Is your marketing and sales outreach damaging your funnel?

Thank goodness we’re never returning to the ‘glory days’ of lead gen.

The days when you could blast out some cold emails, hammer the phones, and connect on LinkedIn without much thought, are over. It was never a ‘nice’ way to meet prospective customers.

Assuming you’ve figured that out for yourself, but if things still aren’t quite shaping up as you’d hoped despite having all the clever tools to hand, here are the realities still faced by many:

• Prospects don’t pick up the phone like they used to.
• If you are lucky enough to get through cold-calling doesn’t produce consistent enough outcomes.
• Emails read by security tools, produce ‘vanity leads’, as well as them being easy to ignore if they do get through
• Social selling isn’t the magic bullet it’s hyped up to be.
• Just because they showed up at your tradeshow booth or networking event doesn’t mean they’re calling their procurement team.

The truth? Our entire industry is suffering in some way, shape or form. Buyers are overwhelmed and exhausted by every vendor knocking on their door and opening their suitcases at the first whiff of their job title.

These methods, once perfectly acceptable in the years before automation, now lack a personal touch. Prolific content is often poorly generated and sales outreach in tech is getting dangerously close to the tactics of pushy double-glazing reps where a single ‘form complete’ on a website would have them hunting you down at all hours.

But here’s the thing: buyers still want your solutions. They still have problems to solve, but they want to engage on their terms. So instead of doubling down on outdated, singular highly automated tactics, it’s time to rethink how you approach them as a cohesive bundle.

Flip the script: Make lead gen work for buyers

1. Aim for high open and click rates – every time: Forget blasting out emails and hoping for the best. We’re talking about sustained engagement. A great campaign should average 60% open rates and 45% click-throughs – and yes, those numbers are achievable if you focus on quality content that’s genuinely helpful to your audience.

2. Quality conversations beat volume every time: It’s not about how many people you call – it’s about how many of those calls turn into meaningful conversations. Instead of spamming a list, target the people who are consistently engaging with your content and tailor your approach to their specific needs.

3. Connect with people who are “into you”: Stop wasting time chasing people who aren’t interested or have no idea who you are. Focus on those who react when you share insights, comment on your posts, or consistently engage with your emails. These people are already leaning in – they’re worth your time and effort.

4. Events are the start, not the finish: Just because someone visits your tradeshow booth doesn’t mean they’re ready to buy. Don’t mistake attendance for intent. Use in-person events as an opportunity to start/continue conversations, not close deals. Continue to demonstrate you understand their challenges, share relevant insights, and nurture them for the long term until they’re ready to act.

Here’s what 100% works – if you do it right

1. Email – but smarter: Don’t stop emailing prospects, but stop relying on it. Instead, use their behaviour to guide your next step. If someone downloads your content, don’t call them five minutes later with a canned pitch. Watch for patterns of continued interest in your content over time, at their pace, and time your outreach when they’re engaged.

2. Call – absolutely! But make it relevant: Pick up the phone, but don’t waste the first 30 seconds explaining who you are or why your company is “the global leader in innovative solutions and pooh-bah.” Buyers don’t care. Use the call to demonstrate that you understand their challenges. Reference the content they’ve engaged with and connect it to their pain points.

3. Social selling – Yes! But what’s in it for them?: Social selling isn’t about sliding into LinkedIn inboxes with a pitch slap disguised as a friendly note. Think about the value you’re bringing to the relationship. Share content that helps them, engage with their posts authentically, and become someone worth their time.

4. Events – be present! Remember all those digital engagements you’ve been so desperate to speak to, they are standing right in front of you! Put away laptops and phones and give them the full-on benefit of your wit and charm! They will appreciate your undivided attention and with the right follow-up, will be more likely to take your call in future.

Less is more – make the smart choice

The old model was about playing the odds: if you emailed enough people, made enough calls, or spammed enough LinkedIn requests, you’d eventually hit a win. That’s a terrible experience for buyers – and, honestly, for your sales team too.

Now, it’s about precision, relevance, and respect and a sophisticated cocktail of multi-channel outreach orchestrated with the help of MarTec. Buyers still need what you’re selling, but they need to feel like you’re invested in solving their problems, not just closing a deal.

So calm down. You don’t need to throw out your entire playbook, but you do need to stop relying on tactics that no longer work. Focus on creating better-informed sales conversations based on what your buyers care about.

Getting it right means you won’t lack volume, or waste your time out in the cold.

▶️ Book a call to start bringing humanity back to the forefront of your sales strategies, where it belongs.