Cadence (Sales)

Cadence is the rhythm of outbound. It specifies: how many times do you contact a prospect? Through what channels (email, LinkedIn, phone)? On what days? What type of message at each step? When do you stop if there’s no reply?

A well-designed cadence balances persistence (enough touchpoints to catch prospects at the right moment) with respect (not so many contacts that you become an annoyance or damage your brand).

Example multi-channel cadence

Day	Channel	Action
1	Email	Opening email (personalised problem/trigger hook)
3	LinkedIn	Connection request (no note)
5	Email	Follow-up #1 (add a case study or insight)
6	LinkedIn	DM after connection accepted
10	Email	Follow-up #2 (different angle or CTA)
12	Phone	Call attempt
16	Email	Follow-up #3 (soft ask, reframe)
21	Email	Breakup email

Cadence length and reply distribution

Most teams run cadences of 6–10 steps over 3–4 weeks. Reply data consistently shows:

• Step 1 (first email): ~30% of all replies
• Steps 2–4: ~50% of replies
• Step 5+: ~20% of replies

This means stopping after 2 emails leaves 70% of potential replies on the table.

Adapting cadence by ICP

Senior executives (C-suite) should receive fewer, higher-quality touchpoints — 4–5 steps over 3 weeks. Lower-level contacts can handle 7–10 steps. Cold calling works better in some industries (manufacturing, logistics) than others (SaaS developers, early-stage founders).

Related concepts

Cadence is implemented through sequencing tools. It pairs with drip sequences (the content at each step) and reply rate tracking (the performance signal for cadence effectiveness).