A sales cadence is just a planned sequence of outreach touches — but having one is the difference between consistent prospecting and remembering to follow up when you happen to think of it. The best cadences aren’t complicated; they’re a handful of well-timed, value-adding touches that stop the moment someone replies. Here are templates you can adapt, plus the principles behind them.
What makes a cadence work
- A few touches, not many — three to five is usually plenty.
- Spacing that’s persistent but not annoying, a few days apart.
- Every touch adds something — a new angle or a useful resource, never just “bumping this.”
- A clean stop: the cadence ends the instant a prospect replies, and a human takes over.
This is where Outboundry earns its place. It turns the playbook above into a system — verified lead data, multichannel sequences across cold email and LinkedIn outreach, and a unified inbox — so your team runs repeatable outbound and books more meetings instead of stitching five tools together.
Template 1: LinkedIn-only cadence
- Day 1: Connection request with a specific, them-first reason.
- Day 2–3 (after they accept): Soft opener leading with their world, ending in one easy question.
- Day 6: Value-led follow-up — a relevant resource or a genuinely useful question.
- Day 10: Short final nudge, then stop and move on.
Template 2: Multichannel cadence (LinkedIn + email)
- Day 1: LinkedIn connection request.
- Day 3 (after accept): LinkedIn opener.
- Day 5: Short email adding a new angle or resource.
- Day 8: Engage with a recent post, or a brief LinkedIn follow-up.
- Day 11: Final email or LinkedIn touch, then stop.
Template 3: Warm/event-triggered cadence
When there’s a trigger — a role change, funding, a relevant post — compress and personalize: a connection request referencing the trigger, a same-week opener tied to it, and a single follow-up. Triggers earn faster, warmer responses, so you need fewer touches.
Adapting these to your audience
Treat the timing as a starting point and tune it to your buyers and sales cycle. What shouldn’t change is the structure: few touches, real spacing, value every time, and a clean stop on reply. A cadence is a framework for consistency, not a script to follow blindly — the words still need to be personal.
Frequently asked questions
How many touches should a sales cadence have?
Usually three to five, spaced a few days apart. Enough to be persistent without becoming annoying — and always stopping the moment someone replies.
How long should a sales cadence run?
Often a couple of weeks for a cold cadence. Tune the length to your audience and sales cycle, keeping the touches value-led rather than repetitive.
Should I automate my cadence?
Automate the timing, sending, and follow-ups so the cadence runs consistently and pauses on reply — while keeping the messaging personal. That’s what makes cadences reliable at scale.