How to build a sales cadence: how many touches, how far apart, and when to stop

A sales cadence is the plan for following up with one prospect: which channel on which day, and when you stop. The glossary entry on sales cadence has the one-line definition and a 14-day example.

Most first touches get no answer. Without a plan, the second call happens when someone remembers, which is often never. With a cadence the next step is decided before the first one goes out.

1. Write down who the cadence is for. Cold names from a list need something different from people who filled in a form, so give each kind its own.
2. For channels, choose the ones your prospects answer, which for most business buyers means phone and email. For consumers in markets where it's normal, it's phone and WhatsApp or text. Add LinkedIn if your buyers use it.
3. Set the number of touches and the length. Start with 6 to 8 touches over two to three weeks, as a starting point to test, and let your own replies tell you where to cut.
4. Put the touches closer together at the start. Interest is highest right after a prospect first hears from you, so two or three touches go in the first week and the rest spread out.
5. Make every touch add something, because a second email that says "just following up" gives nobody a reason to answer. Bring a question, a short example from a similar customer, or a date that suits them.
6. Plan the exit before you start: the last touch says you'll stop there, and you do. Anyone who replies, books or asks to stop leaves the cadence the same day.

The days and touches below are starting points, not measured results. Change them once you've seen which touches get replies.

A cold prospect, 14 days, 8 touches:

Someone who asked you to get in touch, 7 days, 7 touches:

A prospect who went quiet after a meeting, 21 days, 4 touches:

Work it out from the time the touches take. The numbers here are made up to show the sums.

Say a rep has 2 hours a day for outreach, which is 600 minutes a week over five days. In the cold cadence above there are 4 calls and 4 written touches. If a call takes about 3 minutes including notes and a written touch about 2 minutes, one prospect costs 4 x 3 + 4 x 2 = 20 minutes over the whole cadence.

So 600 minutes a week divided by 20 minutes each is 30 new prospects a week.

Once the cadence is running, those 30 overlap with last week's 30, but the minutes still add up to 600, because each prospect only ever costs their 20. Prospects who reply early drop out and give time back. If you want more than 30 starts a week, you need more outreach time or fewer, better touches.

Count replies by touch number. After 8 weeks you'll have enough to see a pattern. Here's a made-up example for 200 prospects started on a 7-touch cadence:

In this example touch 7 has produced nothing in 8 weeks and touch 6 one reply, so the cadence could end at touch 5 or 6, and the time saved goes to starting more prospects. Two numbers are worth a line on the weekly report: replies per 100 prospects started, and meetings per 100 prospects started. Those two tell you whether a change to the cadence helped.

A cadence that calls or messages people at home is marketing, and marketing to phone numbers has rules. This is a summary of the official rules, not legal advice.

In Singapore, the Do Not Call provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act cover marketing messages to Singapore telephone numbers. The PDPC's guide says they apply to voice calls, text messages and faxes.

• Before you send a marketing message to a Singapore number, check it against the Do Not Call Registry. The PDPC says the check must be made within 21 days before the message goes out.
• You don't need the check if the person gave clear and unambiguous consent to receive those messages on that number, and you can show the consent in writing or another form you can refer back to.
• The message must say clearly who sent it and how to contact them, and that contact information has to stay valid for at least 30 days after it's sent.
• A marketing call has to show your number. The Act bars hiding or withholding the caller ID.
• The Act defines a message as any message in sound, text, visual or other form. On our reading, a WhatsApp message to a Singapore mobile number is covered too, so check the registry before a WhatsApp touch as you would before an SMS.

In the US, the Federal Communications Commission's rules (47 CFR 64.1200) say:

• No telephone solicitation to a home phone before 8am or after 9pm, local time where the person is.
• No telephone solicitation to a home number on the National Do Not Call Registry.
• To rely on the rule's protection for honest mistakes, you need written procedures and a copy of the registry that's no more than 31 days old when you make the call.

Email has its own rules in each country, and your firm may have stricter ones. Check with whoever owns compliance where you work before the cadence goes live.

• One cadence for everyone. A person who asked to be called gets the same slow drip as a cold name, and goes to a competitor who called back.
• "Just checking in." A touch with nothing new in it gives nobody a reason to reply.
• No exit. A prospect gets touch 9, 10 and 11 because nobody set an end.
• Carrying on after a reply. A "yes, let's talk" followed by an automated "just following up" loses trust fast.
• Counting touches sent instead of replies and meetings. A cadence can hit every step and book nothing.
• Skipping the registry check because the message went by WhatsApp.

This guide is free. ActivityTracker, the app we make, is paid. Here's what it does for a cadence.

• Follow-ups are typed in one line, dated and reminded 30 minutes before, so day 7's call is on day 7's list
• Routines like 10 calls a day come back each day and show the days you slipped
• WhatsApp chats land in one inbox and on the prospect's record, so you can see what the last touch said
• Broadcasts leave out anyone marked as opted out, checked again right before each message goes
• Calls and meetings are one tap each to log, so the week's count adds up without a spreadsheet