B2B sales live and die by outbound. Here's the comprehensive playbook.
B2B Cold Email Fundamentals
B2B is different: Multiple stakeholders, longer sales cycles, higher deal values, relationship-driven, budget cycles matter. Goal: Not to close deals but to start conversations.
Segmenting Your Approach
SMB: Deal size $1K-$25K, sales cycle days to weeks, usually one decision-maker, high volume approach.
Mid-Market: Deal size $25K-$100K, weeks to months cycle, 2-5 decision-makers, balanced personalization and volume.
Enterprise: Deal size $100K+, months to years cycle, 5-15 decision-makers, high-touch account-based approach.
The B2B Sequence Architecture
Touch 1 (Day 1): Personalized intro email Touch 2 (Day 3): Follow-up, new angle Touch 3 (Day 5): LinkedIn connection Touch 4 (Day 8): Value-add email Touch 5 (Day 12): Phone call + voicemail Touch 6 (Day 16): Case study or social proof Touch 7 (Day 21): Breakup email
B2B Metrics and Benchmarks
Open rate: 40-60%, Reply rate: 5-15%, Meetings booked: 10-20/month per rep, Emails per meeting: 50-100.
Common B2B Mistakes
One-size-fits-all messaging. Feature focus instead of outcomes. Wrong persona targeting. No follow-up. Ignoring phone. No tracking.