Cyber Monday Sale! 50% Off All Access

SalesLoft Grew Its Revenue by 1,750 Percent Using Outbound Sales. You Can, Too. Want to grow your revenue by that amazing an amount? Here are one company's strategies.

By Sujan Patel Edited by Dan Bova

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

SalesLoft

We hear it every day: Cold-calling doesn't work anymore. "Inbound" -- responding to leads/inquiries on the company website -- is the new "it" strategy.

And, with today's customers savvier than ever, it's no surprise that so many sales professionals have bought into the idea.

Related: Why SalesLoft's Second Wind Is Going Strong

But there is still a place for outbound sales. An outbound sales strategy -- meaning cold-calling and emails -- can still be effective. If you do it right.

Take it from SalesLoft, a sales software company that helps sales teams gather leads and convert them. In 2014, over the course of 10 months, using outbound sales, SalesLoft was able to increase its revenue from $200,000 to $3.7 million, a 1,750 percent increase.

So, how did the company achieve such massive growth?

In an interview with the Growth Everywhere podcast, Kyle Porter, founder and CEO of SalesLoft, addressed his company's success. "We've got a lot of good science on the front end, and then we've got really good people who are able to use this rhythmatic process of Prospector plus Cadence [SalesLoft tools] in order to get 300 demos," he said. "Then, we've got an executive sales team that comes in and closes those demos."

Porter attributed SalesLoft's massive growth to a three-pronged system: the right people, the right strategy and the right attitude.

Hire the right people.

Without the right people in your company's essential sales roles, you can't expect great results. Good salespeople are self-motivated and love a challenge. They aim high and are committed to going above and beyond expectations.

When you're looking to grow your revenue, your salespeople must not only meet their quotas, but exceed them. At SalesLoft, reps consistently beat their quotas by 400 percent.

In her book, Agile Selling: Get Up to Speed Quickly in Today's Ever-Changing Sales World, sales strategist Jill Konrath spoke about the right criteria, writing that, "All the top sellers I know possess a unique balance of positivity and negativity. They're always optimistic about the ultimate outcomes, but they sometimes seem paranoid about everything that could possibly go wrong. That's why they succeed."

Related: 4 Ways to Establish Transparency in Your Business

Takeaway: When you're shooting for massive growth, you need those sales reps who will help you succeed. Take your time in the hiring process to home-in on those A-players and bring them on board.

Use technology to Iimplement a high response rate from prospects.

The sales team at SalesLoft has a specific system in place for how and when to reach out to prospects. Over the course of seven days, prospects are contacted seven times, either by phone or email. This frequency of contact means prospects have no choice but to respond by one means or the other. This system has produced an 80 percent response rate for SalesLoft.

Added Sean Kester, VP of product strategy, on the SalesLoft blog: "Using a specific strategy allows reps to increase their efficiency and remove monotony from their day-to-day tasks."

With a process like SalesLoft's in place, sales teams ensure that leads are kept track of and that no one slips through the cracks. Instead, team members are able to track their communication with leads, provide quotes and make sure they stay top of mind.

As executive speech coach Patricia Fripp said on her website, "It is not your customer's job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don't have the chance to forget you."

Marry quantity and quality.

Traditionally, outbound sales are focused mainly on the numbers. Outbound's quotas, deals and revenue are weighted heavily and attributed the highest importance. For your own outbound sales strategy to be effective, don't forget about the human factor.

So much of sales today is about building relationships. It's not just about the product you sell, but about the story you tell. In his interview on the Growth Everywhere podcast, Porter said, "Our sales executives, they're peers to the buyers at the organizations they're talking to."

Don't forget to take the time to get to know your prospects and understand their needs. Once you know their needs and wants, you can better sell to them.One of Kester's biggest tips is to not spend so much time talking that you forget to listen. "Listening is your greatest ally," he wrote on the SalesLoft blog. "You can uncover the "keys to the castle' by asking smart, directed questions."

Related: 6 Insights From Tony Robbins That Will Change Your Sales Game

You need to make prospects feel appreciated and not just another number on the sales board. In his book, Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time, entrepreneur Keith Ferrazzi wrote, "The only way to get people to do anything is to recognize their importance and thereby make them feel important. Every person's deepest lifelong desire is to be significant and to be recognized."

What do you think of SalesLoft's outbound sales strategy? How can you apply some of the same ideas to your own sales strategy? Share your thoughts in the comments below:

Sujan Patel

Entrepreneur and Marketer, Co-founder of Web Profits

In his 14-plus years as a marketer and entrepreneur, Sujan Patel has helped hundreds of companies boost online traffic and sales and strengthen their online brand reputation. Patel is the co-founder of Web Profits and Mailshake.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

'I Stand By My Decisions': A CEO Is Going Viral For Firing Almost All of the Company's Employees — Here's Why

The Musicians Club CEO Baldvin Oddsson fired 99 workers at once over Slack for missing a morning meeting. But there's a catch.

Making a Change

Get Babbel at Our Unbeatable Price This Cyber Monday

Learn up to 14 new languages with lifetime access.

Business News

'If It Seems Too Good to Be True It Probably Is': $18 Million Worth of 'Great Deals' Confiscated By Border Cops

A shipment of 3,000 fake Gibson guitars from Asia was seized at the Los Angeles-Long Beach Seaport.

Fundraising

Venture Capitalists Are Pickier About What They Invest In — Here's How That Actually Benefits Startups

While hefty funding rounds often equate to success, a growing trend shows that leaner investments foster stronger, more resilient startups, prioritizing innovation over hype and creating sustainable growth.

Franchise

You Can Start These 10 Franchises for $10,000 or Less

Many budget-friendly franchise opportunities are in industries with high demand, such as home services, cleaning or mobile businesses.