What is Sales Cadence?
A structured sequence of outreach touchpoints (emails, calls, social touches) designed to engage a prospect over a defined period.
Definition
A sales cadence is a playbook for prospect engagement. It defines what to do, when, and through which channel. A typical outbound cadence might span 14-21 days with 8-12 touchpoints: Day 1 email, Day 2 LinkedIn connection, Day 3 call, Day 5 email, Day 7 call, Day 10 email with case study, Day 14 breakup email. Cadences can be manual (rep executes each step), semi-automated (emails fire automatically, calls and social are manual), or fully automated (all steps execute without rep input). Sales engagement platforms like Outreach and Salesloft are built around cadence management.
Why It Matters
Without a defined cadence, reps follow up inconsistently. Some prospects get five touches in two days (annoying). Others get one email and then nothing for a month (forgotten). Structured cadences ensure every prospect gets the right number of touches at the right intervals, which directly impacts reply rates and pipeline generation. Data from multiple studies shows that multi-channel cadences (email + phone + social) outperform single-channel approaches by 2-3x on reply rates.
Example
An SDR adds a target prospect to a 14-day multi-channel cadence in Outreach. Day 1: personalized email referencing the company's recent funding round. Day 2: LinkedIn connection request with a short note. Day 4: phone call attempt. Day 7: follow-up email with a relevant case study. Day 10: call + voicemail. Day 14: final breakup email. If the prospect replies at any point, the cadence pauses and the rep takes over manually.