Apollo.io, press@apollo.io