Discover 8 outbound strategies you can implement this week to generate qualified leads and move deals faster.
Outbound lead generation, done right, shortens time-to-meeting and creates a steady pipeline of qualified opportunities. While it often involves the challenge of cold outreach, the right strategies can turn it into a reliable and scalable source of revenue.
From identifying the right set of leads to personalizing outreach campaigns, there are various ways to improve the outcome of your outbound lead generation efforts.
Below are 8 strategies with steps, examples, and tools to execute each one.
Quick takeaways
- Combine Sales Navigator filters with event-attendee lists and AI personalization to raise reply rates without mass messaging.
- Pull event attendees into your CRM in minutes using PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn Event Guests Export automation.
- Use AI to personalize first-touch at scale with enriched profile data and custom prompts.
- Build an end-to-end workflow: find leads, enrich with AI, sync to CRM, and run personalized LinkedIn outreach.
8 outbound tactics, with a tip for each:
| Strategy | Description | Best Tip |
| Use Sales Navigator to find leads who match your ICP | It lets you filter LinkedIn’s member base to find potential leads that align with your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). | Use seniority, function, and activity filters to find decision-makers. Combine with “Posted on LinkedIn” or “Following your company” for stronger intent signals. Apply Boolean search operators for precision. |
| Identify warm leads based on intent signals | Track buyer intent signals (event attendance, profile views, content engagement) to prioritize warm leads interested in your offerings. | Export attendees you’ve engaged with, then reach out with relevant context. Follow LinkedIn’s terms and daily limits. |
| Enrich high-quality leads with key contact details | Collect accurate, up-to-date contact data for each prospect and add it to your CRM. | Use PhantomBuster’s AI LinkedIn Profile Enricher automation to add missing fields, then sync to your CRM. |
| Automate your social selling efforts | Connect thoughtfully with targeted prospects and engage with recent posts. Avoid mass actions and respect platform limits. | Use a single PhantomBuster workflow: follow target accounts, engage with a recent post using Auto Liker, then send a personalized connection request. |
| Use lead qualification and scoring | Assign scores and ask qualifying questions to identify high-value, sales-ready leads. | Use PhantomBuster’s AI LinkedIn Profile Enricher to add missing data that improves your CRM’s lead scoring. |
| Use AI for personalized outreach | Use AI to draft messages tied to each prospect’s role, priorities, and recent activity. | Combine enriched data with PhantomBuster’s AI LinkedIn Message Writer to create targeted LinkedIn messages. |
| Automate your outreach efforts | Create automated follow-up sequences to engage and nurture prospects. | Use PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn Outreach automation. For email, connect your sequence tool via CSV/CRM sync. |
| Use a multi-channel approach for effective outreach | Build a well-defined strategy to connect and engage with leads across different channels. | Maintain consistent messaging and avoid flooding prospects with too many calls/emails. |
1. Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to find leads who match your ICP
LinkedIn Sales Navigator helps you reliably find ICP-fit prospects with precise filters and alerts. It lets you filter LinkedIn’s member base and helps find prospects that match your ideal customer profile (ICP).
You can choose from 50+ filters to refine search results and find LinkedIn profiles that align with your buyer persona.
Use Current company, Function, and Seniority level to zero in on decision-makers.
Sales Navigator also includes buyer intent filters. “Following your company” and “Viewed your profile recently” filters, for instance, help find prospects who’ve shown interest in your business.
There’s also the TeamLinks feature that displays a list of prospects connected to your team members. Winning their trust becomes slightly easier, simplifying your outreach efforts.
Boolean search operators let you create complex search queries and include or exclude specific people from the results. Use Boolean operators: quotes (“phrase”), parentheses (), NOT, AND, or OR.
Here’s an example:
title:(Head of OR VP) AND (revenue OR demand) NOT intern
2. Identify warm leads based on intent signals
Cold outreach works, but prioritizing warm intent signals raises reply rates and shortens cycles. You can use buyer intent signals to identify warm leads interested in your solutions. Engaging with them at the right time can move them toward conversion.
So, how do you track intent signals and identify warm leads?
Start by monitoring engagement on social media channels. For example, if you host interviews, webinars, or workshops on LinkedIn, event attendees are a strong source of warm leads, especially if they engaged with your content.
Next, use PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn Event Guests Export automation to retrieve the list of attendees of LinkedIn events. Contact only relevant attendees with context from the event, and respect LinkedIn’s usage limits. This will help you generate a highly relevant lead list for your outbound efforts.
3. Enrich high-quality leads with key contact details
Sales and marketing teams need access to accurate, up-to-date contact data to get started with targeted and personalized outreach.
Sure, you can use connection requests and InMail on LinkedIn to initiate contact. However, you’ll eventually need to move the conversation to another channel, such as email or phone, to close the deal.
You’ll need accurate contact data. Lead enrichment fills the gaps so you can follow up by email or phone. It involves collecting lead data from various channels, including business directories, company websites, and social media platforms, which helps personalized sales outreach.
There’s a catch, though.
Enriching lead data manually is error-prone and inefficient. Instead, you can use tools like Apollo.io, Kaspr, and ZoomInfo to access vast databases and find contact details at scale.
But what if you could automate lead enrichment?
With PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn Profile Scraper automation, you can collect publicly available profile fields and company details, then enrich missing emails and phones via your enrichment provider, always in line with LinkedIn’s policies. Use our native HubSpot sync to push updates to your CRM automatically.
4. Automate your social selling efforts
Social selling is an excellent way of building a relationship with cold leads before pitching to them. Instead of using pushy phone calls and emails, you connect with them on social media platforms and engage with their posts.
Share useful context before you pitch. That builds familiarity and warms up your first message.
However, social selling involves several manual tasks, such as:
- Sending connection/follow requests to prospects
- Engaging with their recent content
- Sending personalized messages to move the conversation forward
Automating these steps gives your outbound sales team more time to focus on lead qualification and relationship-building.
So, how do you automate this process?
Use PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn Auto Follow to follow a targeted list. Keep daily actions within safe limits and pair with a relevant comment or like. Schedule runs to handle a small batch of new prospects each day to stay within platform limits.
Besides following prospects, you can also use PhantomBuster to automate other tasks, such as sending connection requests with personalized messages using LinkedIn Auto Connect. Engaging with prospects is just as simple with the LinkedIn Auto Liker automation.
5. Use lead qualification and scoring
Once you’ve got a list of warm, ICP-aligned leads, it’s time to reach out and pitch. But here’s the catch: not all warm leads have the same level of sales-readiness.
Some prospects will be prepared to purchase right away, while others might be comparing different solutions. Then, there will be leads whose pain points can’t be addressed by your current offerings.
Paying equal attention to all leads can be inefficient.
Instead, it’s a clever idea to use lead qualification and scoring to identify high-value, sales-ready prospects. It helps sales teams prioritize the right leads and maximize conversions.
Lead scoring involves rating prospects on different behavioral, demographic, and firmographic criteria based on how closely they match your ICP. You can assign scores based on a prospect’s:
- Company size, job title, and seniority
- Industry, tech stack, recent role change, firm size, and engagement with your content
- Email, website, and social media engagement
The cumulative score offers insights into a prospect’s readiness to become a paying customer.
Use your ICP to define the lead scoring criteria and assign weights to each criterion. To simplify things, you can use a CRM that offers built-in lead scoring features.
PhantomBuster’s AI LinkedIn Profile Enricher can also help you surface public signals (industry, role focus, recent posts) you can use for scoring and messaging. You can then use these insights for lead scoring and qualification.
6. Use AI for personalized outreach
Buyers ignore generic messages. Personalize to their role, context, and timing. Whether you’re sending a connection request on LinkedIn or a sales pitch via email, buyers prefer messaging that speaks to their needs and pain points.
According to a 2023 Twilio Segment report, 92% of businesses are already using AI-driven personalization to boost growth.
However, personalized outreach takes more than addressing a lead by their first name or including their company name in the message.
Start by enriching lead data with in-depth insights, such as interests, jobs-to-be-done (JTBDs), and preferences. The AI LinkedIn Profile Enricher (mentioned above) comes in handy here.
Next, use the enriched data to draft messages with personalized content and product recommendations. Instead of doing this manually, use AI to do it at scale with the AI LinkedIn Message Writer.
Our AI drafts targeted messages for each lead based on their LinkedIn data and your prompt. You can create custom prompts to specify the fields you want to use for personalization.
7. Automate your outreach efforts
Sales outreach is an ongoing process that requires regular, targeted follow-ups. However, manually tracking each lead’s response and sending a reply can be time-consuming.
Instead, it’s smarter to schedule automated follow-up messages based on a lead’s interactions. For instance, PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn Outreach automation can send connection requests (with an introduction message) to LinkedIn profiles in your lead list.
After acceptance, schedule up to three spaced follow-ups. Personalize each and stop if they disengage. With LinkedIn outreach happening on autopilot, sales teams can focus on qualifying and engaging high-value prospects.
If you run email outreach, use your sequence tool and sync data from PhantomBuster to keep lists fresh.
These tools help set up drip email sequences that automatically send follow-up emails based on a lead’s email activity.
8. Use a multi-channel approach for effective outreach
Whether you’re targeting the C-suite or managers, your prospects get a lot of outreach.
How do you ensure your message cuts through the noise?
The key is multi-channel outreach. It involves reaching out to your prospects on various channels to gain their attention.
Maxence de Villepion, co-founder of Cargo, an AI-powered GTM automation platform, emphasized the importance of multi-channel outreach in a LinkedIn post. Sellers report higher win rates when they involve multiple stakeholders.
However, keep in mind that multi-channel outreach doesn’t mean flooding a lead with the same message on different platforms. Instead, use a well-defined outreach strategy to connect with them on selected channels and maintain consistent messaging.
For instance, when you send a connection request on LinkedIn, follow it up with an email that includes personalized content recommendations.
Top outbound lead generation tools
For your outbound lead generation strategies to succeed, you need tools that can help you complete tasks efficiently at scale.
Use Sales Navigator to find, PhantomBuster to enrich, personalize, and automate outreach, and a database like ZoomInfo when you need net-new contacts. Here’s a quick look at the tools that come in handy:
| PhantomBuster | LinkedIn Sales Navigator | ZoomInfo | |
| Key Feature | Pre-built automations for prospecting, lead enrichment, and outreach | Advanced filters and Boolean search operators for identifying leads that closely match your ICP | Large verified B2B contact database with filtering options |
| Best For | Personalizing and automating outreach efforts | Finding targeted leads from LinkedIn’s database and building a rapport with them | Prospecting and market research |
| Free Trial | Yes (14 days) | Yes | Contact sales |
| Pricing From | $56 per month | $99 per month | On request |
PhantomBuster
PhantomBuster is a sales prospecting automation platform that helps sales teams at various stages of outbound lead generation. It provides pre-built automations to find, enrich, and engage prospects.
How does PhantomBuster help with outbound lead generation?
PhantomBuster helps with a variety of tasks like enriching lead data, reaching out on LinkedIn, and drafting personalized connection requests.
Build an accurate lead list from Sales Navigator or events, enrich with AI, sync to CRM, and run AI-personalized LinkedIn outreach. Key capabilities include:
- Lead list building: Extract real-time data from LinkedIn, so no more stale database data.
- AI enrichment and scoring: Use AI LinkedIn Profile Enricher to add missing data that improves your CRM’s lead scoring.
- Event-based prospecting: Use LinkedIn Event Guests Export to export the list of attendees into a CSV file. Pair it up with AI LinkedIn Profile Enricher to get a list of warm leads.
- Automated social selling and outreach: Use LinkedIn Auto Follow and LinkedIn Outreach within one workflow to warm up targets, then send personalized follow-ups. Result: more replies with less manual work.
- CRM integration: Track the pipeline with native HubSpot sync and other integrations.
Pricing
Pricing starts at $56 per month (billed annually) and includes 10,000 AI credits per month, five automation slots, and unlimited exports. You also get a 14-day free trial.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a sales tool that helps sales teams find the right prospects and build long-term relationships with them. Pairing it up with PhantomBuster can help you make outbound lead generation work for you at scale.
How does LinkedIn Sales Navigator help with outbound lead generation?
With Sales Navigator, you can use advanced filters and Boolean search operators to scour LinkedIn’s vast database and find leads that match your ICP. Other useful features include:
- Real-time updates: Receive instant alerts when a prospect gets promoted, moves to a new job, or is in the news. These updates help fine-tune your outreach efforts.
- Lead recommendations: Sales Navigator uses AI algorithms to recommend new leads based on your search history and interactions. You can then target these leads using PhantomBuster.
- CRM integrations: Sales Navigator integrates with popular CRM platforms, such as Dynamics 365 Sales, HubSpot, and Salesforce, ensuring that lead lists are always up-to-date.
Pricing
Pricing starts at $99 per month and includes advanced filters, real-time alerts, Account Hub, and Relationship Maps.
ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo is a widely used B2B sales intelligence platform known for its vast contact database. Packed with automation, engagement, and analytics features, it’s an indispensable tool for sales teams.
How does ZoomInfo help with outbound lead generation?
ZoomInfo’s B2B contact database includes a large verified collection of email addresses and phone numbers.
Plus, you can access detailed professional profiles for each contact and even get real-time alerts about any changes, making prospecting and lead generation more efficient.
Other features that come in handy include:
- B2B search engine: Use 300+ company attributes and filters to scan ZoomInfo’s database and find leads that align with your ICP.
- Intent data: Find prospects who are actively searching for keywords related to your business and solutions.
- Automated workflows: Set up automated outreach workflows to connect with prospects based on intent signals, job changes, and other updates.
Pricing
Pricing isn’t available publicly. Plans are tailored to your needs.
Outbound lead generation strategies FAQ
What is outbound lead generation?
Outbound lead generation is the process of reaching out to potential customers who haven’t been exposed to your business and offerings yet. It involves methods like cold calling, email marketing, and social selling.
How does the outbound lead generation process work?
The outbound lead generation process starts with defining your ICP. Then, your sales team finds prospects or picks marketing-qualified leads and conducts outreach using methods like cold calling, social selling, and emails.
Finally, they build a rapport and schedule timely follow-ups to improve engagement and drive conversions.
What are the benefits of outbound lead generation?
Outbound lead generation helps boost brand awareness and accelerates sales cycles. It allows you to reach a vast audience faster and gives you more control over your messaging and brand perception.
How do you get more outbound leads?
Combining different outreach channels, such as calls, emails, and social selling, helps generate more leads. Additionally, automate the outreach process and personalize your messaging to grab prospects’ attention right away.
What are some outbound lead generation tactics?
Commonly used outbound lead generation techniques include:
- Cold calling: Contacting prospects by phone without any prior interaction.
- Cold emailing: Using automated and personalized email sequences to reach prospects who haven’t engaged with your brand before.
- Social selling: Using social media platforms like LinkedIn to initiate a conversation with prospects who aren’t familiar with your business.
- Paid ads: Reaching out to new target audiences via ads on social media and search engines.
- Direct mail: Sending physical promotional materials, such as brochures, flyers, and product catalogs to amplify brand awareness.
What are the differences between outbound and inbound lead generation?
While outbound lead generation involves proactively reaching out to potential customers, inbound techniques rely on letting prospects discover your business and solutions.