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Winning sales cadence: Definition, best practices & examples

Learn more about the ins and outs of sales cadence, how it works and how to improve it in your business? Find out more about what it is and examples of best practice.

Rose McMillan · January 31, 2024
Winning sales cadence: Definition, best practices & examples

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Selling is not an easy art. To be successful, it must include the right elements, communication style, and attitude. Selling should also address specified groups so you don’t waste your time on those not interested in your services.

In short, if you want to achieve great results then you can’t act spontaneously, you need to familiarize yourself with the sales cadence concept.

Stay with us and we'll explain what it's all about, what its advantages are, and what steps you need to take to build the right cadence. We will also introduce you to best practices and show you some examples of sales cadence.

What is sales cadence?

Sales cadence refers to a strategic and well-defined sequence of sales activities designed to engage with prospects and guide them through the sales cycle. It involves a number of touchpoints that are carefully orchestrated to reach the target audience more effectively. These include:

  • emails
  • cold calls
  • social media
  • direct mail
  • and other interactions

Why all this? To make more sales and build lasting relationships.

An effective sales cadence achieves goals by personalizing those different messages, automating follow-up emails, and addressing specific pain points. This can ensure a consistent and customized approach throughout the sales cycle.

Implementing a successful sales sequence requires sales reps to learn about the products they sell, understand various industries, identify customer behavior, create a standardized process, and use email templates or different communication methods. In other words, they need to be properly trained.

Benefits of creating a sales cadence

A good sales cadence is a must for every business, with it, they can connect with recipients, move them through the sales funnel, and ultimately encourage them to make more purchases.

But that's not all. Check out more details below.

Enhanced sales team efficiency

A winning sales cadence guides, streamlines, and organizes the sales team's activities. It provides a well-defined process for communication, ensures that reps are focused on high-impact activities, and maximizes their productivity.

It also allows employees to easily track client needs and changes in their behavior, identify top-performing strategies, and implement better sales plans for continuous growth.

Improved prospect engagement

A well-defined cadence can build meaningful connections with your audience. Through personalized outreach and strategic planning, companies can effectively nurture leads and guide them through the end of the process.

This engagement enhances the likelihood of conversions and establishes a foundation for long-term relationships and boosts brand loyalty and advocacy.

Strategic management

With a sales cadence, you can systematically manage and improve your sales strategies. Using the right CRM helps you visualize and optimize different tasks and implement automation in your work. The result? An efficient process that works for overall success.

And as the sales pipeline management becomes more dynamic, it allows you to:

  • adapt to changing market conditions
  • implement strategic decisions that positively impact revenue growth
  • identify bottlenecks

Empowered sales managers

Another group that benefits from sales cadence in business is managers. This cadence provides a comprehensive view of every sales activity and makes it easier to track progress, identify areas for improvement, and offer targeted guidance.

As a result, managers can proactively address challenges, align the team with strategic objectives, and build a collaborative environment that encourages learning and development.

Increased sales success

Of course, a successful sales cadence can bring in many more transactions. The adoption of relevant strategies like addressing objections, personalizing emails, using outbound sales, and utilizing the best time to send communications can significantly improve your chances of closing deals and achieving overall success.

Here, every touchpoint serves a purpose – to lead potential customers to conversions. Different sales cadences help meet different needs, but ultimately the goal is the same – to achieve higher earnings. Sales tools can additionally contribute to this and make your company outperform the competition in the market.

How does the sales cadence process look? 6 essential steps

We know now what the sales cadence process aims for, but how to accomplish it?

Thanks to a few carefully planned steps you can guide your sales reps through the whole process, engage chosen people, and close more deals.

Let's see what moves you need to take.

Step 1. Search for prospects

First, identify potential customers who might be interested in your product or service. For example, if you're selling fitness equipment, you might look for people who have recently shown interest in health and wellness.

Step 2. Develop the plan

Implement a sales cadence that works for your recipients and team. Decide when to call, when to email, and when to engage on social media. Each step in the sequence should add to building a relationship with the recipient.

Step 3. Personalize communications

Use the prospect's name, mention specific details about their needs or interests, and show them that you've done your homework. For instance, if your prospect recently launched a new product, acknowledge and congratulate them.

Step 4. Implement the cadence

Identify sales opportunities and put your prospecting cadence into action. Execute each step in the sequence. Whether you decide to use an inbound or outbound sales cadence, go for it. This might involve making a first sales call, sending a follow-up email, or sharing valuable content.

Step 5. Address objections

Encounter every misstep or objection and be prepared to address them gracefully. For example, if a prospect is concerned about the cost, provide them with case studies or examples of how your product or service delivers value for the investment.

Step 6. Move through the funnel

Guide a prospect through the sales funnel, from awareness to consideration and finally to the decision-making stage. Ensure they feel comfortable and confident with each move.

Sales cadence examples: how this strategy works

Check out how sales cadence can prove its role in four sectors: real estate, technology, healthcare, and retail.

Real estate

Moving through the sales funnel – from property awareness to closing the deal.

In this industry, a good sales cadence needs to engage with potential homebuyers. It is based on understanding clients' requirements and bringing them relevant property options.

You can employ different sales strategies at various stages of the home-buying process. For example:

  • utilize case studies to showcase successful property transactions
  • use inbound sales cadence to attract interested buyers
  • create personalized emails that grab attention or meet specific preferences and needs

A sales cadence tool that measures engagement, can help you adjust your approach. It also tells you what needs to be done next. It will assist in managing new sales leads, optimizing the sales process, and growing sales.

Technology

Highlighting how the product addresses specific challenges.

In technology, standardized sales cadence helps sell the relevant service or product, which can optimize processes in various areas of business. For example, it enables teams to work more effectively, communicate efficiently, and better serve customers.

Of course, sales reps need to be trained about the features and benefits of the technology offering. They should personalize emails to potential clients and highlight how the product addresses specific challenges.

To succeed in delivering the right product, you need tools and strategies that help teams create effective messages. The right solutions for sales cadence also contact prospects at the right time and almost guarantee a perfect sales pitch.

Healthcare

Addressing the challenges and opportunities unique to healthcare services and products.

In this industry, the right cadence helps you finalize purchases that can improve a service for customers struggling with health issues.

First, reps need to understand the needs and challenges of healthcare companies. Then, sales cadence makes it possible to create a valuable connection with them at every stage of the decision-making process, from initial awareness to making a purchase.

This reassures the client that they have a great product at their disposal that can solve many pain points – whether for the company or the patients. Your messages should provide valuable information, the latest data, innovations, and case studies to demonstrate how your healthcare solution meets specific needs.

Retail

Optimizing your sales processes and creating a loyal customer base.

In retail, every cadence must nurture relationships with customers and listen to their needs. Otherwise, they will find another supplier from the abundant competition.

The strategy should address the changing dynamics of consumer expectations and provide a seamless shopping experience. Reps need to tailor communication based on customer preferences, purchase history, and behavior as they create a more engaging and effective sales process.

Also, the cadence will identify the best time to send sales emails – it considers peak shopping times, seasonal trends, and promotional events. Thus, it's one of the best ways to reach customers.

10 sales cadence best practices

Now, let's take a look at our best practices.

1 Segment your audience.

Segment your audience based on various criteria such as industry, company size, or job role. Different segments may require different approaches in your cadence, so a single universal concept may not be enough. Therefore, tailor your strategy to specific groups for relevance and resonance.

2 Train and equip your team.

Equip your sales team with the necessary training and resources to execute the sales cadence effectively. Provide guidance on using CRM tools, understanding customer personas, and adapting to various communication styles. A well-prepared sales team is crucial for the success of your cadence aims.

3 Implement A/B testing.

A/B testing allows you to experiment with different elements of your sales cadence, such as subject lines, messaging tone, or call-to-action buttons. Analyzing the performance of variations allows you to identify what resonates best with your audience and optimize your strategy accordingly.

4 Utilize a multichannel approach.

Don't rely solely on one channel. A multichannel approach that incorporates emails, calls, social media, and other touchpoints can enhance the reach and impact of your cadence. By diversifying communication channels, your message can be delivered through the preferred medium of your audience.

5 Adjust timing and frequency.

Timing matters in sales cadence, so identify the best times to reach recipients based on their industry, role, and typical schedules. Additionally, you may adjust the frequency of your touchpoints in order to maintain engagement without overwhelming prospects.

6 Map the customer journey.

Map out the customer journey to align your sales cadence with key stages of the buying process. Understand when prospects are likely to research, consider, and make decisions. Such strategic alignment guarantees your cadence leads prospects through the funnel without problems.

7 Continuously improve using data.

Regularly analyze data and performance metrics to refine and improve your cadence. Identify what works well and what needs adjustment. Such a data-driven approach will let you adapt your cadence to changing market conditions and customer behaviors.

8 Provide value.

Every touchpoint in your sales plan should offer value to the prospect. Whether it's insightful content, helpful resources, or personalized recommendations. providing value establishes your credibility and keeps recipients engaged.

9 Align with marketing.

Collaborate with the marketing team to match sales cadence with marketing goals. Ensure consistency in tasks like messaging and branding to boost the overall customer experience. A cohesive approach strengthens your brand and reinforces key value propositions.

10 Be consistent.

Consistency will help you build greater brand recognition and tie all your customer communications into a cohesive whole. Keep your brand top of mind by maintaining regular and consistent communication – weekly emails or monthly check-ins, for example, helps build trust and engagement over time.

Build a sales cadence with Capsule

Capsule, a powerful CRM, will be an invaluable help in constructing an effective cadence for your sales team. It has many robust features such as:

  • Contact management
  • Sales pipeline
  • Workflow automation
  • Email marketing and tools
  • Sales analytics

With contact management options, you can build strong relationships and centralize customer information in one place. Reps can seamlessly manage all contacts, track conversations, see the whole history of customer interactions, and foster personalized and meaningful experiences.

Another key strength of Capsule is the sales pipeline. Thanks to it, your employees can create unique processes and won't miss any sales opportunities. They can forecast pipeline value, manage and tailor all open sales, and focus on deals that require special attention.

If you want to reduce manual work and speed up your selling, you will find our workflow automation option particularly interesting. It is designed for improving many tasks, operations, project management, onboarding, and marketing.

If you also integrate Capsule with Transpond – our marketing tool – you will be able to create precious segments, triggers, and sequences, as they will be based on data.

Let us also mention the sales analytics feature, which can dramatically change how you develop sales cadences. It provides comprehensive reports, reveals unique sales activities, shows how your sales reps are doing, and gives many insights that all contribute to better contact with the customer and future planning.

As you can see, Capsule's comprehensive set of features can empower teams to create and implement successful cadences.

So, use our CRM and try out its features.

Improve your sales processes and win the market

A sales cadence is a sequence strategically designed to guide potential customers through a series of well-planned interactions aimed at closing a sale. One of its goals is to maximize engagement and build long-term relationships that will result in successful deals and satisfied customers.

However, having an efficient sales cadence in place demands adequate planning, management, and knowledge. This is where Capsule comes to the rescue.

No matter if you want to build a B2C, B2G, or B2B sales cadence, Capsule has got your back. You can create, manage, optimize, and monitor every aspect of the cycle without problems.

Try Capsule for free and develop a sales cadence with us.

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