Why List Prep Work Pays Off Before Outbound Launch

Let's say you're going to start going outbound to businesses in your target vertical market. 

Once you have a list of targeted leads, the next thing to do is prioritize the list.

You want to isolate those businesses on your lead list that are the most likely to:

• Be experiencing acute pain from the problem your business solves

• Be able to afford your services

For example, let's say you sell websites to dentists. First, you might want to look up the last time they had a website redesign (on Wayback Machine). Websites usually last for 2-3 years, so dentists whose websites are 3 years old or older are probably worth prioritizing over other leads who just updated their website 2 months ago. 

Also, to ensure you target dentists who can afford your website design services, you'll likely want to de-prioritize those dentists who have only one dentist or staff member. Instead, you can prioritize practices with multiple dentists in multiple locations.

You may think this is a lot of trouble for just a lead list. And you're right; it is a lot of work. 😅

But this pre-launch list preparation work will improve the likelihood of your target prospects being interested, resulting in a higher conversion rate and faster revenue growth. 🌟

Have a great day!

CQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does prioritizing a lead list matter before launching outbound?

Because not every lead on a list is equally likely to convert. Prioritizing isolates the businesses most likely to be experiencing real pain and able to afford the service, concentrating effort where it's most likely to pay off.

How can website redesign timing help prioritize leads for a web design agency?

By checking a tool like Wayback Machine to see when a business last redesigned its site. Since websites typically last 2-3 years, businesses with sites 3 years or older are likely feeling more pain around the problem than those who just redesigned recently.

Why should smaller, single-location businesses often be deprioritized on this kind of list?

Because affordability matters as much as pain. A dental practice with only one dentist or staff member may not have the budget for the service, while multi-location, multi-dentist practices are more likely to afford it.

Is this level of list prep work actually worth the effort involved?

Yes, even though it's a lot of work. The payoff is a higher conversion rate and faster revenue growth, since outreach lands with prospects who are both in real pain and capable of affording the solution.

What's the actual trade-off being described here?

Trading unglamorous, time-consuming list prep work for meaningfully better outbound results. List building isn't exciting, but the resulting improvement in conversion and revenue growth makes the effort worthwhile.